1. i’m a bit cynical to start with
2. in private too many coffee experts will admit, yeah i know you can’t taste all the things spouted about but you have to shift it somehow, right? – the customer expects it with speciality coffee – its all part of the show
3. taste is subjective; and it gets worse, it is not even objective for any given individual. i.e. i dont just mean that two different tasters will taste two different things, i mean that if you taste a coffee in the morning, and then again later in the day it will taste different from what it did in the morning. that’s just the reality of it. hence why i am on record of being critical of efforts with speciality coffee to try and reduce it to a science and force a framework of objectivity over a subject that i think is simply not going to conform. everything that we love about coffee relates to its power to surprise, to defy accurate description and categorisation. if huge multinationals like Nestle have been unable to esterise the alluring aromatics that fresh coffee gives off, then i think im on quite solid ground in my assertion that for the foreseeble future coffee will continue to defy accurate categorisation by the assignment of adjectives.
to illustrate (3) above, imagine we have three single origin coffees, say one from central america[A], one from africa[B], and one from sumatra[C]
if you drink [A] exclusively for one month say, then switch to [B] the taste of [B] to will taste significantly different for at least the first coupld of days after you change coffees, than if you start by drinking [C] for a month, and then switch to [B]
and for this reason i think people are kidding you when they plough out a long list of adjectives to describe their roast, the game presumably being that if you list enough adjectives that the punters will hopefully think they can detect one of them and put the absence of the rest down to the fact that they must not yet be ‘expert’ enough
personally i think its a wheeze, running under the banner of speciality coffee. i’ll happilly agree that often you taste a coffee and a particular taste is dominant and really jumps out at you, and you could expect say 6 out of 10 tasters to detect that taste.
but when the list of adjectives starts to stretch beyond five i have to admit that i find cynical thoughts creeping into my mind
in my experience, providing the taster has a reasonably refined palate, but not excpetionally so, they will readily detect a fine champagne, a fine red wine, a fine vintage port, a scotch of 30 years or more, chocolate made from fine and fresh cocoa beans (i point you in the direction of Pierre Marcolini who makes the finest chocolate i have tasted anywhere, ever) – you instantly know it not cadbury’s/green&blacks/godiva/etc/ it is simply in a class above and beyond
so me it matters not that you are not able to pontificate with authority on whether a coffee has hints of raspberry, almonds, or wild fig. what matters, to the extent that we back it with a money back guarantee, is that you should instantly be able to detect that you are tasting a single origin espresso that is not only made from high quality coffee, but that it has been carefully selected for its suitability to be prepared by the espresso process and that it has been appropriately roasted for the espresso process and that care has been take with the beans at every step prior to those beans being delivered to your front door
while small roasters like LONDINIUM will aways be more expensive than larger roasters as we are unable to capture the significant economies of scale that come from having plant at scale, we must still offer value for money. some peopl struggle with this concept of value for money. to illustrate; while i like the La Pavoni home lever machines a lot, and think they make some exceptional espresso, i consider them to be quite expensive for what they are. on the other hand, and of course we have a vested interest, but i hnestly feel that even though the price of the LONDINIUM I is four times the price of a La Pavoni that the LONDINIUM I represents better value for money. You may or may not agree with my value judgement, but i hope my example demonstrates the concept of higher priced goods that can represent better value for money than the less expensive goods. there will be some who reject this approach to value as utter tripe and they will hold to the more traditional notion that the less expensive derivative will always represent better value. If you hold this world view then small workshop businesses will never be for you, it is an unreconciable difference
we offer the money back guarantee as i feel it is important that people are given the confidence to buy without hesitation. if you buy a LONDINIUM roast, you have paid a premium and if you can not detect any descernable difference in taste then i think you are entitled to a refund. i really think that is the way it has to be – we have to nail our colours to the mast
on that cheerful note, Happy New Year!