St Ali sent me a cracker deal for Black Friday.
2x 1kg bags of their Orthodox blend for only $50. That’s a $100 saving. Just add it to cart and enter the code at checkout. Free shipping.
Deal starts midnight on Thursday until Midnight in Sunday. Not quite sure what that means, but that’s what it says.
That’s a shit tonne of coffee all at once, so I’d recommend sharing it with friends, or freezing a bag.
lol sorry, but if you think St. Ali is great coffee, you need to up your game.
Whats good then? Enlight the people
Cartel, Axil, Even Industry is better. St. Ali is just a big name and brand. They do lot of marketing etc and are definitely more popular, but taste wise they are just average. They are only popular because of Marketing and Monopoly.
Axil are another great, moderately priced coffee. But when you can get 2kg of St Ali retail for a touch over what you pay for 1kg Axil wholesale you can calmly but firmly remove the stick from your arse.
as taitems said; sure, St Ali might be a bit bigger than a lot of other reputable specialty brands out there, they still have pretty good rep, and for something you're likely going to mix with milk, $25/kg is nothing to laugh about. You're only kidding yourself if ythat's the reason you choose not to buy it.
St Ali is great coffee. They've got goood rep for a reason. Other roasters you've mentioned are good as well. It's much better compared to industrial trash like Lavazza etc.
How long is the shelf life generally? Or until it doesnt taste fresh and still good to drink. I am keen to try gourmet coffee beans, so far I have only been drinking lavazza from supermarket and I do like its creaminess and taste..
Beans generally keep about a month from their roast date before degrading. Though with that being said, if you're not too fussy, you probably won't mind taste difference as the beans become more 'stale'.
this sort of coffee, if having it as a milk coffee will probably be at its peak within 1-5 weeks of roast date. It'll likely get to your door about 4-5 days post roast, unless they're only doing this sale because they accidentally roasted too much.
But even so, it'll be much fresher than any sort of Sueprmarket style coffee. Those beans tend to be dated in terms of months instead of weeks… I'm gonna write a post on freezing if you want to check it out below.
Never tried it before. Price is good but 2KG is too much, and don't have anyone to split with.
I would be keen to split!
Freeeeeze.
I have never tried this before so not sure if I am gonna like it
DONT EVER freeze coffee.. FFS
@Trough Lolly: haha not keen on the idea of freezing either to be honest. Will be willing to split it, message me if anyone is keen. I am based in Sydney. Thankyou
Green coffee beans freezes great and keeps well, but def. not roasted
@Trough Lolly: it's a common phenomenon to put fresh produce in a fridge/freezer to keep them fresh for longer. the cooler the temp, the less energy there is around, and the slower any degradation reactions take place.
Interestingly, people tended to steer clear of putting roasted coffee in the fridge/freezer because they observed that it tended to taste worse. But they took that at face value without understanding why. If you know what you're doing, freezing coffee is as good and arguably better than leaving it out to stale. Gonna go on a bit of a rant here. Note first, I'm referring to specialty coffee roasted for espresso.
Let's ask some key questions.
Why do we age coffee?
When it's roasted, the green beans undergo a Maillard reaction - it's the conversion of organic carbons to sugars (think about burning the sugar on a creme-brulee. they go brown, just like the green coffee goes brown. same reaction. organic carbons turning into sugars). CO2 is a byproduct of this reaction. If the coffee is too fresh, there's too much CO2 in the beans, and it tends to affect the coffee negatively. If dissolved into the espresso, it can taste more acidic. But the main problem is that it's volatile and adds an element of uncertainty to the reaction. Some beans are more gaseous than others and leads to a decline in consistency and uneven extractions.
That's why coffee, for espresso, should be aged for at least 5-7 days, to let the gases settle. Note: this is why coffee is sold in sealed bags with one way valves. So the CO2 can escape, but no air can get in.
Note: understanding this reaction is really helpful for understanding light/dark roasts. Sometimes, if light roasts are underdeveloped, not enough of these plant compounds have been converted into sugars and the coffee tastes really acidic and grassy. A well developed light roast can be really fruity and sweet though without any of those vegetative flavours. A medium roast is a middle ground where most of those carbons are sugars and things taste pretty sweet all around. A classic Italian dark roast goes too far - most of these sugars burn and you end up with pretty negative bitter, acrid flavours. Think tobacco, tar, dryness, etc.
