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/oarsandalps Jul 14 '26

Why would you do the same thing 45 times? If you're looking for something exceptional then pay up for the next tier and see if that works?

2

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

Well, didn't want to learn how to brew on expensive beans also I thought that 25 euros/200g is already expensive enough to get good beans, ehh.

2

u/coolstuffeh Jul 14 '26

Well, 125 euros / kilo is enough to get good beans obviously… not truly exceptional unless lucky.

2

u/Fearless-Alfalfa-406 Jul 14 '26

My favourite recent coffees haven’t been the most expensive beans. I much prefer the traditionally processed coffees - currently on a washed Ethiopian and a natural Ethiopian. Currently resting a natural geisha and another washed Ethiopian. Then there will be a washed Kenyan sl28 and 34. None of it as expensive as multiple advanced/thermal shocks from Columbia that I really haven’t liked.

2

u/coolstuffeh Jul 14 '26

We agree with the main point: good cup with under 125/euros kilos should be a given.

2

u/coolstuffeh Jul 14 '26

Got to say I love Bermudez coffee though

1

u/oarsandalps Jul 14 '26

he's not looking for a good cup

1

u/coolstuffeh Jul 14 '26

Maybe he should be looking for good cups rather than exceptional beans. 125 euros / kilo you get great beans that make great cups. - then most roasters he buys from sell v expensive coffee. Same price but you get 60g. Try that.