Expensive Coffee - Worth it?

I think it is a bit difficult for some people who are new to specialty coffee to justify spending more money when they buy a bag of coffee beans. They are wary that these more expensive coffees won’t be a good value purchase for them as they fear that the amount that they pay won’t be commensurate to the quality of the coffee, and consequently won't offer much improvement to their overall coffee experience. In this blog post, we aim to talk about what consumers can expect to receive when they opt to buy more expensive beans from quality focused coffee roasters.

Higher Green Bean Quality - Broadly speaking, consumers should expect to get coffee that possesses good flavour characteristics should they choose to buy more expensive beans. It means that the flavour descriptors in the bag are desirable and that these flavors manifest themselves with a clarity and intensity that is easy to detect and appreciate. Buying higher quality coffee beans also has the advantage of being easier to brew. Generally speaking, these coffees are very easy and forgiving to brew and thus will more consistently produce tasty coffees over a broader range of brewing methods and brewing recipes. 

More Money Paid to Farmers - The bulk of the work that goes into making a delicious cup of coffee is done at the farm level. When you are enjoying a sweet, clean, and delicious cup of coffee, that is a result of much deliberate and focused effort on the part of the producer. Coffee producers spend a lot of time and resources planning, preparing, and processing specialty coffee with the goal of increasing cup quality and consistency. While this is more costly than more commercial-oriented coffee, farming for specialty coffee can reward the coffee producer with tastier coffees that can sell for higher prices.

Higher Quality Control - This refers to the protocols in place in the roastery, the amount of education and the equipment that the business has invested in to ensure that each coffee bag that leaves the roastery is of a certain standard. 

These include but are not limited to:

1. When a roasted batch is not up to a certain standard, the roastery will opt not to sell it.

2. Multiple test roasts in order to determine a suitable roast profile for a specific coffee.

3. Investment in devices such as color trackers, refractometers, etc in order to determine consistency and quality of roasted coffee 

These are just some of the reasons why you might want to consider buying relatively more expensive coffees from reputable roasters. Give it a try, you might be surprised with the flavours you taste in the cup!