What happens when it gets too old?
Generally, coffee tends to decline around 5 weeks post roast date. This is for two reasons. Too much gas escapes, and too many of the wonderful compounds that make coffee taste great escape with it. Thus the coffee is left tasting flat and stale. Throughout this entire process, the coffee is oxidising with oxygen in the atmosphere. It's a classic oxidation reaction.
Why have people typically frowned upon fridging/freezing your coffee?
When things are colder than room temperature, and exposed to a warmer environment, water tends to condense on the colder stuff. Coffee doesn't like moisture. I'm not exactly sure what is responsible for its negative impact, but it's just shit. If people didn't know what they were doing, I'm sure that any coffee put in the fridge or freezer would be exposed to a huge amount of moisture, making it taste awful.
How to freeze things properly - why it's good
The best way to freeze your coffee is to age it appropriately, and then store it in a vacuum sealed bag. Although you'll slow down any degradation exponentially by freezing, any residual oxygen in the bag will lead to degradation over time and allow the coffee to pick up other flavours from the freezer. Residual air in the bag will also form ice crystals that may affect the coffee as well. Obviously vacuum sealing is impractical. It is almost as good to just suck the air out of the bag as much as possible, and then seal it and freeze.
Michael Cameron explained this well in a recent blog post.
I look at freezing beans in relatively simple terms:
1. Freezing your beans in a standard valve bag is better than not freezing your beans.
2. Freezing and squeezing out the air in the bag is better than just freezing.
3. Vacuum sealing and freezing is better than freezing and squeezing.
Other hot tip: when you freeze something, the moisture inside of it freezes and expands, and the structural integrity of the entire compound shifts. This isn't necessarily bad for flavour, but it means that one you defrost it, the coffee will degrade a lot faster. Because you've basically killed everything when you froze it. I would reccomend unsealing the bag, taking out however much frozen coffee you want to use, then resealing it and throwing it back in the freezer. Try to avoid defrosting large amounts of coffee at once as it will degrade faster (might go stale in 4-5 days instead of 4 weeks). Notwithstanding, if you do decide to mass defrost coffee, do not unseal the bag until it has thawed. Otherwise, you'll expose the coffee to outside air and water will condense on the cold coffee. If you leave the beans sealed while they defrost, there will be no condensation inside the sealed bag.
Other benefits to freezing beans
1. Consistency. All the coffee is in the same state. With the same amount of CO2 having escaped. Thus, if you can control all your variables (dose, tamp pressure, distrivution etc. temperature/pressure of extraction; grind size) the coffee should taste the same every time.
2. The coffee actually grinds better. This article basically says that when coffee is cold, it grinds better. The colder the better. You know the science experiment when you freeze a banana with liquid nitrogen and throw it at the ground and it shatters? Same concept. Organic things have a higher tendency to shatter when they're cooler. So the coffee shatters more, it produces more fines (really small particles) which are important for extraction. tl;dr the distribution of the particle sizes is better for extraction, resulting in tastier coffee.
3. Got a problem with static in your grinder or grinds bin? Try the Ross Droplet Technique to mitigate static. Read the thread or watch this neat video by an industry leader, James Hoffmann
If you find this topic curious, I would reccomend reading this blog post by Michael Cameron. If you have any coffee questions, feel free to dm me :)
@ts13: Edit: Maillard reactions are a bit more complicated than I thought… It's not a conversion of carbons to sugars. More like a conversion of pre-existing sugars with amino acids, into more complex flavour molecules. But typically characterised by a browning colour, like cooking a steak or toasting bread. Although caramelisation is similar to a Maillard reaction, it is not a Maillard reaction. Maillard reactions are responsible for the major changes in flavour in coffee when roasted, but by no means is it the only reaction. CO2 is a byproduct of many of the reactions, and is responsible for the bean increasing in size while roasting. Its affects on coffee remain as above!
@ts13: Thanks for this great post TS13 - after reading several times never to freeze your coffee beans I never researched it again. Now I'll give it a try again.
+1 Freezing works well, as noted in many previous threads about large amounts of coffee.
roast date??
Yes roast date would be good to know.
If I were to freeze it, how would I unfreeze it when it's ready to use?
Take it out of the freezer.
Then throw it in the bin.
The coffee tin bin you mean, as in container.
