# Anyone tried this company?



## nicespresso (Oct 6, 2011)

Hi Everyone,

I normally buy my coffee beans from Square Mile Roasters , however I stumbled across this site the other day (Markus Coffee) http://www.markuscoffee.com .http://www.markuscoffee.com

Has anyone tried their blends or beans...in particular their regent and negresco?? Prices are cheap so im tempted to give them a go.

Cheers

Nic


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## nicespresso (Oct 6, 2011)

I took the risk and ordered 250grams of their regent and negresco blend and 250grams of their espresso blend ,which i received today... both very nice. Regent and negresco was smooth, espresso blend was a bit strong for my girlfriend though.( we are no coffee experts though)! Nice packaging as well.


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## ~ Sea Chief ~ (Sep 20, 2011)

Looks a nice site, but £4.50 for 250gms 'cheap'? crikey Im in the wrong game here. After just getting a gaagia classic Ive been shocked at how much coffee it uses compared to my mokapot for eg. I now get thru a bag a week (only 3 single shots a day) & so Im having to resort to the very cheapest beans I can possibly find, instead of my fav Monmouth beans :-( ie £2.19 for 250gm of rubbish beans from tesco ..now that's cheap.

I need to find out if there's a 1/4 or 1/3rd ie anything smaller to the "single" Portafilter basket (seems a helluva lot of coffee for a single/ heaven knows how much beanage my double one uses!) or I'll be resorting back to the mokapot at this rate.

Anyone know the very -very- cheapest beans available in UK? say for 0.5 kg?

thanks, chief.


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## nicespresso (Oct 6, 2011)

Hi Sea Chief,

I think the price is cheaper than alot of the other companies out there, and I must say their coffee was terrific.

I think the cheapest coffee ive ever seen on sale is the basic value beans in my local sainsburys, i cant remember the exact price but remember thinking "damn that is cheap". Havent tried it yet though....Might be worth having a look on ebay?


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

I think £4.50 is a decent price for 250g if they are top graded arabica beans and well roasted, especially when it's over £2 for a single cup in many coffeeshops. But there's always lower grade beans as an alternative, and blends with robusta which is a less expensive bean.

Chief, if you have a freezer you could always buy several kilos of costco stuff and whack it in deep freeze.


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## lookseehear (Jul 16, 2010)

Probably not what you want to hear, but unfortunately that's just what you pay for good beans. On the upside, assuming 15g per double espresso and a 250g bag costing £5 you're looking at about 30p per drink. Compare that to espresso bought absolutely anywhere and it's cheap. Also, compare it to another speciality beverage, wine, where a small glass is going to cost you £1 and up even with cheap wine.

Obviously everyone needs to do their own cost vs benefit analysis to work out whether it's worth it, but for me it isn't worth buying a gaggia classic or similar only to use supermarket beans.


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

Oh I dunno. I just like it when people want to make espresso at home using beans rather than just opening a sachet.


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## lookseehear (Jul 16, 2010)

Hmm, maybe you're right. I think the problem for me is that very quickly you reach a point where the beans are holding you back. Would it be worth tweaking grind, tamp, temp etc to get the best shot you can when the best you can get is only ever going to be (in my opinion) below par?


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

It's a fair point, and I think it touches on something that's been playing on my mind regarding this forum. A while back I fell into the trap of thinking that everyone on here wants to make the best coffee possible, and that speciality coffee was the only option. But reading some members' posts, and their different aims, has helped me realise that I was probably inadvertently being a coffee snob, just like in that video.

This forum is great because it is not split into echelons. Some posts mentioning phrases like 'the elite', or being worried that people on here might gasp with disapproval, have worried me, and made me question whether I'm part of the problem.

I would like this forum to be here for everyone interested in coffee whatever their aims or level, from nescafe drinkers to world champions, as I think we all perhaps do







This country needs more interest in coffee, even bad coffee. Good coffee sprouts from that.


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## ~ Sea Chief ~ (Sep 20, 2011)

30p a cup.. well relative to wine that's fine with very decent beans (£4.50 is very decent in my new espresso book!). The trouble with nabbing a gaggia classic for as little as £35/ what I was going to spend on a big Bialetti mokapot, is that I didnt factor in the beanage espresso machines use.. oh well horses for courses eh.

I therefore offer up a challenge as I'd genuinely like to read the opinion of the fine coffee-buds such as yourselves: to try a bag of Co-op (dont sniff) Italian espresso beans @ £2.95/ 227gm and report back. Imo its pleasantly packed, 'fairtrade', and so far as I can tell (which is very espresso-inexperienced/ 2 weeks only) of commendable quality. And its cheap (ish). Tesco schmesco- I cant have those horrors in my grinder full stop Ive decided.

