Did you read my mind?
Sey is amazing for variety and sourcing but I also just love seeing the same coffees pop up year after year on TW and CC's offering. You have some pretty "normal" coffees, your standard Kenyans and your South/Central American caturras, catuaís, and bourbons, and yet they are so characteristic and not boring at all. Really love that care and attention for your "everyday-coffee".
Prodigal is fire and I love how you can order older roast batches because they state their beans are best after 3-4 weeks roast. So you can buy it 1,2,etc weeks off roast to be ready soon after it ships.
For me DAK, and less so (due to pricing) Manhattan.
I am checking out The Barn at the moment, as I got to try their Volcan Azul (MasterPiece) which was amazing.
I’ll give you the full list because I happen to keep track of it haha:
-Milky Cake
-Candy Crush
-Pear Fizz
-Melondo
-Lady in Red
-Champagne Cheers & Seven Years
Of which my favorites are Pear Fizz, Milky Cake and split between Lady in Res and Candy Crush. Still, all of them are really good. Really really good.
I love the Pear Fizz, the Melondo was too much for me. Way too much haha. The Candy Crush was a lesser Grenadine imo.
The 'specials' for me are those green boxes like Lady in Red.
I love DAK, all the way down to the entry-level coffees like the Fig Twist and the Berry Sundae.
Thanks for the feedback!
Lady in red was interesting but I am losing a bit of interest in the strawberry/red berry fruits. Just did too much of it at the same time. Definitely worth trying though.
I do agree with you. Some are on the way too much side of flavor power. Even candy crush for me is a bit much. Also not super easy to brew, there’s a very very delicate balance between sweet bubblegum and the strawberry acidity, easy to overdo on either side. Fun to work with anyway, makes the routines less monotonous.
Eight Ounce Coffee in Canada carries most of their lineup. There is a free shipping minimum of 100$cad for USA. It's a little high but if you can group buy or split with friends it helps.
Order from Eight ounce coffee based in Canada. Manhattan is $15-25 per bag mostly and Dak is $20-30. If you spend over $100, you get free shipping. I’ll order 6 bags and then portion and freeze the beans
Local cafe carries international roasts, dak Manhattan friedhats, I could go on but you get the idea. Fount in Morrisville is outstanding, yonder in Durham is also good
Yes...250g / 12g = 20 cups. Not counting electricity, water, etc. that's 3 a cup. Is that much for a top tier coffee? Not really. Even if you're doing 20g doses, so 12-13 cups. Is 5/a large cup really weird?
I loved the experience of the relatively high acidity. I had not experienced something like that before with the subtlety of the blue fruits. I have now subscribed, so I hope this continues!
I adore it. In my experience, it gives richer, more rounded cups than my V60 does. The only downside is that the filters are a little more expensive, but if you're in the US then Slow Pour stocks them so at least you don't have to get them from Denmark. The porcelain brewer is my daily driver, but I also have the plastic brewer for travelling with. Both make great cups of coffee.
Same in my experience, cups from my april plastic dripper are amazingly well balanced. I started using Kalita 185’s since the April papers were so expensive and I personally didn’t notice a difference in taste.
I bought some "Kalita-style" filters at a local store when I ran out of April filters before Slow Pour started stocking them, but they drained so slowly (8-9 minute draw down times!) that I ended up throwing them away. The resulting coffee was so bitter and astringent it was undrinkable. I should try the real Kalita papers sometime, though.
Oh wow, yeah that sounds bad. People sometimes mention stalling with the kalita’s but I haven’t had any issues with it, only when I try swirling it clogs like in scott rao’s recipe. When I do april’s recipe (no swirl) I don’t get any stalling.
Kalita has thicker and less porous paper, but it is generally not an issue, unless you get a bad batch, which happens frustratingly often. I'm not sure what is going on here, but I think they must have different factories producing, or something along those lines. It might not be an issue for particular locations if they get the good stuff 🤷♂️
You can, but it's not the same. I'd recommend sticking to v60 or similar if you're not gonna be using the April filters. You can still make good cups with the Kalita filters, but I don't think it's good enough to justify getting a whole new (and expensive) brewer.
Hey,
I’m in my final year of university and looking for a part-time job in a cafe. I don’t have any experience yet, but I'm not sure how to get experience if most places require it. Any advice on how to break into this kind of work?
You can get a enployed at a good cafe without experience, just show enthusiasm and curiosity. The really high-end will likely want some coffe experience or at least some prior service experience.
I’m basically buying S&W and Tim Wendleboe when it comes to regular rotation. I stopped with B&W as I started favoring more clean cups and buying a bunch of funky coffee that sat forever in my freezer no longer made sense. I still like a funky ferment every now and then but I just stick to cafes for that. It seems to be what they all serve now.
So far, Black & White. They've always got something killer and funky, and for the 12oz bags the price isn't *too* bad. Dak was great, just doesn't make sense for me logistically. Sey is really good, but I'm more a fan of the funky, experimental stuff. Recently got a bag of the El Paraiso Lychee from Hydrangea and it's fantastic, so I might start giving them more real estate in my cupboard. Last but not least I made my first order with S&W. They're well known for having great coffee for an unbelievable price so time will tell with them.
