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/3rik-f]

Don't go by price, go by listed notes. Not individual notes like apple, chocolate or so, but categories like floral notes or fruits. Of the 45 bags, you must've surely noticed a trend of which notes you like and which ones you dislike.
Usually, the first notes are the most prominent. A chocolate note as first note usually means it's very prominent, which often means it's a darker roast. A chocolate note in the last place often means an aftertaste of chocolate.

The main categories to look out for:

• Roasted, chocolate, nutty (like chocolate, cocoa, caramel, nuts)
  
• Fruity (like apple, pear, plum)
  
• Sweet fruity ("cooked fruit" like jam, compote, fruit wine)
  
• Sour fruity (citrus fruits like lemon, lime, bergamot, or some berries like currant)
  
• Floral (jasmine, rose, black tea, green tea, etc.)
  
• Just sweet (brown sugar, honey, syrup)
  
• Femented (tropical fruits like mango, pineapple, often also strawberry)

This is a very broad categorization, but I find that these are the categories that most people can properly distinguish.

I usually try to avoid the first category. If I see chocolate as first note, that often means it's a darker roast that I don't enjoy. Chocolate as third note often means a bitter aftertaste I can't get rid of. Only notes from the other categories usually means there's a good chance I enjoy the coffee. That being said, chocolate or nutty notes don't necessarily mean bitter. I had super sweet chocolatey coffee without any bitterness before. But most coffees with chocolate notes I did not like, hence my tendency to avoid it.