# Any interest in 100g taster packs of beans?



## Phobic (Aug 17, 2016)

I recently ordered a taster pack of 5x100g from a roaster as a way to try more bean varietals, process, altitude, roast levels, and country combinations.

So far it's been very successful, I've been drinking them all as V60s which has meant that dialing them in has been very quick with minimal waste, V60s don't need many beans per cup so 7 cups per bags give a good taster, I then buy a big bag of the best bean.

There are so many different combinations I'd like to do this again with more beans but unfortunately not many roasters provide samplers, and where they do it's not always the kind of bean I want to try.

The idea is that we do this ourselves instead.

We buy 1Kg bags of 5 different beans and split them up into 100g lots - you receive 5x100g of beans to try out. We share the effort of posting and splitting orders each time we do it.

Would be a great way to sample as many different kinds of beans as possible, and ideal for exploring new beans before you commit to buying them.

anyone else interested in joining in?


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## mremanxx (Dec 30, 2014)

Like the idea but 100g too small for me, like you say time you dialed in the bag would be gone









How much does it normally equate to and how often?


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

I might be interested but depends on the cost and where you are going to go for beans - me no want none of that dark stuff


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

mremanxx said:


> Like the idea but 100g too small for me, like you say time you dialed in the bag would be gone
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Surely not for v60 or small filter brews


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## Jacko112 (Oct 29, 2015)

Yeah I'd be interested, depending on cost, to use at work in the cafflano. Good idea.


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## clickhappy (Feb 1, 2012)

I'd be interested in this


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## Stevie (Nov 18, 2015)

I'd be interested - but again, it may depend on the roaster


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## Hibbsy (Jan 8, 2017)

This is something I could be interested in too.


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## spune (Oct 3, 2011)

I'd be interested, yeah. Good plan.


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## mremanxx (Dec 30, 2014)

Only do Espresso shots for flat whites



Mrboots2u said:


> Surely not for v60 or small filter brews


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

mremanxx said:


> Only do Espresso shots for flat whites


then this isn't for you

You need to be drinking brewed to make this workable .


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## mmmatron (Jun 28, 2014)

I'd be interested


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## Phobic (Aug 17, 2016)

this is definitely for the brewed people, spro will eat the 100g far too quickly.

let's leave the thread going for a little while to gauge how much interest there is and then talk about beans and roasters.

there might be enough interest to do a LSOL and a DSOL, personally I'm after LSOL.

we can then suggest, discuss and pick the beans together to get an idea of price.

I'd expect that this will cost a little bit more per g given the additional P&P overhead but once we have a better idea of what were doing I'll cost things up and let people know.


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## spune (Oct 3, 2011)

Might need to retract as I am a predominantly a espresso drinker... Will keep an eye and see how it goes.


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## PPapa (Oct 24, 2015)

I'd be up. Saying that, Workshop does that themselves:

https://workshopcoffee.com/collections/coffee/products/filter-tasting-pack

If we buy kilo bags, it might not be crazy expensive. You also have to account in empty bags, though.


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## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

I'm potentially interested in this, would be happy to hear more if it progresses


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## Phobic (Aug 17, 2016)

PPapa said:


> I'd be up. Saying that, Workshop does that themselves:
> 
> https://workshopcoffee.com/collections/coffee/products/filter-tasting-pack
> 
> If we buy kilo bags, it might not be crazy expensive. You also have to account in empty bags, though.


horesham do it too, not that many others sadly.

https://www.horshamcoffeeroaster.co.uk/collections/all-products/products/tasting-selection

the thing is we wouldn't need to be constrained to a single roaster either, we can pick the best beans that are for sale from all roasters at the time - I feel like a kid in a sweet shop!


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## Drewster (Dec 1, 2013)

I'd be interested in this.....

Subject to usual caveats re cost, roast, etc.


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## lovecoffeebeans.com (Jan 16, 2017)

We've noticed that too, people want to explore the different coffee's roasters have to offer - two of our UK Roasters Horsham Coffee Roaster and Django Coffee Co offer 100g taster packs. Feedback we've seen from others too, especially those new to the speciality coffee scene and not sure what they might like have suggested this.


