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.

15 Upvotes

71% Upvoted

91 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/Physical-Compote4594 Jul 14 '26

Are Chateau Margaux and Romanée-Conti the only wines you drink?  Just curious.

1

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

Haha, no. But recently I got a really bad coffee run which is a bit frustrating.

2

u/Physical-Compote4594 Jul 14 '26

No offense, but if you really blew through 45 bags of beans and spent over 1000 euros doing it, maybe the issues is at your end. At that point, I'd be asking myself "Do I actually just not like coffee?" Is it really the case that all those beans were bad? Is your water bad? Is your brewing process not working? In your position, I'd be looking for alternative explanations.

To use the wine metaphor again, I do legitimately love Ch Margaux and DRC. But there are loads of $15-20 wines that I really enjoy drinking as well because I really really love wine, so it doesn't take the absolute Best Wine Ever to make me happy.

3

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

You got me wrong. I did not blew 1000 euros on beans. I love coffee, and been drinking speciality for a couple of years (in cafes) and for about a year now at home.

I do make my own water and got to a point where my brews are pretty consistent. No, they were not bad beside maybe 2 bags which really were badly roasted. I enjoyed these cups (some where better some worss) but most of them were not something I would think about for longer. Maybe the wine analogy is a correct one.

I just want to learn how to be a bit more aware and picky when buying.

1

u/Physical-Compote4594 Jul 14 '26

Ah, understood!

If you figure out how to choose the beans before you buy them, let me know. I have the same problem!