“One of the scariest things in the world is to stand in front of the mirror and meet yourself.” — Philip McKernan

mycuppa May 2019 Newsletter

So, what happened to April?

Quite a few customers reached out to ask about April's Secret Label.

Just as we were about to pull the trigger on our April Newsletter, we received a call for help from another large coffee company to roast for them after their extensive production system broke down unexpectedly.

When we say a lot of coffee, it was a vast number that's quite frankly off the scale, running our big platform flat-out 16 hours a day, day after day, to keep up with the combined demands of mycuppa plus another couple of tons each day for them.

Whilst the coffee industry is super-competitive, and some people might enjoy seeing others fail, helping out another "coffee roaster" is just being a decent human, and you never know when someone might need a favour returned one day. As my father always said, "Son, the mark of a real man is helping others in a time of need".

Once we got over the madness and recovered, it was just not the right time to run a campaign with Easter approaching - freight around Easter has historically been an absolute nightmare, and this year was shaping up as extreme with so many school holidays and public holidays jammed up together over a short time-frame - so the second half of April was declared a write-off for most businesses.

We made the call not to run any promotions.

Looking back to what happened in March, the ever-popular Secret Label coffee sold astonishingly quickly, and we hit the bottom of the pile in just two short weeks.

With March's Secret Label running down so fast, we decided to do a good deed for our customers by running a flash 48-hour sale for a coffee called Revolver.

The flash sale went wild; 600kg sold in the first 24 hours. We may look to play that game again at some stage; it's fun to challenge and push beyond limits, but I'm not sure the mycuppa team would share this sentiment.

This month, we have some exciting news - yes, it's May, and it's not the fool's joke we didn't publish in April when we talked about getting into instant coffees. See our article below.

May's Secret Label is all about sheer class - brown sugar sweetness, orange, praline, rich and syrupy body with a delightful balance - oozing sophistication. Take the tip and get on it before it runs out; we are still determining how long it will last.

This newsletter goes out to 21,000+ subscribers, so there are quite a few holding out for its release, given April was a rather barren month.

May Secret Label

This month's Secret Label is a delicious coffee growing in our appreciation.

One of the things that strikes me about coffee is its "inherent balance" because it's a damn tricky target to hit the mark most of the time. Acids and flavours can be thorny devils that often work against each other.

Some coffees have it, others don't, and no matter what sort of polishing you can do as the roaster, if it already has the foundations of outstanding balance from the start, my life becomes much easier.

The coffee is generally better received and appreciated by the consumer.

This coffee is remarkable as it has a well-balanced flavour profile that combines the sweetness of brown sugar with hints of orange and praline. The texture is also excellent, with a rich body and satisfying finish.

Although this coffee originates from South America, we will only disclose further information beyond these hints and clues.

We had prepared this coffee as April's Secret Label and were all set to release it when we received a call for help from another coffee company.

As a result, we have enjoyed small batches of this coffee throughout the month and have been delighted by the fantastic milk-based espresso cups we produced.

It is a truly delicious coffee.

This month's Secret Label is also double-certified FAIRTRADE and Organic as a bonus.

However, we are not marketing those features, so you can save on the premiums and levies that generally apply to those accredited products.

 

 

Instant coffee - no April Fool's joke?

We started producing portion-control coffee solutions a decade ago, in 2009, before Nespresso capsules and various pod systems became the mass-produced growth story they are today.

In those early days, specialty coffee was confined mainly to the cafe segment, and most households had a jar or tin of instant in the pantry.

The growing number of coffee enthusiasts kept pre-ground coffee in the fridge (oh dear, did I say fridge!) for a plunger/French press, percolator or drip indulgence.

These were the beginnings of MasterChef, and most home kitchens were relatively basic without the shiny espresso machine displayed on the bench.

Today, it's a different story (and I'm not just talking about never putting your coffee in the fridge); espresso or capsule systems in kitchens and workplaces are a common sight, and consumers seek quality outcomes for their coffee, driven mainly by the innate desire for the rich, creamy and sweet-tasting textured milk espresso beverage that powers the Australian coffee consumers.

So, what's the point of being interested in instant coffee?

