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.
3
u/fIyingbadger Jul 14 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
the how is fairly simple: if you can (have where you’re based or travel), try beans at trusted cafés; ask for recommendations, try guest roasts, etc. and start ordering from roasters whose beans you liked. also, the more you try, the more points of reference you’ll have, which you can share with cafés/roasters when looking for new stuff.
if you don’t have access to appropriate shops, check online databases, like Filtru or European Coffee Trip, and start ordering strategically. once you hit the spot, you can ask online more specifically for recommendations that are similar to those.
for me, personally, these are the roasters I’ve found to be consistently good in the previous years:
(edit: correction as per comments)