mycuppa September 2015 Newsletter
8 ounces blend
First up, let's talk about something that has been bubbling under the surface for around 18 months now - a new innovative blend called 8 Ounces.
OK, so what's with the kooky name - how's that going to work?
Well, you may be surprised to learn that most cafes - whether they rank in the top 10 of Beanhunter or Facebook, Broadsheet, etc. still make a worrying habit of churning out rubbish in their 8 oz cups.
Their Dine-in cups might be great, or their 12 oz is a killer, but all too often, they cut corners by doing the "splits" and treating their 8 oz customers like the great unwashed.
To address the keyhole in the market, we have engineered a coffee specifically to stand out from the crowd in the 8 oz.
Let me tell you, this is not easy.
We developed our hugely popular Centre Way coffee specifically for the 12 oz market, which has been far easier than this 8 oz beast.
You see, it's all about balance in the cup, and I see this as the key to winning in the future.
To read the full story about the creation of our 8 Ounce coffee blend or to try it for yourself, please follow this link to our product description (warning: it's full of coffee geek stuff). 8 Ounce Coffee Blend
Optimising our portfolio
We hold a lot of different coffees.
This enables us to provide you with a wide range of options.
However, in the past, I couldn't help but get excited whenever new coffee varieties arrived in our country, even though it would result in a higher invoice at the end of the week.
There are many more coffees in our warehouse than what is listed in our store, and quite frankly, we have yet to keep up with listing all available coffees on our website.
One way of addressing that challenge was to create a generic product and rotate the lots we had of that varietal over a period, e.g. with Yirgacheffe, we have six different lots, and I run these on rotation.
Roasting this entire portfolio, with some of these coffees roasted 3, 4 or up to 5 times per week each, is hurting us (and making a certain person very grumpy).
It's now taking us a long time each night to work through the lists, and we are finding that some afternoons, there is that look of desperation on our faces as we realise all the coffee from last night's roasting has all but gone, and we may fall short again.
I tell my colleagues in the industry, and they can't believe we turn the coffee that fast - but it's true.
There are days I wish it were easier, like a cafe supply that runs on weekly cycles, but then, of course, that would become boring and mundane.
The problem this causes is we are running on a razor wire sometimes when predicting what to roast and when.
Recently, we have hit the wall on some coffees when there has been a rush over a morning period. e.g. Monsoon Malabar, Burundi and Kenya have been particularly popular recently.
In contrast, a roast may have lasted three days, but it can be gone in a matter of hours now, resulting in some customer orders that cannot ship that day - missing our critical KPI.
Scaling this out to a larger dimension is something other than what we wanted to do - roasting large batches less often works against the founding principles of high-quality fresh roasted coffee.
We have made a tough call to consolidate some of our holdings of certain Single Origins by reducing the number of different lots.
We have not eliminated any origins but run down some coffees that were hard to source - focusing on those beans that we think can be sourced without the related difficulties of purchasing the raw coffee 9 - 12 months worth in advance and at the same time deliver upon the promises of quality and value.
Some of our customers may be disappointed that their favourite bean did not make the cut, but please do not give up hope because the coffee journey we are on is running in one direction only - constant improvement.
We always promise to produce a better quality product than we did 3 or 6 months ago - it sounds like an impossible feat, but in our competitive industry, you must stand still for a bit.
We have new lots arriving every week - this keeps both our coffee and our enthusiasm levels extremely fresh!
What we are enjoying at the moment
Colombia Supremo Inza
My unashamed love affair with all things Colombian continues unabated.
Why Colombia, then?
They offer exceptional flavour without being overly fruity.
In 3rd week of September 2015, a beautifully classic Inza arrived in the Supremo grade.
The link to the Supremo is here.
Nicaragua Diamond - sticky date pudding
There are moments when you can't possibly drink more caramel and toffee in a coffee.
Almost every coffee has hints of these two flavours, but then I drink the Diamond, and it's like you rediscovered a new variety of caramel and toffee all over again.
It's Moorish; try and stop at one cup.
The link to Nicaragua Diamond (referred to as SHG) is here.
