First wholesale account...

[eldub]

Hey, kids..

I managed to open our first wholesale account today with a local health food store. While its only 54 lbs and three SKU's, its a foot in the door and potential for more. Also got invited to demo our coffee for their 75th anniversary party next Saturday. With as many years in wine sales/education as I have, this part of the business is right up my alley.

Sold a few pounds through a local online coop as well. So taking all into account, we actually made our (unofficial) sales goal for the week. I guess I should be happy with those results so early in the game.

Thanks for being here with all the input and encouragement, folks. This place has really helped with my coffee industry education.

lw

 

[Hankua]

Congratulations! What coffees are you roasting for the customers?

 

[topher]

That is awesome! Congrats!!

 

[eldub]

Thanks, guys.

They ordered our "World Peace," "Crema Love" and "Corazon Breakfast" blends. The first is a melange (roasted to different levels) of beans from Africa, The Americas and Indonesia. Crema Love is a dark roast/espresso blend with a Brazilian from Faz Colina Estate as the base and the third a Guatemalan/Ethiopian Yergacheffe blend.

 

[PinkRose]

Congratulations, Scott!

You've come a long way, and your hard work is paying off.

It's been fun watching your progress. I certainly appreciate your being here on the Coffee Forums and sharing your adventures and knowledge with us.

Rose

 

[eldub]

Thanks, Rose.

I really appreciate the support and guidance from forum members.

And now I'm off to solve a mystery. The first few batches of Sidamo I roasted were infused wiht blueberry. Then I roasted a batch the other day and the blueberry character wasn't present. After going over my roasting log notes, I've identified one potential factor in the change of flavor profile: While the starting temps, ending temps and roast durations have been identical, I brought the beans up to temperature slower during the last effort and steadily raised the temps to the end. So I'm anxious to fire up the roaster and see if I can recreate the magic by speeding up the process in the beginning and then backing off more toward the end.

This one really has me scratching my head and I won't sleep well until I get it figured out.

Shaky McGee

 

[CanadianBrian]

Hello Scott;
Congrats on your hard work and rewards that you are just seeing come to light. I really enjoy reading about your adventures and success. When will you open your retail store officially? Keep up the great work.
Brian

 

[eldub]

The retail store will officially open Monday. However, there will probably be variable hours until we get enough wholesale business to warrant hiring a person to run the shop. After being told we couldn't have a coffee shop in this location, if I had my way, we would have simply sold wholesale beans out the back door retailed online and done a bit of cupping/retail bean business out the front. However, the city required us to have a stronger retail presence so we stocked the shelves with coffee/tea brewing equipment to keep them happy. So we meet their requirements, but they never said how many hours we have to be open to the public.

If we would have been approved by the fire marshall to set up shop on the main retail strip 1/2 block away, (we asked for permission in three places on that street) there would have potentially been good foot traffic walking by all day long. But locating just 1/2 block off the main pedestrian walk way has meant we see few people, although the parking spaces and sidewalks are fairly busy on the main street.

 

[tazzadiluna]

How exciting! That is awesome! I'm so happy for you!

 

[expat]

Love the names of your coffees. I lean to whimsical over descriptive, since most folks have descriptive (and we have whimsical -- Barnyard Boogie, Farmer's Friend, etc., so I guess great minds think alike . Would love to have some Crema Love right now.

As to your roasting the Sumatra for blueberries we'd love to hear how that came out for you. Did changing the roasting process bring the blueberries back home?

I wish I knew your layout -- location wise -- and would love to brainstorm some ways of increasing your foot traffic. Galway, which is nearby, has a main street called Shop Street. It is pedestrian traffic only. When I'm down there delivering coffee I see several vendors with shops off of Shop Street employ someone to stand on Shop Street with a sandwich board with a sign advertising the (off street) store. Also for food shops that aren't on Shop Street they may have a person with a tray of samples for pedestrians to try and then pointing the way to the store. Or maybe you can get the vendors on the main drag to give away 50% off coupons (or something like that) for your location.

Lots of other ideas but don't know if they are relevant to your location.

Anyway, glad to hear you're up and running. I know from your posts it has been a long, hard road.

 

[eldub]

hey, expat. How you bean?

I'm roasting the Ethiopian Sidamo for blueberries.

 

[Dwane]

Way to go!!!
Spend as much time as you can selling outside of the shop. It will bring more accounts and drive business to the shop.
All the Best,
Dwane

 

[LowcountryCoffeeRoasters]

Congratulations!

May I suggest you try Ethiopia Harrar for a more consistent blueberry profile? Sidamo has stronger overall berry notes, but Harrar has a stronger blueberry note if that makes any sense. Reminds me of blueberry muffins everytime i open a bucket of Harrar, while the Sidamo smells stronger but of mixed berries not just blueberry.

-Matt

 

[eldub]

Thanks for the tip.

Its been an interesting ride with this batch of Sidamo. The roasts that don't come out tasting of blueberry have dark/bittersweet chocolate profile that I really like as well. But I'm getting tired of the variance. hard to brag up an essence of blueberry and then have dominate chocolate notes instead.

On the other hand, I just delivered a second batch of coffee to the online food coop and the folks who ordered Sidamo the first time around came back for more and one lady doubled up her Sidamo order, so go figure.

Btw, when I bought the first sack of Sidamo beans, I was going to purchase Harrar instead but the rep talked me into the Sidamo, as eh said the cupping scores were identical but the Sidamo was 30 cents/lb. cheaper.

The first few roasts blew my mind, so I know the flavor I seek is in the beans. Just have to figure out the right roast profile.

lw

 

[poison]

My current dry process Yirgacheffe takes a shorter, slightly darker roast to bring out the blueberry. Longer times kill it, while lighter roasts, although great in a different way, are more fruit salad/raspberry. If I hit second crack, it's all just chocolate with little fruit.

When I say 'shorter times', I'm talking 13:30. Not something I'd typically do, but it's what this coffee needs. It's my best seller, too, both online and wholesale.