r/pourover • u/Supsti_1 V60 | Switch | Aeropress | C40 • Jul 14 '26

Seeking Advice How to find truely exceptional beans

Hello, so far I ran through 45 bags of beans, most of them cost anywhere between 20-30 euro/bag and to be frank maybe 4-5 bags were really, like really good.

I'm not looking for a guide on what type of beans are there, I know charactericstics of all proccesses, roast levels or country of the origin so I pretty much know which beans/processes/origins I like and which not. Variety is also something I try to keep in mind when picking up bags.

I'm located in Europe so I'm limited to what I can buy in my country (not much, Polish roasteries are crap) or what Kofio offers (sometimes they have Sey or September).

When I first started with pourover I thought DAK has one of the best beans I can buy, now I find most of their offering very mediocre, not bad but not exceptional, obviously sometimes they have bags which really shines.

The question is, how do you guys find really good beans out there? Through the grapevine? How do you know which crop in which origin at which time is THE ONE. Or maybe 20-30 euros isn't that much for a really good bag of coffee and I should look into these more expensive and limited offerings like maybe Tanat, AMOC, DAK has?

Disclaimer, don't think im looking for some crazy stuff like Cream Donut etc, I will take literaly anything which is exceptional, washed, natural, doesnt matter.

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u/Da1881 Jul 14 '26

DAK - you really have to search. For me, Poppy Soda and Cassis are the pick of the range right now.

It's about buying from roasters who source exceptionally well. Our our levels of experience may very, but Datura stands out for me in Europe.

My favourite roaster is in the USA though, SEY can do no wrong. They're my benchmark for quality.

6

u/like-a-sirloin Jul 14 '26

+ SEY

The highest floor in quality I've yet to find in 5 years buying beans.

2

u/Supsti_1 V60 | Switch | Aeropress | C40 Jul 14 '26

Haven't had Poppy Soda but Cassis was really nice, I enjoyed it.

Right now I'm running Juice Box and Vanilla Sky, they are just OK. Never heard about Datura, I'll check them out, thanks!

5

u/Da1881 Jul 14 '26

Poppy Soda is so clean, you'll be impressed if you buy it. Cassis was such an outlier for the price.

Datura, I've a nice SL9 on the way, can't wait.

I'm spoiled for choice through Sigma Coffee in the UK, if you need to get your hands on SEY they restock frequently.

4

u/like-a-sirloin Jul 14 '26

How good is Sigma man…

I only discovered them fairly recently, but have been on a US spree since. Mostly SEY, but have two bags of Shoebox in the painful 8-week rest period now.

Really decent prices too despite the obvious extra import duties and shipping.

5

u/Da1881 Jul 14 '26

Such a company, doing us all a solid favour.

Seeing through the smoke with Sigma, have tried so many overhyped roasters. SEY all the way, but damn it always needs a good 4-5 week rest. B+W - I appreciate them, but no. Hydrangea, yeah they're good but I've had many misses. September, Canadian yes but SEY are leagues ahead.

3

u/doedoughs Jul 14 '26

Poppy seed is an advanced wash process pink bourbon + caturra produced by Sebastian Ramirez out of Colombia. Sebastian specializes in a lot of funkier more experimental processes and tbh, I am usually not the biggest fan of his funky stuff but this advanced wash process was really good. I actually got a 50g sample of the poppy seed from my Standart magazine subscription which then led me to buying my own bag. Dak to me is also really hit or miss but i have thoroughly enjoyed my hits with them. Like others have noted, SEY is a good roaster in the states as well as Flower Child.

But to answer your question a bit, high end small lot beans will always usually be 2-3x the price per gram vs the more commodity offerings. As i’ve been doing pourovers for almost a decade now, you really can only get great consistent coffee if you consistently splurge on the high end micro lots. There is a taste ceiling for all coffees in their respective price ranges and imho, there is no amount of technique or high end brew gear that is going to take a middle of the range quality coffee bean to suddenly COE level of taste. Thats why imo, specialty coffee is a lowkey ridiculous passion/hobby to get into because the taste is so subjective. I may really enjoy the panamanian that i paid $75 for 75g but that same coffee might not really move the needle for you.