Mike I just googled Aberfoyle out of curiosity.. sounds like a really lovely spot you reside in!


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

I'll take that challenge







Like many places up here we have the big green eyesore that is The Co-op dominating the otherwise pretty main street. If they have whole beans (which is a bit doubtful considering they like to keep their product line to beneath 10 items) I'll let you know how I get on


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## vintagecigarman (Aug 10, 2009)

MikeHag said:


> It's a fair point, and I think it touches on something that's been playing on my mind regarding this forum. A while back I fell into the trap of thinking that everyone on here wants to make the best coffee possible, and that speciality coffee was the only option. But reading some members' posts, and their different aims, has helped me realise that I was probably inadvertently being a coffee snob, just like in that video.


Don't beat yourself up over being a snob, Mike - I'm sure it's not like that at all. I think that people read and join this Forum because they have an interest in improving the quality of coffee that they make at home. I'm sure that most who read our posts don't want to get to the level of enthusiasm that some of us share, but that doesn't mean that pointing in the right direction isn't a valid option.

I look back at my own years in coffee. I look at the time that I wasted using ready ground beans until someone told me about the benefit of grinding-just-before-use. And it was years after that before I learned about the difference that I could make by using high-quality, freshly-roasted beans. I'm just glad that I found my way eventually. If forums like this existed when I was younger I'd have learned the lessons a lot sooner!

One of the aspects that I love about coffee is that it is a great social leveller. Provided that you can find a good coffee shop in your home area, a cup of top-quality coffee is within anyone's financial grasp. And even if you want to make it at home, great coffee can be made for very little outlay. The affordability factor is missing in so many other gourmet areas, with really top-quality wines, spirits and food being out of reach of many. Not so with coffee. Really appeals to the un-reconstructed Marxist that's still lurking somewhere inside me!


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## AlIam (Aug 30, 2011)

I'm currently using Bialettis and they get through beans at a fair rate too. We get through ≈500g/week making about 5 cups/day. I've just started a subscription from hasbean £4/bag that currently supplies 1/2 our coffee & buy co-op beans @ £3/bag for the rest. You get an awful lot for the extra quid imo. I'll start a 2nd subscription soon now that I've confirmed that (imo at least) it's well worth paying the little extra.


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

MikeHag said:


> I'll take that challenge
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Sorry Rory... As I thought, the co-op up here doesn't do whole beans. The concept of freshly ground coffee has yet to get over Hadrian's wall.


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

~ Sea Chief ~ said:


> I therefore offer up a challenge as I'd genuinely like to read the opinion of the fine coffee-buds such as yourselves: to try a bag of Co-op (dont sniff) Italian espresso beans @ £2.95/ 227gm and report back. Imo its pleasantly packed, 'fairtrade', and so far as I can tell (which is very espresso-inexperienced/ 2 weeks only) of commendable quality. And its cheap (ish). Tesco schmesco- I cant have those horrors in my grinder full stop Ive decided.


OK Rory, I paid a rare visit to Tescos yesterday since I can't get whole beans at The Coop. I know you said you won't use Tescos, but I thought I would still have a go at using cheap beans to see how they compare. I have two bags, one their 'premium' at £2.99, 100% arabica, and the other £2.49. Will post results and maybe an extraction vid or two.


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

Hi Nic / Sea Chief

Have you weighed your doses for both Gaggia Classic and Bialetti?

They should be similar doses +/- 2g anyway

A single shot of coffee is approx 9g and a double 15-18g depending on beans/tamp style/grinder and drink preferences

£4.50 is very cheap compared to Europe and even Canada too.

Nude Espresso (London) often has a deal, buy a bag of beans for £5 in-store and get a free drink. Effectively reducing the price of the bag to £2.50


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## JohnnieWalker (Aug 24, 2011)

Interesting topic, I agree that it does get a little costly, I've tried several types of beans, illy tins, which I used to think were very good and now realise they're not, as well as supermarket beans and beans from specialist roasters.

The average cost of specialist beans seems to be around £5 for 250g, but they are far nicer than supermarket "premium" beans, the fact that they're fresh must be factored into the cost equation, as no matter how good the beans or how well they've been roasted, if they're old they are never going to taste good.

My current favourite bean is the Lusty Glaze from Hands on coffee, but the beans cost a little more, plus a small postage charge and take a day or two to arrive.

My next best solution is to use a tin of Costa Coffee beans, they only cost £3.95 for a 250g tin and in my opinion make a good coffee

The first time I ever used fresh beans I noticed an improvement in all aspects of my coffee, but then thought I could easily go back to my tin of Costa without barely noticing, however after using my bag of lusty glaze, I opened a tin of Costa beans and then realised I just couldn't get the same quality shot.

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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=53.821629,-3.026207


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