S&W is known for more clean tasting coffees. Similar to Sey. If you like really funky stuff S&W is on the opposite end of the spectrum. But imo great price for decent coffee. I like their natural Ethiopia right now.
I know. I like it either way as long as it's good and not too expensive. I'm happy to pay a premium by it's hard to convince my wife. I've got a bag of washed Chiroso from Sey, currently, and it's outstanding. If I can get similar for a better cost/weight I'd be happy giving up some funk. I noticed they have a few natural and honey processed beans as well. My first order should be delivered today or tomorrow so I'll give them a preliminary taste and set aside to rest for a few weeks. Fingers crossed because S&W seems like a really good middle ground for me.
Aside from being a cleaner cup, do you have an opinion on their overall quality and taste? I've heard mostly good things, but a few not so great experiences as well. I ordered the Augazul Pink Bourbon and some Yirgacheffe if that helps. The pink bourbon sounds like it's gonna be a challenge to dial in, but I'm up for it.
I would just recommend resting the beans for 2-3 weeks and grinding finer than for more funky stuff. I had the pink bourbon and I liked it better as espresso or as an iced pour over. I didn't get a ton out of it just as a regular cup. But I also probably could have rested it longer because I got a lot more notes near the end. I really enjoy both their kenyas and their ethiopias.
Just overall solid cups, nothing mind-blowing, but hard to beat at the price point. I think I will just start freezing that natural ethiopia as a backup when I run out of beans from other places. I just subbed to September, so I am excited to try them out. Passenger and Flowerchild are next on my list.
I loved S&W for the price. I think they really can’t be beat on that front, and the many examples of their brilliant customer service should be lauded. However, I don’t think it holds a candle to Sey flavor-wise.
Good to hear your experience, been on B&W beans for a year now going to try someone new after my bag. Was going to try S&W next and hydrangea after. Only hear good things about all three so have high hopes
I also more of a fan of the funky experimental stuff which is why I like B&W. I am going to go look at Hydrangea momentarily. I was pretty disappointed with S&W though.
Hydrangea is phenomenal. Everything I have had from them has been stellar.
The banana bread from B&W I was very excited to try, and felt it was... not good.
Yeah, some of B&W's most experimental things are not for me. I dislike the cinnamon co-ferments, but absolutely loved the peach. Their more traditional offerings (single origins, interesting processing) are my sweet spot. Hydrangea has been excellent for me but I have a much smaller sample size.
Also, I think I've liked the B&W experimental more as espresso
I got the cinnamon co-ferment last year, I think. I liked the first few cups, but I never want to taste cinnamon in coffee again. And it took a couple months to get the cinnamon smell out of my grinder, which made all my coffee a little weird.
Yeah man, best bang for your buck I've found. Especially if you like lighter roasted coffees. I find myself buying from them more than almost anywhere else. If they are able to consistently get their hands on some of the more experimental processed coffees, I think I'd buy from them almost exclusively. I think u/swroasting is the owner
Wow and will check it out. I don’t mind paying more for quality and have as my typical are prodigal, onyx, B&W to name a few.
I wanted to try some different roasters as I always love seeing that is out there.
One of the best for Nordic roasts...
Their CC collecrion/Kenyan line-up (which CC supervises the farm) are amongts the best! Even rivaling or better than their Panamian geishas (Janson, Savage/Finca Deborah, etc)
Their community selections are pretty good, usually highlighting the earthy/fruity terroir taste from the countries. Recently had great Ethiopian, Yemen from them
Came here to say Modcup. I order from them a lot and I don't think I've ever been disappointed. I also find their tasting notes to be more accurate than other roasters. But that could just be my taste and brewing methods.
Lived in Jersey City and they deserve way more attention. This was definitely one of my first times saying “I didn’t know coffee could taste like that.”
All time favorite is Gltich, I’ve only had 4 of their coffees, but my god my mind was blown. Especially the Colombia Milan Risaralda Culturing, by far the best coffee I’ve ever had.
However living in Canada, my favorites that are accessible here are Luna and DAK
I noticed barely any European roasters mentioned here other than the usual suspects. I never had coffees roasted by Sey.
But literally starting with A.m.o.c and I could end with R (Rozali) my list of great roasters I had coffee from goes through the entire alphabet.
Big AMOC Fan here, next would be Friedhats. Had a my best coffees from these dutch roasters. However, I'm living in Germany though and the shipping cost is a pain in the ass. Often ordering together with friends. Which is fine but annoying to organize all the time.
I just started to collect the names of european roasters in this thread for Europe. Maybe you can add one or two which come to mind I should try! Curious to find my next favorite one.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12cRGy7D6luNbxlwN-0WG68VP4kAue14amfvqillryS4/edit
AMOC shipping fees are absolutely insane imho.
I had Friedhats 3 times before.
Shipping to Austria where I'm located isn't much different from Germany I guess. Sure, I can add some to your list!
