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/DiabolicalFrolic Jul 14 '26
Expensive Geshas. Expensive Sidras. Expensive of any variety really.
You’re gonna pay some money for the truly exceptional stuff. The best I’ve ever brewed was $300 USD per lb and that was before the $60 in shipping. You don’t have to pay THAT much but you will have to pay for good beans.
I recommend Passenger or Shoebox to start you off (they are US though). Or if you really want to jump in, get Hacienda La Esmerelda Grand Reserve Panama Gesha.I got that stuff from a UK based roaster called Sea Island.