November 2011
The Man from Del Monte, was from Bolton
Today I want to share with you how I am sourcing suppliers. I have given a lot of thought as to how I want to do business and who I should partner with. I don't believe that you have to travel around the World to personally inspect suppliers unless you actually are the man from Del Monte. As I do not have a panama hat or white suit I have decided to find suppliers who can do the job for me. The people that I am dealing with work very hard to source their ingredients from the best suppliers, for me they must also be...
If the man from Del Monte can say yes, to the above then that's the decision made.
I do not make hasty decisions and for my coffee and tea suppliers this has meant a rather lengthy process in sorting the wheat from the chaff.
Coffee is King
It is coming up to one year that I began my coffee adventure. I ignored coffee for years and then threw myself in at the deep-end working for Starbucks for three months training as one of their Barista's. I was the oldest person there, including the manager who was 28 years old! I felt much like the car sales man character Ol' Gil' from the Simpsons. Aside from that it served to quickly get me over my coffee ignorance meaning that I could actually taste the difference between good and great coffee.
I know from my background in sales that some very good sales people can sell some real crap. It is as much a talent to purchase as it is to sell. To help me learn how to buy coffee I turned to a couple of experts; John Richardson and Hugh Gilmartin, co-authors of several very good books about how to run coffee shops.
Hugh's advice in a nutshell was to speak to people who serve coffee that you like and ask them who their suppliers are. This made for a very good starting point.
The Great Coffee Taste Off
I've decided to shortlist some of my favourite suppliers before I go out to visit them by taste testing their Espresso Beans and some of the filter coffee that they produce.
On Friday 4th November 2011 with the help of some of the best coffee critics in the business I taste tested samples from some of the best roasters in the UK.
The Contestants
North Wales, Mid Wales, South Wales, London and South West England
5 espresso shots, 5 Lattes, 5 Americanos & 5 Lattes later...
Conclusions
The coffee samples were all varied in the way that they were produced, where they were sourced from, when they had been roasted and what they tasted like. The brewing factors were kept under strict control to ensure that every sample had a fair go. The results however were very clear. Of the five beans on trial, the two that shone out were the two freshest [with one roasted the Tuesday prior to the tasting]. The worst two were at oposite ends of the spectrum, one being so weak you could barely taste it over the milk and the other so oily, bitter and strong somewhat reminiscent of when I used to smoke!
The next step is to decide between my two favourites, now it comes down to quality, price and above all trust.
My SIX Tasty Trading Tips
If you have any questions or comments make yourself heard!
The Man from Del Monte, was from Bolton
Today I want to share with you how I am sourcing suppliers. I have given a lot of thought as to how I want to do business and who I should partner with. I don't believe that you have to travel around the World to personally inspect suppliers unless you actually are the man from Del Monte. As I do not have a panama hat or white suit I have decided to find suppliers who can do the job for me. The people that I am dealing with work very hard to source their ingredients from the best suppliers, for me they must also be...
- Passionate about their product
- Trustworthy and ethical
- Strive for the very best quality
- Reliable and sustainable
- Tasting - November 2010 - November 2011
- Research - Reading List, Blog Sites, Experts - On-Going
- Consultation - Mr John Richardson and Mr Hugh Gilmartin
- Supplier Research - Twitter appeal, research, contacts - June 2011
- Supplier Contact - Approach for initial screening - August 2011
- Shortlist - Screen to Potential 10 suppliers - September 2011
- Samples - Collect samples for taste testing - October 2011
- The Great Taste Off - 4th November 2011
- Face to face meetings - November and December 2011
- Supplier Nominated - January 2012
Coffee is King
It is coming up to one year that I began my coffee adventure. I ignored coffee for years and then threw myself in at the deep-end working for Starbucks for three months training as one of their Barista's. I was the oldest person there, including the manager who was 28 years old! I felt much like the car sales man character Ol' Gil' from the Simpsons. Aside from that it served to quickly get me over my coffee ignorance meaning that I could actually taste the difference between good and great coffee.
I know from my background in sales that some very good sales people can sell some real crap. It is as much a talent to purchase as it is to sell. To help me learn how to buy coffee I turned to a couple of experts; John Richardson and Hugh Gilmartin, co-authors of several very good books about how to run coffee shops.
Hugh's advice in a nutshell was to speak to people who serve coffee that you like and ask them who their suppliers are. This made for a very good starting point.
The Great Coffee Taste Off
I've decided to shortlist some of my favourite suppliers before I go out to visit them by taste testing their Espresso Beans and some of the filter coffee that they produce.
On Friday 4th November 2011 with the help of some of the best coffee critics in the business I taste tested samples from some of the best roasters in the UK.
The Contestants
North Wales, Mid Wales, South Wales, London and South West England
5 espresso shots, 5 Lattes, 5 Americanos & 5 Lattes later...
Conclusions
The coffee samples were all varied in the way that they were produced, where they were sourced from, when they had been roasted and what they tasted like. The brewing factors were kept under strict control to ensure that every sample had a fair go. The results however were very clear. Of the five beans on trial, the two that shone out were the two freshest [with one roasted the Tuesday prior to the tasting]. The worst two were at oposite ends of the spectrum, one being so weak you could barely taste it over the milk and the other so oily, bitter and strong somewhat reminiscent of when I used to smoke!
The next step is to decide between my two favourites, now it comes down to quality, price and above all trust.
My SIX Tasty Trading Tips
- DO NOT RUSH INTO A DEAL
- DO NOT BELIEVE ALL SALES MEN
- QUESTION, QUESTION, QUESTION!
- LOOK THEM IN THE EYE
- LISTEN AND LEARN, THEY ARE THE EXPERTS
- KNOW WHAT YOU WANT BUT BE FLEXIBLE
If you have any questions or comments make yourself heard!
Fabulous post! I love coffee and have VERY strong opinions on what makes a good coffee.
ReplyDeleteI have literally tried every coffee place in my home town, I will only ever buy coffee from the two places I know serve the best coffee.
In my opinion the worst coffee on the highstreet is costa, far too oily and strong, practically undrinkable.
Cannot wait to sample your coffee one day. :)
I made the stupid mistake of having a Monmouth coffee one afternoon and then followed it with a costa coffee in the evening - bleurgh! Never again - it was like when I came back from Italy all over again, couldn't drink coffee in the UK for 6 months. THANKFULLY the UK can now rival Italy.
ReplyDeleteI too love my coffee and I drink it black, so I am really relying on where ever I buy my coffee from to get it right!
http://www.monmouthcoffee.co.uk/shops/the-borough