who do you buy your syrups and frozen blended drink supplies from

[Ruby]

Any of you have a one stop shopping you use for most your inventory that doesn't have a short shelf life? I ran across Barista Pro Shop today and they looked pretty good. Are all the wholesale suppliers about the same? Is there much difference in the different smoothie and frappe mixes between the different brands? Big Train had a lot of fun smoothie flavors and a frozen hot chocolate that sounded yummy.

 

[shadow745]

Our roaster/supplier happens to be a one-stop shop carrying about 90% of all that we use/need. They carry a large variety of most brand names in the specialty coffee industry and have a fantastic in-house roastery as well. Their coffees are on par or better than all the nationally known artisan roasters I've sampled from. They can be found at Stockton Graham & Co

I've taken a good look at Barista Pro Shop and find their prices to be a bit high, at least compared to what I currently get from SG. Another one close to us that appears to be good is Kaldi's based in Wilmington, NC.

Only syrups I use are from Monin and Torani. Monin has great natural flavor and Torani seems to be a bit sweeter. Monin has the oddball falvors we use such as Peanut Butter and Granny Smith Apple... Sauces are Ghirardelli only. Torani sauces aren't as good IMO and Monin sauces are just plain different and definitely have a shorter shelf life once opened than the others. Smoothie mixes for us is the Torani Frusia purees as they have great shelf life, cost effective and great flavor/texture. Have tried various offerings such as Torani real fruit, Dr. Smoothie, Monin, Caffe D'Amore and Jet. All are good in their own right, just not as good as the Torani Frusia for what we do. Powdered mixes such as chai and frozen/blended are Big Train only.

Things like "frozen hot chocolate" can be achieved with using a basic vanilla base mix and dark chocolate sauce. A few bases are all you need for most drinks, then add the other flavors you have onhand already. For example, a frozen Snickerdoodle can be made with vanilla base, chocolate and caramel sauce, a touch of hazelnut, a dash of cinnamon sugar, ice, a double shot and a bit of milk.

 

[MochaLover]

SupplyVillage.com carries Big Train as well as Caffe D'Amore. They offer free shipping with orders over $75.00 and they give you free samples of various flavors with every order. They also carry Davinci Syrups including a wide variety of flavors. Hope that helps!

 

[beansandfranks]

shadow745 - you said you use Ghiradelli syrups. What is your recipe for making a good mocha? We have the chocolate syrups, but can't seem to make a good mocha. It always has a very bitter aftertaste. Help!

 

[Kcorl3]

Not too long ago I started to buy mine from Frozen Bean. They a variety of flavors to choose from and luckily they even offer free samples! check them out.