And Now The End Is Near...
And now the end is near...and it is. I'll be retiring from Coffee for Connoisseurs at the end of this financial year, that is 30th June 2020 at the latest. That will represent a total of 35 years working in the coffee industry, which I reckon is enough for anyone.
At this point I have no idea of what will be happening with Coffee for Connoisseurs as a business. There have been several "Expressions of Interest" but as yet there have been no concrete proposals for someone else to take over from me. I do guarantee that service will continue as usual up until June, no matter what happens.
As for why I'm retiring, the main reason is simply that I'm old. Lumping 60kg green coffee bags around and standing next to a hot roasting machine on 35 degree days has taken its toll, and I'm well past normal retirement age. Most of my contemporaries in the business are long gone, and in some of the family concerns I'm now dealing with the grandchildren of my original friends.
The coffee industry has also changed. These days about a third of all the "non-soluble" coffee sold in the domestic market is in capsules. Ten years ago that figure was less than 5%.
Based on the current trends, within the next 10 years over half of all the roasted coffee consumed in households will be enclosed in capsules. These trends have affected all facets of the "domestic" coffee markets, from the sales of simple brewers like plungers and moka pots to home espresso machines.
Fortunately for me this revolution came about at the same time as I was ready to start winding down, which allowed me to simplify things down to my current position. In the vein of more simplification, the newsletter will now be bi-monthly instead of monthly. I've been putting out the newsletters for over 20 years now and I really don't have much left to say about coffee. There will still be a special, though, and this one's a beauty.
El Salavador Los Luchadores Pacamara
$55.00/kg
This is a Pacas/Maragogype hybrid. It has a sweet creamy front palate with mild acidity, a toast and butterscotch middle palate and a really smooth soft finish.
Until next time
Alan
