Young Beautiful Things and Espresso Snobbery
I was on a coffee product comparison website recently
Not one of those sites which advises of the cheapest, or the most expensive coffee or espresso money could buy…but rather, where some one called ‘the judge’ tastes and rates coffees
Sounds like a good idea… that is assuming that the taster actually has the credential to know what they are talking about!
In such a role of self imposed importance, it is essential that ‘the judge and juror’ is realistically able to robustly compare products and decide upon a benchmark from which the subjective conclusion of poor, good or excellent can then be attributed
The issue here is that this site seems pretty professional… a bit of a touchstone for those on the ‘inside track’ in the new coffee trade…
And that is what worries me; because despite the ‘inside track’ referring to the new young, beautiful and hip elements within the trade, this site is a sad testimony to the same old stereo types and half cocked measures of quality, which have riddled and befuddled the coffee trade for generations....
What do I mean by this....? Well simply that the blends with the hippest brand, the best packaging , the coolest name seemed by an inevitable default to achieve the highest star ranking…. It was a trend which struck me as I wandered my way through the top 30 listing… and there languishing with ‘minus stars’ was a product from Dallmayr
Well - no less than perhaps Germany’s foremost premium brand, with a real, 300 year heritage and genuine back story trace able to 1671....Not some manufactured micro roaster or instant coffee expert / geek!
Yes dear ‘Judge’ Dallmayr are a German roaster NOT Austrian as you suggest!
Dallmayr has a long and respected history in the German market and their brand is a by word for quality
Their Café and Delicatessen in the Dienerstrasse in Munich, between the Marienplatz and the Odeonsplatz, plays host to over 2.5 MILLION visitors selling +30t of coffee pa from this one site alone!
Under head chef, Diethard Urbansky, Dallmayr’s Restuarant has two Michelin Stars and their brand and luxury quality coffee is equivalent to Fauchon or Fortnum and Mason
The coffee ‘The judge’ had presided over was Prodomo. It is the Dallmayr standard brand... and is a fine, filter style coffee based on a high East African / Ethiopian and Centrals recipe...it is good... and possibly very good indeed!
The issue here is one of stereotypes and pigeon holing!
Foreign , large scale production is not bad
Branding based on primary colours is not bad
Vacuum pack and back flush is not bad
Roast and ground is not bad
And whilst we are at it ESE pod is not bad either
As soon as we move away from the trend of pigeon holing what we don’t know, or understand, or arbitrarily advising of the good, the bad and the ugly of the coffee trade the better!
Coffee is a broad church and what I may like you may abhor…but then the beauty is that variety is the spice of life!!
How a respected touch stone for quality can be given such a low rating for a fabulous product , road tested by millions of people, in billions of cups of coffee, for decades is beyond me… It is, I hope nothing more than the arrogance of youth…not a testament to it!!
Here at Source 4 Consultancy we like to keep things grounded and simple – that means no fuss and no complication - just good old honest simplicity and clarity! That’s why our clients keep coming back time after time to use our expertise and wealth of knowledge to help them navigate the fact and fiction which is so often the international coffee trade.
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