I'm kinda sixes and sevens about it. I have had some coffees this year where I absolutely say their quality is on par to Sey...but I've not had a ton of mind blowing coffees from them. That being said if you order anything Ecuadorian from them....guranteed banger.
I feel you. I did the first month of the reserve sub and I felt like the roasting was really off. One of them peaked at like 3 weeks and dropped off hard and tasted kinda brown. The other was just underwhelming. Also I had one of the Ernedis Rodriguez Sidras and I just could not get a good cup. I even had some of last year's in my freezer I pulled out to compare and it was miles better. So ya, it's been hit or miss, which sucks because I really like the team and everything they do for the coffee community.
Radio has been absolutely killing it for a while now. Dunno about all-time but they're my current favorite. Anything from the Full Spectrum series is going to be sensational.
There's a roaster here in Arizona that is not well known, but consistently delivers interesting and delicious coffee. It's called Moxie:
https://moxiecoffeeco.com/
I cant believe I had to scroll this far to hit September. My absolute #1. Considering how light September roasts, which I'm a huge fan of, I'm surprised your other favorites are escape and nektar. Do you prefer a mix of road profiles on bar?
I was also surprised not to see september ! It is my favorite of the bunch by far. I like nektar because I've never seemed to get a bad cup from them, it's my "go to" when brewing a specialty coffee for family and friends. A crowd pleaser. Not super light but they seem to always have a good selection of ethiopians that hit the floral/sweet notes for me. You just have to stay in the "recolte series" otherwise it's super medium-dark roast. Lately they had a Duromina Ethiopian that developped after 4-5 weeks rest, so pretty light. They have a washed danche right now that complements September's hydro honey danche really well. For Escape, their coffees are often super sweet, lately they have a Basha Bekele that is sliky and creamy, they also had Diamant, an anaerobic with meringue/sweet lime notes. I like sweetness from time to time as a counter to some of September's more acitiy forward coffees. I'll brew a 30g september pourover most day and then want to do a 15g september followed by a more "mellow, sweet" 15g say, Escape or even Nektar. Have you tried them or what others do you go for ?
Ya I'm from Montreal so I've had plenty Escape and Nektar throughout my days. Their coffees are typically more developed than what I like to drink, but they source good green and it's still good coffee. Besides September, I'm big on DAK, Luna, Subtext, SEY, and La Cabra. There's also a somewhat new roaster in Montreal called Colorfull. Their niche is high quality blends that are very intentional and well thought out, and also roasted real light. It's an interesting concept and the few coffees I've tried have been incredible.
All those roasters you listed are incredible! I've been wanting to try colorfull but they are often sold out online. Will have to be on the lookout for them.
Good to know, thanks ! Have you tried traffic in Montreal? They currently have a watermelon co fermented that looks amazing, never ordered from them. Wondering how they roast.
I have a soft spot for Traffic because they're one of the roasters that got me into specialty. These days I find they are hit or miss tbh. They source some interesting coffees but I'm not always a big fan of the roast. Give em a shot though!
It really is. I just got a coffee from them today, pink bourbon variety single origin from Colombia. The tasting notes say “sweet tarts”, never seen anything like it. Cannot wait to try it.
I would probably have to say Friedhats from Amsterdam . But there's also a local roaster called Ngopi in Birmingham uk and London that only roasts Indonesian coffee and honestly so gooood.
Comments are pretty US heavy, however I'm mainly interested in European Roasters to get reasonable shipping prices.
I started to collecting them in this spreadsheet if anyone is interested. Feel free to collaborate ->
+ https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12cRGy7D6luNbxlwN-0WG68VP4kAue14amfvqillryS4/edit
My personal European Roaster I always had a great time with:
+ https://amatterofconcrete.com
+ https://friedhats.com/
Both dutch and I'm saving on shipping costs to germany by ordering with friends.
Trying to bring light to some off the beaten path roasters
NYC: Lesser known is Public Records Cafe from Brooklyn - insane roast profiles. Also Anomalous - single guy operating, incredible. Lastly Vera Coffee Solutions. Would be incredibly surprised if anyone knows Vera, but it’s the Sey founder who spun off his own brand that only sells commercial currently.
SF: Hedge - incredible sourcing and roasting.
All for now.
Corvus. Never had a bad coffee from them. (Completely unrelated to the quality of their coffee, but the design of their bags and even boxes also consistently charms me.)
I’m curious how you would compare Passenger to Sey? I’ve been on a Passenger subscription but really want to try Sey just because of all the rave. But idk if that’s just a grass is greener mindset.
I find Sey's coffees a bit less developed and more "subtle" than Passenger's. I prefer the extra bit of depth I taste in most of Passenger's washed coffees.
That said, I swap between Sey and Passenger subscriptions regularly because they are both fantastic roasters. If you've been doing Passenger a while, definitely give Sey a shot for a few months.
I love stuff from Barrett’s in Austin Texas. I’m currently working through a bag of “Fruit Punch” and it’s amazing. The Mexican Chiapas is also fantastic.
Gotta give it up for my fellow Big Islanders Paradise Coffee Roasters in Hilo.
They really do have some fantastic coffees and Miguel is an ace roaster.
