The challenge: The highest quality coffee is produced by large, technically sophisticated companies which do a much better job at delivering fresh, consistent, good-value coffees than do most of today’s smaller specialty roasting companies. I find I need to parse this lengthy and loaded sentence in order to comment on it. Quality in coffee is a multifaceted thing, in large measure because of
Travel Less and Cup More
The Challenge: Coffee buyers for roasting companies should be doing much less travel and much more cupping, quality control and customer education. Kevin Knox writes: I’d put this another way. The most important tools for buying great coffee are a well-trained palate, a well-equipped cupping room, relationships with the best importers and - last not least - sufficient capital to
Kevin Knox and Ken Davids exchange views on the microlot trend
The Challenge: The latest roaster emphasis on offering high-priced microlots without also offering a core lineup of good-tasting origin coffees at decent prices is a disservice to consumers. Kevin Knox writes: I agree with the sentiment here but think one needs to define some of the terms in order to flesh it out and make it meaningful. Even among the purveyors of “microlots” there’s no
