Is Sale Coffee Inferior?

Over the years I have availed myself on a fair few whole bean coffee deals on OzBargain. I have found, in every instance I recall, that the product on sale is well below my expectations.

When I purchase coffee at full price from well known local roasteries the coffee is delicious and fresh. When I have purchased online sale (even from big names), it has been rubbish and borderline undrinkable. However, I have not had the original full priced product to compare (because I am an OzBargainer).

Is all the coffee I have bought online terrible, or to they just peddle trash on sales?

Poll Options

  • 0
    Yes, coffee I have bought on sale is inferior to the exact same product bought at full price
  • 25
    No, coffee I have bought on sale is of the same quality as the product bought at full price

Comments

  • +8

    Is Sale Coffee Inferior

    I've never purchased coffee from Sale but going by your experience I don't think I ever will.

  • Depends where you're buying from.
    I only ever bought coffee from small time roasters who used to run deals here.
    Baybeans,
    SweetYarraCoffee and
    Manna Beans

    never had a bad batch from any of these guys.
    I've since found a local roaster who is price competitive with online deals.

  • +1

    The Muffin Break in Sale makes a very good coffee. I always get one when I'm in that area.

  • Sales usually means coffee that is much closer to the expiry, coffee becomes worse the older it gets, so it makes sense that when its on sale its worse than you would expect otherwise.

    • +2

      I was of the impression many of the sales here were for freshly roasted.

      • +1

        They are freshly roasted.
        Green beans also decay over time.

    • +1

      Green beans can be stored for up to a year, which is plenty of time to sell them. Almost every sale I have seen here is for freshly roasted beans.

      I have had some great coffees and some undrinkable coffees. Both of those extremes were from the same roaster, but different blends.

      Green bean prices have risen about 20% from the start of the year according to mycuppa.com.au. Either quality of price has to change if that is true.

  • +1

    Sometimes it is. The last bag of Harris Coffee organic beans I got from Amazon (OzBargain advertised) had an expiry date just three months away when delivered. They are noticeably less aromatic than expected.

    That's not always the case however, as other Amazon advertised specials had an expiry date more than a year away.

    • +3

      And Harris Coffee probably puts a 12 month expiry from Roast Date, so you're drinking 9 month old coffee, when the recommendation is no more than 2 months from roast date.
      No wonder it was bad!

      More than a year away implies that they're putting an expiry of more than 12 months from Roast date… so you've got no idea how old the stuff is!
      This is why you should veer away from big name brand coffees.

  • What coffee are you buying on sale?

    If it's supermarket coffee then yes it will probably be terrible because it's old.

    • +5

      What coffee are you buying on sale?

      Kopi luwak. It tasted crap…

      • Good one, because it is, from civet cats!!

        • Don't be a pussi and drink that crap

  • +1

    Is Sale Coffee Inferior?

    Compared to Bairnsdale, probably…
    But definitely better than Traralgon, Bodhi aren't too bad though…

  • Only in the supermarket. Last week, Vittoria coffee Mountain grown was 40% Off at the local Wooly. I got the bag and could smell the coffee, then I saw all the bags on the shelf were not properly sealed, and I could see quite a lot of moisture inside.

    • +3

      Last week, Vittoria coffee

      I recently found out that this stuff is not grown in Vittoria !!! Beware…

  • Have bought on sale from AirJo, Duke Espresso, and Normcore and not been disappointed in anything I've received.

    • I found AirJo Enterprise undrinkable. That and some Coles brand are the only beans I've ever thrown out. I had previously liked the AirJo Sumatra.

      • +2

        Each to their own. I liked Enterprise when I tried it, really liked twilight, didn't like Sumatra… am currently on Aldi dark beans and not really that thrilled with them, some people rave about them… different beans for different human beings.

  • It's usually going to be closer to expiry. Just like if you buy Campos in woolies, look at the roast date and it was months and months ago.

    • +1

      You can't really compare supermarket coffee with smaller roasters who usually put deals up here.

  • I've only bought from lime blue coffee on sale through Ozbargain and it was freshly roasted and tasted great. I buy a lot of coffee online from different roasters and it was definitely on par with those and actually even better than many of them

  • No, it's the same.

    However, what you're experiencing is simply the 'batch' and possibly the time of roasting.

    I buy a local blend from my local cafe, 1/3 of the 250g bags i buy are good, none of the 1kg ones have been. But I reckon it's more so my $600 machine vs the $6000 cafe one.

    And most likely, whether you have dialed in or not.

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