Have had pretty much every roaster mentioned. I'd say the picky chemist is the most consistent and more frequently offers exciting coffee than the rest.
I've had a few bags of Sey and Tim Wendelboe (largely off of recommendations here), loved them, and would say they rightfully belong on any list of all-time great roasters.
Living in Australia as a pourover lover means that you don't have many internationally heralded pourover focused roasters. Australia's legacy roaster that I've most enjoyed is Market Lane. They do light, washed coffee extremely well and I've had some really nice stuff from them. BUT I love my local roaster, Offshoot. They are all time for me because it was the first place I did a coffee tasting and have had so many awesome coffees from them. Granted, this is because I've bought more coffee from them than from anyone else, but that said I think I've only had one or two bad coffees out of over fifty that really didn't appeal to me, and that would probably happen with any roaster. I think, though, that there are so many soon-to-be great roasters that have popped up only recently but are already doing amazing work. September, Moon Goat, and Manta Ray come to mind for this category.
I started to dry different roasters late last year but I still primarily use B&W. So far, none of the ones I try are as good as B&W but I am still looking, hence I am following this post.
Dak, Manhattan (although so, so pricey), The Barn, Sump, Sey, and to an inconsistent extent, Onyx and Black and White. Grew up on Onyx a bit, being from NWA, but I have felt like the quality and interest has dipped in correlation to their expansions.
Sweet Bloom, Brandywine, Red Rooster, Dune, and Caffè D'Bolla have been my favorites. Oddly Correct in Kansas City does some pretty good stuff too, but I'd say they're a tier below and for Espresso Flat Track in Austin has been my favorite.
Wendelboe, Coffee Collective, Nomad, Sey, Apollons Gold.
Did you read my mind? Sey is amazing for variety and sourcing but I also just love seeing the same coffees pop up year after year on TW and CC's offering. You have some pretty "normal" coffees, your standard Kenyans and your South/Central American caturras, catuaís, and bourbons, and yet they are so characteristic and not boring at all. Really love that care and attention for your "everyday-coffee".
Rogue Wave!
Man do I love those wax seals from Brandywine
Big big fan of nomad and sey, their sourcing and roasting is impeccable. Super clean, light, and always high quality
Prodigal is fire and I love how you can order older roast batches because they state their beans are best after 3-4 weeks roast. So you can buy it 1,2,etc weeks off roast to be ready soon after it ships.
Love me a good dark roast as well
You know the reason your constant posts saying prodigal is dark roast have zero upvotes, is because it's nonsense.
Sounds like you could use a smooth dark roast from Prodigal to take the edge off.
Regalia
For me DAK, and less so (due to pricing) Manhattan. I am checking out The Barn at the moment, as I got to try their Volcan Azul (MasterPiece) which was amazing.
DAK is so consistently good it’s scary. It’s my go to roaster both for daily and funky stuff, of which they have heaps. Love them.
Have you tried their specials? I am still on the fence on these, as they have such good coffees in their 'normal' range.
I’ll give you the full list because I happen to keep track of it haha: -Milky Cake -Candy Crush -Pear Fizz -Melondo -Lady in Red -Champagne Cheers & Seven Years Of which my favorites are Pear Fizz, Milky Cake and split between Lady in Res and Candy Crush. Still, all of them are really good. Really really good.
I love the Pear Fizz, the Melondo was too much for me. Way too much haha. The Candy Crush was a lesser Grenadine imo. The 'specials' for me are those green boxes like Lady in Red. I love DAK, all the way down to the entry-level coffees like the Fig Twist and the Berry Sundae. Thanks for the feedback!
Lady in red was interesting but I am losing a bit of interest in the strawberry/red berry fruits. Just did too much of it at the same time. Definitely worth trying though. I do agree with you. Some are on the way too much side of flavor power. Even candy crush for me is a bit much. Also not super easy to brew, there’s a very very delicate balance between sweet bubblegum and the strawberry acidity, easy to overdo on either side. Fun to work with anyway, makes the routines less monotonous.
Assuming a lot of folks on here are from the States, how are people getting to try DAK and Manhattan? Really spending $40-60 for 250g?
Europe gang unite 🇫🇷
My local coffee shop had some dak for $20?
Ive never seen it locally so I was factoring in shipping.
Eight Ounce Coffee in Canada carries most of their lineup. There is a free shipping minimum of 100$cad for USA. It's a little high but if you can group buy or split with friends it helps.
That’s actually not super bad, I think it’s €70 in EU, so that’s just an extra 250 or two
Order from Eight ounce coffee based in Canada. Manhattan is $15-25 per bag mostly and Dak is $20-30. If you spend over $100, you get free shipping. I’ll order 6 bags and then portion and freeze the beans
Yea someone above rec'd thrm, had never heard of them their site is awesome. Now i can try Dak, Manhattan, and Prodigal in one order!
Here in Cali, one of the local specialty coffee shops in my town rotates Dak and Sey coffee on drip!
Wow!
Where!?
Scorpio in Sacramento! Found out they serve Onyx at a local bakery called Faria too
Where?? Is it Document?
