August 2022 Newsletter
The last month has been a nightmare for ensuring our green coffee supplies. The smallest price increase was 32%, the largest (Brazil) around 90%, and continued availability was not guaranteed. The advice from our green suppliers was to stock up because they don't have a clue if previously contracted shipments will actually arrive.
We would love to be able to increase our prices in proportion to the green coffee increases (we hear that there are a few islands off the Queensland coast going cheap) but doubt that we'd be able to convince our customers. Instead we'll add only the extra green coffee costs to our current prices. Yes, it will reduce our margins significantly but people will still be able to afford our beans.
As long time readers and many phone callers will know, when we stopped selling espresso equipment I started recommending the Breville Dual Boiler espresso machine, it was good value if you could get one during a "20% off all electrical goods" sale at one of the major appliance retailers. Now Breville appears to be even more committed to the world of coffee, they've just purchased our former supplier Lelit in Italy. It will be interesting to see what emerges from the takeover, because both companies have a reputation for good machines.
Hopefully the combined companies will improve the quality of the grinders that Breville produce as well. In my experience they're fairly poor, just borderline for producing real espresso grinds and built from far too many cheaply produced bits and bobs. In practical terms this makes them unrepairable. It's cheaper to throw away a broken Breville grinder and buy a new one than it is to repair it. The very best grinders have a simplicity of construction and operation. They tend to last for decades and be easily repaired when parts do wear out.
Planned obsolescence of appliances (including coffee equipment) is a concept that the world can really no longer afford. It's wasteful in all respects - materials, labour and energy consumption. When lever espresso machines went out of fashion in the early 1960s, thousands of them were scrapped, but the majority of their materials - steel, copper and brass, were recycled. Trying to do that with a modern plastic and aluminium machine is an exercise in futility.
In fact there is a growing group of people restoring vintage lever units, to the point where buying an unrestored machine with most parts intact can be more expensive than buying a brand new commercial machine. Some of the restored machines are worth more than a new car, and will still be pulling superb shots when they turn 100. For those interested there are several accounts with photos at https://www.home-barista.com/levers/
This month's special is the first time we've offered this particular Arabica varietal. Pacas is named after the family that discovered it in El Salvador, and it's a Bourbon subtype.
$64 Per Kilogram
Medium
A very clean-tasting coffee with clearly defined flavours. It has a shimmering apple acidity on the front of the tongue, a sweet middle palate and a well-defined chocolate finish with a medium body overall.
A last word on prices: It’s possible, if the Ukraine war ends, the Brazil crop situation improves and seafreight infrastructure recovers that our green coffee prices will fall. If this happens, our roasted prices will also fall.
Until October,
Alan
