Hey all - I’m looking for good deals on coffee beans in Taipei - I make my coffee at home via pour over and haven’t seen a lot of either pre-ground coffee or coffee beans that are that great of a deal. I found a random shop that did 2x500g for $360, but they don’t do that anymore.
What are your best bang for the buck coffee tips?
Find local shops going out of business. My local coffee shop on Bao An street is closing so the 800 NTD bag is now reduced price.
甜心櫻桃 Cherry Chérie
No. 32, Bao’an Street, Xindian District, New Taipei City, 231
02 8914 6095
https://maps.google.com/?cid=17852259196718097574&shorturl=1
Other than that Internet deals but it is hit and miss. Boy coffee is expensive here. But good most of it.
800 NTD! must be a big bag or good coffee hah
Huge. Couple of kilos.
PX Mart.
Am embarrassment of varieties (beans) for about NT$ 200/lb
ETA except for every couple of months when it’s 2 for 1
Yep. They had some interesting Italian roast. And go for Honduras coffee or Nicaraguan organic.
I can’t give any specific advice, but I can give some perspective. One kilogram for NT$360 is pretty close to the price of green (unroasted) coffee. That roaster/coffee shop probably had excess past-crop coffee that they needed to get rid of before their new coffee showed up. It was likely deeply discounted, unless it was poor quality to begin with.
Which brings me to my second point: lower your quality expectations a bit. Buy coffee from the supermarket or one of those places that buys cheap coffee beans and roasts really dark so that you can’t really distinguish any flavor of origin.
Third, try to find a hobbyist who has bought himself a small but professional roaster and is roasting on the side for his own enjoyment and for his friends and who has excess capacity.
Actually the coffee shop is going under but their stuff is good. Guatemala, Colombia, even Sumatra if you are into those -good for cold brews.
Huh. I never even thought of buying coffee beans there.
Usually I buy them at Costco, and occasionally at a Danshui company called 伙伴咖啡工坊 / Partner Coffee, with branches near the Carrefour and the MRT station. Partner Coffee is more expensive, but it makes me feel warm and fuzzy to support a local business, plus I like to consider myself someone who cares about quality ingredients - even though I’d probably fail a blind taste test with quality versus cheap coffee beans.
You are supporting more than a local business, as the coffee production chain is really long. Thank you for your patronage.
Costco and coffee are two words that do not go well together.
OKAO has something like a memebership, where you can “book” your order and pick it up in batches. Remember, once you open that big bag, oxidation sets in and the flavor goes kaput/haywire.
I never buy beans at a supermarket , I’m guessing they could be sitting there too long.
Fresh roasted coffee only for me.
That’s called drip coffee.
Ground coffee gets stale very fast if not packed well.
Most of the affordable dark roasts are super bitter and burnt. The ESP “Italy Dark Roast Bean” is the one I have settled on for the time being, found at PX mart.
Though I am not a connoisseur in any way, shape, or form.
I guess it depends on your palate. I know for many people the beans matter - but I don’t think it does for me. There’s just not enough of a difference between the big Costco bags roasted who knows when, and the freshly roasted bags from a local shop.
I find the Costco beans fine for my daily swill. As long as I grind before each brew and don’t keep them sitting around too long. As much as I hate Starbucks (the cafe), the big bags of Starbucks blonde roast they sell at Costco aren’t bad at all.
That’s a good one, you bet. Mine also has some Blue Mountain that’s pretty nice. They got a bunch of blends and Mild ones that are not of my liking.
As far as freshness goes, dear brother @Brianjones, all the beans are packaged in those newfangled hi-tech bags like the ones @Mr_He sells, with the valve that exhausts moisture and excess air, so they stay in perfect nick.
The darker the roast, the lesser the caffeine. That is a problem.
It also depends if you like a little chocolate taste, a but of fruit fragance, all the little nuances.
Yeah I guess I can try some supermarket ones and compare.
Somewhat topic related, how do you guys grind your beans?
I found out that grinding the whole package at Costco isn’t helping much in keeping the freshness of the flavor.
Any recommendation for a good (and preferably non expensive) grinder?
I think you mean OK Lao?
210 NT for a bag of Italian Roast is all I ever drink now. Literally. I drink water and coffee, exclusively.
Discovering OK Lao was the best XinDian thing to date.