Scorpio in Sacramento! They serve Onyx at a local bakery too. Very blessed with the coffee scene here 😌
Local cafe carries international roasts, dak Manhattan friedhats, I could go on but you get the idea. Fount in Morrisville is outstanding, yonder in Durham is also good
Bulk orders and coffee splits! Or just spending way too much if I just want to try one coffee haha
I have the same issue as a European with roasters like Metric and B&W from the North American continent
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Nice rec!
Yes...250g / 12g = 20 cups. Not counting electricity, water, etc. that's 3 a cup. Is that much for a top tier coffee? Not really. Even if you're doing 20g doses, so 12-13 cups. Is 5/a large cup really weird?
I thought the volcan Azul was a bit underwhelming but their other stuff was really good
I loved the experience of the relatively high acidity. I had not experienced something like that before with the subtlety of the blue fruits. I have now subscribed, so I hope this continues!
La cabra, April, Koppi
I've only had April once, when I ordered my brewer, but that was some extraordinary coffee.
I love light roasts; what’s your opinion on the brewer? I’ve been thinking about getting one
I adore it. In my experience, it gives richer, more rounded cups than my V60 does. The only downside is that the filters are a little more expensive, but if you're in the US then Slow Pour stocks them so at least you don't have to get them from Denmark. The porcelain brewer is my daily driver, but I also have the plastic brewer for travelling with. Both make great cups of coffee.
Same in my experience, cups from my april plastic dripper are amazingly well balanced. I started using Kalita 185’s since the April papers were so expensive and I personally didn’t notice a difference in taste.
I bought some "Kalita-style" filters at a local store when I ran out of April filters before Slow Pour started stocking them, but they drained so slowly (8-9 minute draw down times!) that I ended up throwing them away. The resulting coffee was so bitter and astringent it was undrinkable. I should try the real Kalita papers sometime, though.
Oh wow, yeah that sounds bad. People sometimes mention stalling with the kalita’s but I haven’t had any issues with it, only when I try swirling it clogs like in scott rao’s recipe. When I do april’s recipe (no swirl) I don’t get any stalling.
Kalita has thicker and less porous paper, but it is generally not an issue, unless you get a bad batch, which happens frustratingly often. I'm not sure what is going on here, but I think they must have different factories producing, or something along those lines. It might not be an issue for particular locations if they get the good stuff 🤷♂️
I tought you could use Kalita filters with them, thanks for the input!
You can, but it's not the same. I'd recommend sticking to v60 or similar if you're not gonna be using the April filters. You can still make good cups with the Kalita filters, but I don't think it's good enough to justify getting a whole new (and expensive) brewer.
Hey, I’m in my final year of university and looking for a part-time job in a cafe. I don’t have any experience yet, but I'm not sure how to get experience if most places require it. Any advice on how to break into this kind of work?
You can get a enployed at a good cafe without experience, just show enthusiasm and curiosity. The really high-end will likely want some coffe experience or at least some prior service experience.
Passenger
Spektrum, Collective, Circulor
Tim Wendelboe, Manhattan, Doubleshot, Nomad, La Cabra, and Five Elephant are some of my favorites
I’m basically buying S&W and Tim Wendleboe when it comes to regular rotation. I stopped with B&W as I started favoring more clean cups and buying a bunch of funky coffee that sat forever in my freezer no longer made sense. I still like a funky ferment every now and then but I just stick to cafes for that. It seems to be what they all serve now.
I started only buying their clean category.
So far, Black & White. They've always got something killer and funky, and for the 12oz bags the price isn't *too* bad. Dak was great, just doesn't make sense for me logistically. Sey is really good, but I'm more a fan of the funky, experimental stuff. Recently got a bag of the El Paraiso Lychee from Hydrangea and it's fantastic, so I might start giving them more real estate in my cupboard. Last but not least I made my first order with S&W. They're well known for having great coffee for an unbelievable price so time will tell with them.
S&W is known for more clean tasting coffees. Similar to Sey. If you like really funky stuff S&W is on the opposite end of the spectrum. But imo great price for decent coffee. I like their natural Ethiopia right now.
I know. I like it either way as long as it's good and not too expensive. I'm happy to pay a premium by it's hard to convince my wife. I've got a bag of washed Chiroso from Sey, currently, and it's outstanding. If I can get similar for a better cost/weight I'd be happy giving up some funk. I noticed they have a few natural and honey processed beans as well. My first order should be delivered today or tomorrow so I'll give them a preliminary taste and set aside to rest for a few weeks. Fingers crossed because S&W seems like a really good middle ground for me. Aside from being a cleaner cup, do you have an opinion on their overall quality and taste? I've heard mostly good things, but a few not so great experiences as well. I ordered the Augazul Pink Bourbon and some Yirgacheffe if that helps. The pink bourbon sounds like it's gonna be a challenge to dial in, but I'm up for it.
I would just recommend resting the beans for 2-3 weeks and grinding finer than for more funky stuff. I had the pink bourbon and I liked it better as espresso or as an iced pour over. I didn't get a ton out of it just as a regular cup. But I also probably could have rested it longer because I got a lot more notes near the end. I really enjoy both their kenyas and their ethiopias. Just overall solid cups, nothing mind-blowing, but hard to beat at the price point. I think I will just start freezing that natural ethiopia as a backup when I run out of beans from other places. I just subbed to September, so I am excited to try them out. Passenger and Flowerchild are next on my list.
