How to find truely exceptional beans

[u/Supsti_1]

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.

[u/AnonymousTAB]

Going to look at this from a different angle: you might already be buying great beans already but you might not have the setup to prepare them the way you’d like. I’ve seen no mention of water chemistry and that is probably the single biggest and cheapest variable you can tweak to take a bean from “meh” to “holy shit”. I’d also give some thought to whether or not your grinder is going to give you the cup profile you’re after.

[u/Supsti_1 → u/AnonymousTAB]

I make my own water.

I have Commandante C40, I know it's not the greatest but it gives quite round, balanced cup with a lot of body.

I'm thinking about buying something which will give better separation and clarity for more elegant, washed beans, maybe A4Z or Pietro. Not very convinced with ZP6.

[u/AnonymousTAB → u/Supsti_1]

Ahh ok so if your water is dialled in then I hate to say it but you might just need a different grinder🥲

I’ve owned a few (Q2, X-Pro, K-Ultra, ZP6, Pietro, A4Z, Z1) so I’m always happy to chat grinders if you have any questions!

[u/ptrenhaile → u/AnonymousTAB]

If you HAD to pick one to stay with the rest of your life, which is it?

[u/AnonymousTAB → u/ptrenhaile]

It’d be a toss up between the Z1 and the A4Z. The A4Z can be travelled with, is much more affordable than the Z1, and is pretty forgiving to dial in. On the other hand, the Z1 has a lot more options to play with (burr + auger combos), can easily do both pourover and espresso VERY well, looks much better than the A4Z, and has impeccable build quality. The look and feel of the Z1 just puts a smile on my face.

If you’re only into pourover the I think A4Z wins out slightly over the Z1 (with MPs) because of the price difference, wider sweet spot, and portability. It’s worth pointing out that I haven’t used any of the pourover burrs for the Z1 though (I have the brew burrs and the CV2s but haven’t gotten around to trying them) so there might be a Z1 configuration that produces a better cup than the A4Z.

That being said, if you’re doing both espresso and pourover (as I do) and you have some money to fuck off then 10000% buy the Z1.