Green Beans

bcspark

I have a yen to add Costa Rican  and Mexican beans to my stash.They appear on Brendans site Bean Green and by description seem to be interesting. Can any Cremas offer me some feedback on their roasting experiences of these greens and the results in the cup    Thanks

Brett H

I love Mexican and am yet to have a Costa Rican that I've written home about.  This includes some of the high-end beans that have been offered from time to time.  I think you can possibly tell now what wine I like

Lwowiak

Costa Rican coffees have been hit and miss with me. I love the Costa Rican Miel coffee that Alan Frew offers on a regular basis as a monthly special. Tastes like "coffee". The only way that I can get the ones I desire is to buy by the sack, and then you have to be quick as well, as the good coffees sell very quickly.

bcspark

Monday went for a drive from south to north after unsuccessfully phoning supplier to ask what is available of his offerings on his web site of centrals.Sadly they only had a Panamanian so my yen was not satisfied and my disappointment was high.I believe that when you have that much disregard for your customers carma will eventuate.

FreshCoffee2

There will be a lot more availability of costas than mexicans. There is a great deal of diversity (and some very high "quality" in terms of COE scores) in mexican beans however the easiest availability will be restricted to a very small number of larger growers. There are a number of very small growers now putting out excellent product in miniscule quantities but the problem is getting it out of the hills, and exporting/importing it in terms of the quantities available and the cost of consignment. I have been looking at dealing direct with some of these growers but again the problem is quantiy VS cost (and trouble) of consignment. You have no idea (but you should be able to imagine  ) the difficulty in dealing with people right up in the backwoods, and land transport to get the coffee from them and deliver to port. However it is an incredibly interesting  and satisfyling thing to do if it can be pulled off...and the Mexican situation is a pet interest of mine (my daughter in law is Mexican and I have spent a small amount of time in them there hills with some growers and some people that have been helping them upgrade their skills, growing practices and product quality). Otherwise, you (well, those able to buy in minimum quantities of say, a 60 to 70 kilo bag) have to deal with the mainstream importers, who will have product from the larger / easier to deal with (in terms of the logistics already mentioned) growers...and there is nothing wrong with that. 

Brett H

I'm sorry to read this BC.  Great info FC!  I don't have any info to share but if anyone does in regards to great centrals available as greens please post!

admin

Just a quick 'heads-up' - Coffee Curators, our newest sponsor is about to advertise a special offer on greens for 'The Coffee Forum' members: they're intending to run a 'welcome special' with 10% off all coffees till October 31 for forum users - check out their thread under 'sponsors' for details A