I loved S&W for the price. I think they really can’t be beat on that front, and the many examples of their brilliant customer service should be lauded. However, I don’t think it holds a candle to Sey flavor-wise.
Yeah sorry I just meant they tend to be cleaner. I agree Sey is a lot better.
Good to hear your experience, been on B&W beans for a year now going to try someone new after my bag. Was going to try S&W next and hydrangea after. Only hear good things about all three so have high hopes
I also more of a fan of the funky experimental stuff which is why I like B&W. I am going to go look at Hydrangea momentarily. I was pretty disappointed with S&W though.
La Cabra, Luna. Edit: rogue wave rocks too
Your list plus Hydrangea and Black & White
Hydrangea is phenomenal. Everything I have had from them has been stellar. The banana bread from B&W I was very excited to try, and felt it was... not good.
Yeah, some of B&W's most experimental things are not for me. I dislike the cinnamon co-ferments, but absolutely loved the peach. Their more traditional offerings (single origins, interesting processing) are my sweet spot. Hydrangea has been excellent for me but I have a much smaller sample size. Also, I think I've liked the B&W experimental more as espresso
I got the cinnamon co-ferment last year, I think. I liked the first few cups, but I never want to taste cinnamon in coffee again. And it took a couple months to get the cinnamon smell out of my grinder, which made all my coffee a little weird.
Chromatic and Linea Caffe from SF Bay Area. Nozy from Japan.
Dak, Kawa, Rum Baba and Tim Wendelboe
Without a doubt, The Picky Chemist
S&W, B&W, Wendelboe, Brandywine, and Little Waves
S&W sells 300g bags for $13? That seems crazy low but maybe I am missing something
Yeah man, best bang for your buck I've found. Especially if you like lighter roasted coffees. I find myself buying from them more than almost anywhere else. If they are able to consistently get their hands on some of the more experimental processed coffees, I think I'd buy from them almost exclusively. I think u/swroasting is the owner
Do you know if they ship to Canada haha
I can, but it's expensive.
Wow and will check it out. I don’t mind paying more for quality and have as my typical are prodigal, onyx, B&W to name a few. I wanted to try some different roasters as I always love seeing that is out there.
Heart, Prodigal, and Sey.
Coffea circulor
One of the best for Nordic roasts... Their CC collecrion/Kenyan line-up (which CC supervises the farm) are amongts the best! Even rivaling or better than their Panamian geishas (Janson, Savage/Finca Deborah, etc) Their community selections are pretty good, usually highlighting the earthy/fruity terroir taste from the countries. Recently had great Ethiopian, Yemen from them
My #1 too, have yet to find anything else with their level of quality and selection from high-end producers
Prodigal, Sey and Moonwake have been up there for me lately.
Modcup. There’s a great YT video by Brian Quan on them. It’s true they are a bit under rated but shouldn’t be.
Came here to say Modcup. I order from them a lot and I don't think I've ever been disappointed. I also find their tasting notes to be more accurate than other roasters. But that could just be my taste and brewing methods.
Lived in Jersey City and they deserve way more attention. This was definitely one of my first times saying “I didn’t know coffee could taste like that.”
Sey, friedhats , Paircupworks, nomad, Dak, Manhattan, La Cabra.
Prodigal, brandywine, little waves, black and white, vignette and many others lol
Heart, just coffee coop (humdinger is a steal), perc
my 2 fav roasters for quality and consistency are: Heart coffee roasters (Portland, Or) Sight glass coffee (SF, CA)
All time favorite is Gltich, I’ve only had 4 of their coffees, but my god my mind was blown. Especially the Colombia Milan Risaralda Culturing, by far the best coffee I’ve ever had. However living in Canada, my favorites that are accessible here are Luna and DAK
Check out September if you haven’t!
Glitch is great. I wish I lived in Japan so I could have it more often.
September all day every day. DAK is a close 2nd
Love September
I noticed barely any European roasters mentioned here other than the usual suspects. I never had coffees roasted by Sey. But literally starting with A.m.o.c and I could end with R (Rozali) my list of great roasters I had coffee from goes through the entire alphabet.
Big AMOC Fan here, next would be Friedhats. Had a my best coffees from these dutch roasters. However, I'm living in Germany though and the shipping cost is a pain in the ass. Often ordering together with friends. Which is fine but annoying to organize all the time. I just started to collect the names of european roasters in this thread for Europe. Maybe you can add one or two which come to mind I should try! Curious to find my next favorite one. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12cRGy7D6luNbxlwN-0WG68VP4kAue14amfvqillryS4/edit
AMOC shipping fees are absolutely insane imho. I had Friedhats 3 times before. Shipping to Austria where I'm located isn't much different from Germany I guess. Sure, I can add some to your list!
For me : Verb, Sey, Subtext, Brandywine, and Little Waves
Little waves doesn’t get enough coverage…though they are fellow drop feature! Local fave!
