Any of the Brighton massive tried these?
Cafe looks lovely and they’ve got some eye-wateringly expensivecoffees for sale along with some stuff a bit more in my arc.
Going to give these a whirl when I next do an infill order against my Tim W. subscription.
Interesting I usually visit Pharmacie in Lewes as my go to coffee place.
But last week I went to Brighton and had a pour over at https://www.instagram.com/casco.coffee?igsh=MTRkc2VxZ2tobnN4bQ== which was insanely fruity and lovely. Only just twigged from your post it was Taith’s beans.
So will have to go to Taith in Lewes next time I’m in.
I was asked what I wanted for an upcoming birthday and thought about a coffee subscription.
The names that immediately came to mind to look at were: Origin, Horsham, Workshop (in ascending order of price - Workshop actually quite expensive).
I’ve previously tried beans from Pact, Rave and Caravan but wasn’t a huge fan.
Any recommendations (I’ve seen Dog and Hat recommended - apparently they try to give v different ones each time - but I’ve never used them)?
For reference, 250g a month will be enough, and I make filter/pour over.
Origin seem to go up and down in regards to interesting beans. Horsham and Workshop have consistently exciting things, though.
My question is why subscription? Isn’t it nice to be a coffee butterfly and have a bit
of this and that? Sweven, Dark Arts, etc, etc ,etc…
Yeah I agree about Origin, but I’d separately seen your Gatta above recently and thought it sounded good so that swung it.
I was also thinking about the merits of a subscription at all - I’d rather just pick what sounds good to me when I need to get a new bag. That said, I’m now consistently paying about £15/month on average, which is quite a lot for me, so it seemed like a good way to get other people to foot the bill!
Not heard of Sweven or Dark Arts though - will investigate.
I think Origin are generally very good, but they seemed to go through a bog standard patch. Have a look at Hundred House too. 
Haha, is it rude to say, ‘Instead of getting me a subscription, can you pay for the beans I choose each month?’ 
Was going to order the Gatta when I saw they recommend it for espresso. Do you think it’d work well for pour over also, or should I go for something else? It’s quite expensive so don’t want to fork out if I won’t get the best from it.
I’m making pour-over with it, very nice. I got a freebie of it in there Euston Road cafe when I bought the bag last week. I can’t quite get it to taste like they did but it makes for a lovely cup.
Thanks. Last minute curveball - just saw it’s gonna cost me almost £20 with p&p (and I don’t fancy the look of any others to take me over the free p&p threshold). I’ll pop in to Euston Road and order one there to see what it’s like though.
I like the look of this as well and it’ll be fair bit less: Kenya Ngugu-ini AA | Stunning Kenya Coffee Beans – Horsham Coffee Roaster
In general, how do Kenyan coffees compare to Ethiopian?
I think I’ve had that Kenyan before in previous years.
In my experience they are a little fruitier, but less floral than Ethiopian coffees. But I guess my experience is perhaps fairly narrow. Berry flavours!
The Gatta from Origin is unusual for an Ethiopian. Its Honey processed rather than a washed or natural. Also, its an unusual variety: 74158 (!). They are usually ‘heirloom,’ which is the native variety of arabica. All of that is definitely very modern. It doesn’t taste like a typical Ethiopian!
Interesting, thanks. It was the fruity sounded tasting notes that drew me to it. Will definitely try and visit Origin and try The Gatta though, it sounds interesting.
The only Ethiopian I think I’ve had was Horsham’s Damo (which IIRC you liked) - which was nice though took me a little playing around with pouring settings to get right: Ethiopia Damo natural processed coffee – Horsham Coffee Roaster
This is next on my list. Mentions it’s good for both pour over and espresso. I recently used someone’s espresso machine with crappy beans and it wasn’t terrible, so now I’m (again) thinking of maybe exploring espresso 
.
Interesting, though I think i prefer washed to natural.
I just saw you ordered the Kenyan from Horsham. How is it?
I also just saw on that site that they say to wait before using the beans. I’ve never done that. Should I be doing?
For filter coffees please wait 5-7 days before using and for espresso please wait 7-10 days. It will be worth it, honest!
Yes, we have discussed this before…
In the days after roasting, Co2 escapes from the beans, especially when you add water to them. You know that big puffy ‘bloom’ on your first pour? That’s the co2 escaping.
Because the gas is escaping, the water can’t penetrate the coffee so easily and it throws the brew off.
Argh yes, I somehow completely misremembered this and had it in my head that 5-7 days was when they started to decline in quality. I’ve always been opening packets right after I receive them.
This probably explains why I’ve been struggling with getting the tasting notes etc.
Will have to remember to order beans in advance of when I want them now. Just ordered that Ngugu-ini which I believe is being roasted today, so will have to make do with instant coffee for a week while I let it de-gas. Interested to see the difference.
I quite like buying from cafes and shops. No postage, and the beans have usually been roasted a few days before.
Interesting, could try that. Although apart from Origin and Caravan (Workshop closed recently) none of the places mentioned recently above have places anywhere near me.
Any recommendations for places in London to buy from?
London! I’m assuming you’ll be spoilt for choice 
I’ve found that I prefer naturals overall so when I see one I’m more interested. I haven’t tried that Horsham one yet as I’m always into a bag when I get another and I give it the time it takes to finish the previous bag before starting the new one. The time will differ but this means that I get that bit of recommended time before using them. Not sure why I always finish one bag before starting another, you’re making me think about that now!
Seeing as I’ve just bought the two bags at once I suppose I’ll be changing my habit this time around.
I do that
By the time you have dialled in a bag you don’t want to be swapping around and confusing yourself on the grind. Unless you are using two grinders!