# Cheap beans for learning?



## profspudhed (Mar 18, 2011)

does anyone have any recommendations for somewhere to get really cheap beans to use for learning and tweaking my machine? ill admit it im an impatient git, ive got a new toy and i keep wanting to make more shots to get it right. however theres only so much i can drink and it seems both a waste and is very expensive throwing away shots of good brew. My normal goto for a cheap but decent bean is rave but i was wondering if there is anywhere cheaper where the beans are still good enough to learn on but cheap enough to ditch the shots without shedding a little tear each time? does anywhere sell sort of "B grade" beans?


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## bonoeuf (Jan 8, 2017)

Aldi or lidl have beans.


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## eusty (Dec 6, 2016)

The trouble is that different beans have different characteristics. After first trying decent beans I was amazed how different they were to pre-packaged beans, not just in taste but the way they extract etc

In sort I don't think you will learn much by using cheaper beans.

Posted by Tapatalk


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## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

Yes agree with the previous opinion. Each coffee is different, I think all you'd learn with a cheaper bean was that it probably didn't taste as good regardless. I think rave are one of the cheaper bets, if you can keep an eye out for offers and get a KG of a bean that might help?


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## GrowlingDog (Apr 10, 2016)

I went through a similar thing when I first got my Gaggia and grinder. What I learnt was that making good coffee was really a lot harder than I thought. Then whilst in London I picked up some beans from Monmouth coffee and it was a revelation. I discovered it was all down to the beans, and these fresh ones made wonderful coffee.

I now mainly use beans from Rave, I wouldn't bother with cheap beans again, they will only lead to disappointment.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Cheap beans = cheap taste

Buy something good


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## Jon (Dec 3, 2010)

Rave seem like a really good option.


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## mremanxx (Dec 30, 2014)

I can concur with above statements, being a tight Scot







I did something similar, waste of time, get fresh beans. The cheapest option I know of just now is the Mystery Bean from Coffee Compass, only £12 for a kilo, absolute bargain , use them a lot, got them just now, light/medium roast and not harsh. Try them.


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## paul whu (Sep 25, 2014)

Coffee compass mystery bean usually combines quality and value.


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## RDC8 (Dec 6, 2016)

I would also agree that you probably would be wasting your time and money with "cheap" supermarket sourced beans. The best beans are always the freshest beans, so while 12 quid for a kilo is good value for money, they will start to lose their freshness 2-3 weeks from roast date. This is fine if you are planning on pulling dozens of shots in a short time to perfect your technique - a kilo of beans equates to about 50 double-shot espressos (allowing for some grinds wastage). Look for the freshest, yet most economical beans, from a well respected roaster. In my experience, SO Brazilian Santos is always reasonably priced, as is SO PNG. As others have said, every blend/SO/roast profile will require slightly different settings and so a "perfect technique" for one source of coffee may not be appropriate for another. I guess my overall advice therefore is to spend what you are comfortable with on the freshest possible beans and don't buy more than you will use within three weeks from roast date.


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## mremanxx (Dec 30, 2014)

I would not say that is a fair statement, some beans take a good 10 days to degas, CC Tusker is one that springs to mind, agree fresh is best but it is obviously going to be a compromise for the OP between quality and cost until he improves his technique.



RDC8 said:


> I would also agree that you probably would be wasting your time and money with "cheap" supermarket sourced beans. The best beans are always the freshest beans, so while 12 quid for a kilo is good value for money, they will start to lose their freshness 2-3 weeks from roast date. This is fine if you are planning on pulling dozens of shots in a short time to perfect your technique - a kilo of beans equates to about 50 double-shot espressos (allowing for some grinds wastage). Look for the freshest, yet most economical beans, from a well respected roaster. In my experience, SO Brazilian Santos is always reasonably priced, as is SO PNG. As others have said, every blend/SO/roast profile will require slightly different settings and so a "perfect technique" for one source of coffee may not be appropriate for another. I guess my overall advice therefore is to spend what you are comfortable with on the freshest possible beans and don't buy more than you will use within three weeks from roast date.


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## DaveMak (Dec 6, 2016)

i was in a similar position as you, i tried a different approach in i decided to popcorn roast my own. and while it did bring my costs down, i will be honest and say that i have no idea if my roasts were any good so couldnt tell if the coffee was sour, bitter or bad roast. i decided to go the coffeecompass mystery bean route.

this removed bad beans from the equation and left me just needing to get them dialed in.


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## Scotford (Apr 24, 2014)

If you're wanting to learn how to control your variables you might as well get something you're going to drink and learn how the variables you're adjusting affect taste.


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## profspudhed (Mar 18, 2011)

thanks guys looks like itll be a sack of raves italian job then, it just really stings to throw away a nice espresso because ive already drank so much im shaking like im having a personal earthquake, ill have to get a ton of people round to drink all the spare shots. whats causing me issues at the moment is that i can still pull great shots with a ton of crema off the gaggia but i cant seem to get the same results out of the fiamma, it certainly seems to need a finer grind but thats another topic for another day, right now i have to get on my bike in this awful weather and get to trentham in the hopes they have some has bean in so im not stuck with supermarket crap as ive just used the very last of my beans.

Other than being no doubt somewhat overpriced has anyone tried the Modern Standard coffee from sainsburys? from what im told it actually has a roasted on date on it, is it passable as an emergency backup brew, i ask as my usual emergency backup M&S columbian seems to have vanished of late. im not expecting it to be amazing just "itll do" while im waiting for the postie to bring the proper stuff (im crap at keeping myself stocked up)


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