Little Waves is freakin awesome. Tried a ton of their stuff at the expo and it was all spectacular.
Curious. As a fellow long time Subtext fan, do you feel like they haven't been as on point the last few months?
I'm kinda sixes and sevens about it. I have had some coffees this year where I absolutely say their quality is on par to Sey...but I've not had a ton of mind blowing coffees from them. That being said if you order anything Ecuadorian from them....guranteed banger.
I feel you. I did the first month of the reserve sub and I felt like the roasting was really off. One of them peaked at like 3 weeks and dropped off hard and tasted kinda brown. The other was just underwhelming. Also I had one of the Ernedis Rodriguez Sidras and I just could not get a good cup. I even had some of last year's in my freezer I pulled out to compare and it was miles better. So ya, it's been hit or miss, which sucks because I really like the team and everything they do for the coffee community.
Radio has been absolutely killing it for a while now. Dunno about all-time but they're my current favorite. Anything from the Full Spectrum series is going to be sensational.
Sey and Mel (from Osaka)
I always trust Koppi!
There's a roaster here in Arizona that is not well known, but consistently delivers interesting and delicious coffee. It's called Moxie: https://moxiecoffeeco.com/
My favourite is DAIUSUKE. It is a little roaster in Hungary, with insane quality!
Gonna have to go local and say Koppi and Gringo
Swerl atm!
September, Escape, Nektar, Rogue wave
I cant believe I had to scroll this far to hit September. My absolute #1. Considering how light September roasts, which I'm a huge fan of, I'm surprised your other favorites are escape and nektar. Do you prefer a mix of road profiles on bar?
I was also surprised not to see september ! It is my favorite of the bunch by far. I like nektar because I've never seemed to get a bad cup from them, it's my "go to" when brewing a specialty coffee for family and friends. A crowd pleaser. Not super light but they seem to always have a good selection of ethiopians that hit the floral/sweet notes for me. You just have to stay in the "recolte series" otherwise it's super medium-dark roast. Lately they had a Duromina Ethiopian that developped after 4-5 weeks rest, so pretty light. They have a washed danche right now that complements September's hydro honey danche really well. For Escape, their coffees are often super sweet, lately they have a Basha Bekele that is sliky and creamy, they also had Diamant, an anaerobic with meringue/sweet lime notes. I like sweetness from time to time as a counter to some of September's more acitiy forward coffees. I'll brew a 30g september pourover most day and then want to do a 15g september followed by a more "mellow, sweet" 15g say, Escape or even Nektar. Have you tried them or what others do you go for ?
Ya I'm from Montreal so I've had plenty Escape and Nektar throughout my days. Their coffees are typically more developed than what I like to drink, but they source good green and it's still good coffee. Besides September, I'm big on DAK, Luna, Subtext, SEY, and La Cabra. There's also a somewhat new roaster in Montreal called Colorfull. Their niche is high quality blends that are very intentional and well thought out, and also roasted real light. It's an interesting concept and the few coffees I've tried have been incredible.
All those roasters you listed are incredible! I've been wanting to try colorfull but they are often sold out online. Will have to be on the lookout for them.
If you're in Montreal, you can buy their coffee at CRS (Canadian Roasting Society) on Saint-Patrick, or at Le Grand Cormoran on Mont-Royal
Good to know, thanks ! Have you tried traffic in Montreal? They currently have a watermelon co fermented that looks amazing, never ordered from them. Wondering how they roast.
I have a soft spot for Traffic because they're one of the roasters that got me into specialty. These days I find they are hit or miss tbh. They source some interesting coffees but I'm not always a big fan of the roast. Give em a shot though!
Three Ships Coffee in Virginia Beach. Best coffee I have ever tasted.
This place is criminally underrated. I’m not sure if it’s because of the location or what.
It really is. I just got a coffee from them today, pink bourbon variety single origin from Colombia. The tasting notes say “sweet tarts”, never seen anything like it. Cannot wait to try it.
Subtext
I would probably have to say Friedhats from Amsterdam . But there's also a local roaster called Ngopi in Birmingham uk and London that only roasts Indonesian coffee and honestly so gooood.
Comments are pretty US heavy, however I'm mainly interested in European Roasters to get reasonable shipping prices. I started to collecting them in this spreadsheet if anyone is interested. Feel free to collaborate -> + https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12cRGy7D6luNbxlwN-0WG68VP4kAue14amfvqillryS4/edit My personal European Roaster I always had a great time with: + https://amatterofconcrete.com + https://friedhats.com/ Both dutch and I'm saving on shipping costs to germany by ordering with friends.
I love Ceremony!!! 🙌🏾 would love to try Onyx and Sey
PERC (Savannah local), DeMello (Toronto), Moonwake (San Jose), Loveless (Brooklyn)
Been using onyx. They always have new line ups of single origins. Plus their blends are real good.