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## Phobic (Aug 17, 2016)

Have been giving a bit more thought to this in terms of structure and how it will need to work, before we kick things off we need to agree a few points on how to structure it.

Need to get the balance right between it appealing to enough people, being manageable for those who are going to run it, and it being cost effective.

Strawman for us to kick around, let me know what you think



*LSOL only* - Feel free to set up your own DSOL version if that's what you want


*Bean selection* - Beans will be a mixture of Variatals, Processes, and Countries
Theme of the samples is up to the person running the event to suggest e.g. nothing the same, same process different variatals, same variatals different countries

Suggestions should be welcomed, but not debated endlessly - set a time limit of a week for discussion

5 beans max - while more bean variety sounds good, in practice it makes it harder to work because you need more people and/or a higher commitment to buy

We can buy beans from between 1-5 roasters - more roasters is more postage cost though

Whoever is going to the effort of ordering & packaging gets the final decision on bean selection as this needs a bit of leg work, however if you pick beans that only you want, don't be surprised if no-one signs up to your batch!



[*]*Costs *will vary depending on what we buy - 5 bags of blended will be a lot cheaper than 5 bags of COE stunners.

[*]*Slots & batches*


1 Slot is 5x100g bags of beans

5 Slots per batch which all need to be filled, no partial fills in a batch, it just makes it too hard to manage otherwise

Slots are available on a 1st come basis

People can have more than 1 slot if you really want if 100g of a bean isn't enough for you, however you'd be better just buying a 250g bag direct from the roaster


[*]*Shipping *


Estimate ~$3-£4 each
Roaster shipping £0-£3.50 per bean depending on where we buy from

Shipping to you via royal mail 2nd class letter £2.09 + ~50p packaging (jiffy bags + gusset envelope)

This could be more if we buy from overseas


It's going to take about a week to arrive - roaster shipping times, repackaging + 2-3 days royalmail 2nd class. it might be longer, think of it as resting time!


[*]*Payment *


Costs to be estimated before payments and the order is made

All Payment up front by Paypal - "No fee if you use your PayPal balance, bank account or debit card to send money in GBP to friends or family within the UK"

Anything leftover will be donated to charity (this should be under £1)

no payment within the time allowed = no slot, your slot goes to the next person on the list

This is all done at your own risk, it's a bunch of like minded people trying to pull together, you're risking at most £20-£30, act appropriately. Don't trust the person running the batch? don't sign up. Don't like 2nd class royal mail? ask the person running it if they will send it recorded delivery if you pay extra. Let's all be sensible about things


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## Phobic (Aug 17, 2016)

hoping I didn't scare everyone off!

I'm game to give this a go and do the running around/ordering/delivery for a few batches.

Taking suggestions/ideas for beans for the 1st run.

personally I'd like to try some fruity numbers and would like a mixture of processing techniques - but happy to go with the general consensus and add in some non-fruity beans if people want a mixture.

I'll start looking around but feel free to chip in.


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## Missy (Mar 9, 2016)

I'd be interested price depending!


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## Hibbsy (Jan 8, 2017)

Still interested as long as prices not too steep.

The taster packs from Horsham are great.


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## Phobic (Aug 17, 2016)

yes they are, have a look a workshop too, I've just order the taster pack from there


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## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

Phobic said:


> yes they are, have a look a workshop too, I've just order the taster pack from there


workshop tasters very nice. Think I'll get the peaberry again soon in a full size bag.

I'm still up for this taster idea.

The only think I don't like from your outline was the idea of trying to get people on board each time. I know that you don't have to buy until you get as many people as you want but I was thinking maybe more like a subscription, so you know how many people you're buying for and have an idea when it'll come.


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## Phobic (Aug 17, 2016)

Thanks for the feedback, does that mean just picking some beans up front and then letting people know what they're getting , rather than asking what they want?


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## Hibbsy (Jan 8, 2017)

Or maybe get different surgestions from people and pick randomly from them ?


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## Drewster (Dec 1, 2013)

I am still potentially "in" if anything comes of this.... but it's looking more and more complex :-(

I have a few thoughts about a possibly simpler model... I'll try to organise my thoughts post on it later in the week.


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