Do I have to thaw it or can I just grind it frozen?
If you were to freeze the beans, I would highly recommend vacuum sealing it first.
The process of thawing wets the beans quite a bit due to condensation.
And I probably don't have to say wet beans are bad beans.
I would recommend taking out however much you need at a single time, and grinding it frozen, then refreezing all the coffee in a sealed bag.
Otherwise, defrost all the coffee but do not open the bag until it is fully thawed. Otherwise, you'll introduce it to warm air and water will condense on the coffee. Read more here
I am also looking to buy a coffee grinder. If someone can recommend a decent one thankyou :)
How do you make your coffee?
What equipment are you using to brew it?
I have a braville cafe venezia espresso machine. Its a very basic machine but I am quite happy with it. Currently I buy ground coffee from a local cafe or I like the lavazza oro from the supermarket.
Ideally, you want to get a grinder that is capable of grinding more consistently, such that your taste buds are not capable of telling the difference when made with your brewing equipment.
I would probably recommend a Breville Smart Grinder Pro (BCG820BSS) or similar. If you intend on moving up a level or two in espresso machine in the next few years, then consider a grinder in the class of a Mazzer Mini.
@jamver: Thankyou for getting back to me. Can you direct me to a decent site where I can understand how it all works (just so you dont have to keep explaining). Is it the pressure that machine is pumping water through or the temperature the water is at?
Wow that grinder is more expensive than my machine itself haha. I was just planning to get a machine with an inbuilt grinder when I move up a level or two?
It's less about pressure and temperature in the absolute, and more about the consistency of pressure delivery and temperature stability.
Regarding grinders, I'd probably never recommend anything less than one in the class of the Breville grinder I quoted above.
Home-Barista.com is a good place to do lots of reading and research and learn more about coffee making.
@b0nd007: A lot of coffee “enthusiasts” consider the grinder is at least as important, if not more so, than the machine you use.
Kind of like an old rough rule of thumb was to spend half of your budget on speakers when buying a hifi system,
Coffee grinders arent as enticing to the consumer as coffee machines, but really important to the end result.
Fresh coffee ground into a fairly consistant particle size results in more even and complete extraction, meaning better tasting coffee in the cup.
What @scooter said!
Personally, if I could justify it, I'd have both a Mazzer Robur-E and a Ditting shop grinder, one for espresso, and the other for everything else.
@jamver: +1 for the Smart Grinder Pro. Awesome little unit for the price. Otherwise, maybe look at a Baratze Sette for a domestic unit :)
Lots of good talk here. Grinders are so important! Maybe check out Barista Hustle for some good general information. And feel free to direct any general questions my way :)
Barista Hustle also has a web page which directs you to lots more other educational materials. Check it out
I bought one of these It's manual (That's why I got it).
I've had it a few months and love it.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Macap-M2M-OD-Coffee-Espresso-Gri…
I'm sure people are going to get coffee cranky at me even asking but how does it compare to Manna? I get theirs regularly and it does the job. Is this actually that much better? I still have like a kilo to go through so this is awful timing to buy more.
Can ground be part of the deal?
Purchased. Let's see what a specialty coffee is all about.
Did too. Hope it lives up to my expectation.
Me 3
OzBargain = no money left
(But at least it was a bargain)
Thanks OP! With holidays around the corner, this should be handy
Not sure where the other 10% goes for the Orthodox blend?
COUNTRY: 60% Colombia | 30% Brazil
For those of you who are concerned about roast dates, please bear in mind that this isn't like supermarket coffee. These guys are a very large specialty supplier ( with a lot of hype and margin due to their brands Sti Ali and Sensory Lab) and will turn over a lot of beans. I've been to their warehouse in Port Melbourne once, and they pretty much roast every day to fulfill demand - for their own cafes around Melbourne, resellers as well as online orders.
"$100 saving"
LOL good ol' hype over brands famous in all those hipster cafes.
It's "nice", but boy like the rest of those pretentious cafes and restaurants it's way overpriced RRP :P
The deal itself is a great price for 2kg of good branded coffee; pity I already have heaps of spare beans though.
Nice one! Bought!
If anybody wants to split with me, PM me. I'm in South Melbourne VIC 3205
Anyone who works in Sydney cbd keen to go halfs?