It's a market that's rapidly contracted in the last decade from the shift in consumer tastes, and it's also a big market that still needs to innovate, transform or adapt to changing demands.

It's almost like the segment has been stuck in a time warp, wrapped in some safe cocoon or strange denial from the attacks of other competing beverage systems.

I'm quite the contrarian and enjoy nothing better than playing against the direction of the "market". I have been wanting to explore the world of instant coffee for a long time.

Unfortunately, I never had the time or resources to pursue this interest. Due to frequent changes in plant and equipment over the past 12 years, my plans for instant coffee were consistently delayed.

Today, instant coffee is under siege from capsules, pods, espresso machines, a vast array of new brews, and innovative devices like the Aeropress. Yet, it's still a surprisingly large segment.

Just a few weeks ago at the US Specialty Coffee Expo, frozen coffee concentrates were showcased with incredible fanfare as the newest innovation in consumer coffee beverages; the product won "Best in Show", and I'm sure there will be an avalanche of media coverage once the concept takes hold locally.

However, in hopes of improving the quality of Instant coffee, it's more complex than capsules or pods - you can't just drop some delicious, fresh roasted beans into a converter and have those better quality beans transformed into super tasty instant particles.

Nope, it's more complicated. It seems that just a couple of places can make instant coffee, and they aren't keen on having someone else tread on their sacred grounds - it's certainly not an open market and probably the reason it's remained stuck in a time warp for what seems like forever.

There is no incentive for the coffee industry in Australia to change as there are no perceived threats or challengers. The barriers to entry need to be lowered, making it an unattractive market for potential investors.

Although there has been a recent increase in coffee roasters, new instant coffee plants have yet to be established.

Who would have thought the manufacturing process for instant coffee was seriously complex and challenging - far more capital and labour-intensive than roasting coffee and hence why it's not cheap to produce?

The best technologies for instant coffee processing (freeze-dried) involve eye-watering investments that don't present viable returns in the near term unless you also own a large distribution channel and can guarantee sales of 20,000+ jars a week.

So what we have done in our first generation Instant solution is source better quality preparations for specific applications - a lovely tasting single origin Brazil Freeze Dried and an ethically sourced Colombian FAIRTRADE agglomerated product to fit into our principles of supporting moral and social coffee programs.

Our objectives are to offer unique alternatives to typical supermarket options and validate the market.

There's room for better products and to shift coffee outcomes closer to the needs of consumers with support for social and ethical programs like FAIRTRADE.

Available in packs of 150g, 250g and the bulk 500g.

Take a look at our range here - instant coffee. 

 

Roaster's Rant - what's with all the Decaf?

I don't have a rant, but want to share an observation.

I'm wondering if somebody published a medical article claiming caffeine is terrible for you - because almost everything I read is quoting the complete opposite, with coffee as having some health benefits like anti-oxidants, etc. or maybe Australia on the cusp of a massive spike in new babies over the next few months !.

We have always sold much decaf weekly compared to most other coffee companies, but it has become increasingly popular.

As an example, since December last year, our Decaf sales have more than tripled - and that's off a significant base.

Yep, that's right. It's up 300% for reasons that take time to notice. Customers are buying bulk lots of 8x 500g or 10x500g packs at a time, and we get many of those sized orders every day, seven days a week.

Instead of performing the routine 2-3 times a week, we roast larger decaf batches daily.

In contrast, most coffee companies are lucky to roast decaf once a week or once a fortnight, if that.

So now decaf has risen to be our top-selling coffee behind Suuweet.

I've tried to find out why the decaf demand has exploded, but the reasons keep escaping me. We could pretend for a moment that it's due to something ridiculous like other coffee roasters being unable to roast decaf properly, even if their life depended upon it - but that's nonsense.

Whatever the reasons, there is a large market for Decaf drinkers that coffee companies appear to be treating with contempt or ignoring - or maybe it's the lame, stale supermarket Decaf offerings that no longer provide a basic standard of acceptable beverage and Decaf drinkers are looking elsewhere to achieve a decent brew.

Whatever is behind the growth of decaf, we are riding the wave as it's a product we have engineered with exceptional precision and care for the last 12 years - perhaps that answer we have been looking for is already correct under our nose.