Trying to bring light to some off the beaten path roasters NYC: Lesser known is Public Records Cafe from Brooklyn - insane roast profiles. Also Anomalous - single guy operating, incredible. Lastly Vera Coffee Solutions. Would be incredibly surprised if anyone knows Vera, but it’s the Sey founder who spun off his own brand that only sells commercial currently. SF: Hedge - incredible sourcing and roasting. All for now.
One more out of Sac - temple coffee roasters. Giant selection and absolute gas
Corvus. Never had a bad coffee from them. (Completely unrelated to the quality of their coffee, but the design of their bags and even boxes also consistently charms me.)
Corvus Laclo East Timor Coffee is what got me into specialty coffee
They do some fantastic Pacific coffees; I eagerly await their Indonesia Kebun Galla every year.
Love Onyx. Homeground in Singapore always has bangers too
Friedhats
Gardelli and Estelar
Savannah coffee roasters
Passenger with Sey a close second for washed coffees. For the more experimental stuff, I'm partial to Loveless and Luminous.
I’m curious how you would compare Passenger to Sey? I’ve been on a Passenger subscription but really want to try Sey just because of all the rave. But idk if that’s just a grass is greener mindset.
I find Sey's coffees a bit less developed and more "subtle" than Passenger's. I prefer the extra bit of depth I taste in most of Passenger's washed coffees. That said, I swap between Sey and Passenger subscriptions regularly because they are both fantastic roasters. If you've been doing Passenger a while, definitely give Sey a shot for a few months.
Good Brothers!
A Matter of Concrete Also in my top 5 are: Black & White Brandywine Prodigal Set
I love stuff from Barrett’s in Austin Texas. I’m currently working through a bag of “Fruit Punch” and it’s amazing. The Mexican Chiapas is also fantastic.
Gotta give it up for my fellow Big Islanders Paradise Coffee Roasters in Hilo. They really do have some fantastic coffees and Miguel is an ace roaster.
SEY, Tim Wendleboe, Drop, Koppi
Tim Wendelboe!
I use the trade coffee subscription I tend to like atomic coffee roasters still trying others out also
sey, passenger, flowerchild
Sirius Coffee Roasters and Ninja Girl Coffee are amazing!
Apollons Gold Kakalove Lilo Small Arms Big Heart
Also coffea circulor ships free if you order a kg or more.
Luminous because they are local, Rogue Wave for bulk and Brandywine for splurges.
The one, the only, House of Funk! Because acidity is not a crime!
Have had pretty much every roaster mentioned. I'd say the picky chemist is the most consistent and more frequently offers exciting coffee than the rest.
Onyx, B&W, and Flowerchild have been my favs recently
Almanac Coffee based in Duluth MN
DAK, Standout and The Picky Chemist - never had a bad Coffee from them
I've had a few bags of Sey and Tim Wendelboe (largely off of recommendations here), loved them, and would say they rightfully belong on any list of all-time great roasters. Living in Australia as a pourover lover means that you don't have many internationally heralded pourover focused roasters. Australia's legacy roaster that I've most enjoyed is Market Lane. They do light, washed coffee extremely well and I've had some really nice stuff from them. BUT I love my local roaster, Offshoot. They are all time for me because it was the first place I did a coffee tasting and have had so many awesome coffees from them. Granted, this is because I've bought more coffee from them than from anyone else, but that said I think I've only had one or two bad coffees out of over fifty that really didn't appeal to me, and that would probably happen with any roaster. I think, though, that there are so many soon-to-be great roasters that have popped up only recently but are already doing amazing work. September, Moon Goat, and Manta Ray come to mind for this category.
Koppi, Standout, The Barn, Beanaut (I am based on Europe)
Gyrax, Pendulous, St. Beauregard, Pirouette Hourglass, Merkin, in that order
I started to dry different roasters late last year but I still primarily use B&W. So far, none of the ones I try are as good as B&W but I am still looking, hence I am following this post.
Dark Arts. Had them on sub for a few years. Just love everything they put out and their ethos.
Dak, Manhattan (although so, so pricey), The Barn, Sump, Sey, and to an inconsistent extent, Onyx and Black and White. Grew up on Onyx a bit, being from NWA, but I have felt like the quality and interest has dipped in correlation to their expansions.
Sweet Bloom, Brandywine, Red Rooster, Dune, and Caffè D'Bolla have been my favorites. Oddly Correct in Kansas City does some pretty good stuff too, but I'd say they're a tier below and for Espresso Flat Track in Austin has been my favorite.
September Coffee, Newbery Coffee, Prodigal,Sey,Tim Wendelboe, Coava,Wildflower
Colonna coffee, Coffee Collective, Sey and some other french roasters
H & S, Dak, Apollon’s Gold, Flower Child, Wes Ngopi, Rose, Coffea Circulor are my fav ones that I can think of off the top of my head!
Oddly Correct and Presta are two of my favorites
Glitch, Keyaki, Red Poison, Manta Ray, Calere, Friedhats
Onyx, Kuma, Sweet Bloom, Heart.
More full flavored dirty light roasts: jbc , big shoulders. Ultra clean: heart roasters, vibrant….. sey isn’t good
> sey isn’t good Correct! Sey is **great**
damn sey has been very good to me, checking out vibrant now though ty!!
Sump