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There is a bad news and a good news
First, not so good Shacoco update
I have pulled down Shacoco’s online store for now. Logistics and coffee quality are two big problems. There is no alternative to roasting your own coffee.
Within a month of launching ShaCoCo Blend and Ratnagairi, I had sold 50 packets of coffee. It felt good. But, coffee tastes best when it’s the freshest. I could only get fresh coffee, if I ordered a batch of 2.5kgs or 5kgs coffee of my choice. Blends are great, but customers want to taste single estate lighter coffees. Without owning the roasting, it is hard to match the orders with the roast cycles of the roasters.
Also, old school processes are not suitable for the new age coffee world. Machines, data and sorting have moved several notches above. I got complaints about quality and sorting for the limited release of Ratnagiri. It made me think.
Unless I sort out the above issues, I won’t be selling coffee online. Every single order is a shot of dopamine. Why not upgrade the drug? I will. I am working on it.
Alright, a good ShaCoCo update
Rebooting ShaCoCo is about scratching my own itch. Delicious coffee took a backseat amidst jargons and snobs. I am guilty of being a snob and dropping jargons. Beyond the die hard coffee lovers, there is a large market, which wants to drink great coffee, sans the jargons.
In 2018 Sunil, a roaster and I had started The Kaapi Project to demystify home coffee brewing. The first guide was about the good old Indian filter kaapi. We still think that it is the entry level drug to specialty coffee.
Check out:
How to assemble the steel filter Link
Kaapi is the original latte Link
Easy to use recipe and its development Link
Sunil and I are working on more brewing guides. Again, we are scratching the itch of brewing jargon free coffee. One should worry only about fresh coffee and good water. Rest we will take care.
Meet Sweet Maria’s
In 2010 I got my first Baratza Grinder along with Abid Coffee Brewer and a Swiss Gold Filter. I still own both. Sweet Maria’s was go to place to buy beans and equipment for home roasting and home brewing. It still is for home roasting.
Owners Tom and Maria started Sweet Maria’s in a basement. Then it became a cafe, a roasterie and a green beans mail order service. He started the business because the local roaster in Ohio, roasted bad coffee. Even in 1997 Tom aimed to deliver great coffees via internet. He was ahead of all of us. Respect!
Tom is a professional roaster and a home roaster for more than 25 years. There isn’t a better resource to learn home roasting then Tom’s videos and articles.
Check out its ‘resources’ section on the website. It’s got videos about roasting and processing. There are photo-sets about his travels to origins. There are more than 30 podcasts. High quality articles such as Cafec filter paper review. He found it expensive and not that big an improvement. Don’t miss the glossary.
Worth your time: Sights and sounds from coffee travel Link