Yes! I cannot message you as you don’t accept messages. But I am keen send me a message
Me too. Anyone want to split in Syd CBD?
Link doesn't show any offer on vendors site
Worked for me. Ordered 2 x 1kg bags. Use code on second screen of checkout process. Thanks.
Mine was just delivered in Brisbane!
For anybody concerned about roast dates, my 2kg was roasted on the 21st.
Can I just open one and chuck the other one in the freezer?
I just ordered a second lot, using a different email address as they are limiting the Black Friday deal to one per email address apparently, and in 27 hours, there appears to have been 333 orders.
Is it good coffee?
It's only 3 days old, probably slightly young, and I have other beans in the hooper still. I should be in a position to comment by Sunday.
It does smell nice through the one-way valve though. :-)
OK perhaps I bought the wrong coffee being espresso (was Ozbargainblinded by "special" LOL ) but -
Have a Breville smart grinder and a drip style coffee filter. Any sensible advice on the preparation for a good cuppa? Note "sensible" may include "you stuffed up getting "espresso"!
Aside, in Brissie and received today so excellent service from vendor.
Regarding your question:
Have a Breville smart grinder and a drip style coffee filter. Any sensible advice on the preparation for a good cuppa? Note "sensible" may include "you stuffed up getting "espresso"!
Just treat it like you normally do. Being roasted for espresso, you may require shorter brewing times and/or coarser grind size to avoid getting overly bitter results.
That said (I've not opened the bag), but being `speciality' coffee, it may be a lighter roast profile and still be reasonably suitable for drip, filter, syphon and cold press.
Thanks jamver.
forgot to say, for an earlier question,…there was a little sticker on each bag which I guess is either the dispatch or the roast date - 22/11/17
That would be the roast date. If your coffee doesn't have a roast date, it's not usually worth drinking :) (at least, as espresso).
For espresso, you typically want to wait a minimum of 3 days before brewing, longer for certain be a compositions and roast profiles.
For most other types of coffee, 8 hours will typically be enough degassing.
Both of mine were roasted on the 21st.
split melbourne cbd/parliament pm me?
I'd be keen!
sorry bro someone else beat you
Hi All,
So I bought this on Wednesday night, arrived Friday!! Fast postage, thank you!
I have a breville smart grinder & a sunbeam em7000, both bought via super ozB specials.
This coffee is amazing. It appears to be roasted on the 21st Nov? As there is a sticker saying 21st nov? Unless it as expiry date? But it doesn’t look or taste expired to me.
Grinder settings, internal burr set to 7, lcd grind set to 18. All grinders will differ somewhat.
For $50, 2kg delivered fast, this has been a fantastic bargain.
Coffee is very smooth, made a few lattes this morning, not super dark or intense, but full of flavour and incredibly smooth. Beats supermarket coffee any day. I normally use vittoria mountain grown beans, when they are half price @ woolies.
I don’t know how I’ll be able to go back, but I don’t think I can bring myself to pay $150 for 2kg in future. What a dilemma.
Thanks St. Ali for this amazing special. Please do it again :)
Easter time (or just before) perhaps???
Thanks for the detail rendo
Cheers mate.
Just thought I’d share to give other OzBer’s some info from someone who purchased it
Hope it helped a few of you out there
Code is not working for me with 2 x 1kgs whole bean orthodox blend hhhmmm.
just worked for me
Worked for me after a few tries. 2kgs of orthodox whole beans. Magic.
First order received friday, so good, ordered another two kilo today!
I almost did the same :)
Has anyone not received their order? Ordered on 24th, ship to Melbourne and nothing received so far. Tried emailing them and no response. Thanks.
I received mine within a couple of days. You should probably check up with them :(
Thanks. I've emailed them twice and tried their website chat. No response. Will give it till the end of the week and file a paypal dispute if still no response.
Good luck! Sorry to hear about your experience - looks like most other people received their order within a couple of days and were quite happy. Hope it sorts itself out.
I have also experienced the same. No response to emails and no shipping notifications.
@swilsonalfa: Try calling their cafe (03) 9686 2990. Tried this morning, they're following up my order and will call me back. We'll see if it actually happens. :)
@junet: Awesome, thanks for the update. I just called them and they're getting back to me. Fingers crossed for a delivery before the end of the week!
Damn, beat me to it. Amazing deal, great coffee at an insane price.