“You raze the old to raise the new." - Justina Chen Headley

mycuppa April 2021 Newsletter

It may appear we have been quiet in our recent monthly newsletters, and perhaps it's reasonable to think nothing new or exciting has been happening.

Well, it's certainly not the case - we started a significant project 18 months ago, and it's almost finished, so we are more than a little excited to drop a brief snippet as it's been a challenging period consuming a lot of our time and energy throughout the difficulties of the last 12 months.

Nespresso capsule drinkers might be surprised to discover that with more than 1400+ sellers of capsules in Australia, almost none of them own capsule plants and the majority don't even roast coffee. It begs the question, how can they control quality?

It's a segment dominated by fast marketers operating rather loose with the truth at times - especially the need for more disclosure around most eco-friendly capsules in failing to keep the contents fresh. We also see claims in the tens of thousands for 5-star reviews and the numerous media articles promoting positive endorsements in newspapers, magazines and infomercial TV shows.

There are only a handful of coffee capsule converters in Australia, and when we say handful, you can use just one hand to count. They are primarily contract providers only - that is, they take coffee and convert it on a fee-for-service basis; most are not fully vertically integrated businesses dealing with importing raw coffee, roasting, capsule manufacturing and retail sales under the same roof.

We have built our dedicated capsule plant, and it won't be undertaking contract capsule conversion but instead used solely to enable us to do with capsules what we have been doing in the premium fresh roasted single origin coffee bean market over the last 14 years - transforming the segment by offering flexible choices, higher quality ingredients, fresher products produced daily and to fulfil our desire in providing superior value to our customers.

Beyond the new hi-tech capsule offering, we also want to announce an innovative coffee-related product next month with a significant environmental story and a world first. It's not our product, but it's using a by-product of our ingredients, and the inventor is a long-term great friend and colleague in the coffee industry - watch this space.

OK, enough hype; let's get into it this month, as it's already half over.

First, we are showcasing a stunning new lot of Burundi that arrived in our warehouse a couple of weeks ago, and it certainly deserves a special mention.

It's our everyday Burundi microlot offering, and it's a fantastic coffee with notes of dark chocolate, cherry and raspberry (yes, taste it in the finish). There's something about raspberry in a coffee that's like the holy grail of greatness.

Burundi has significant challenges, and coffee farmers strive to help build hope and economic prosperity. We have a short video from our import partner showing how the Akawa project is assisting coffee farmers to achieve higher prices for their quality lots and build a sustainable future.

Secret Label - this month, we are bravely walking the tightrope of terror in bringing together acids that are, in theory, rarely mixed in a coffee blend - malic and citric.

You know we love pushing boundaries already, and this month's lot is undoubtedly interesting with its bold notes and sweet flights of joy—a robust cup with punchy performance.

 

 

Excellence from Burundi

Now and again, a new coffee arrival makes a perfect impression of balanced excellence.

Last month's Burundi Microlot arrival is a stunning example of how excellent coffees from this small, poor African nation continue to stand tall to kick high-scoring goals.

This Burundi microlot from the critical Akawa Project has a refined elegance and a delightful raspberry and cherry note that's genuinely delicious as a milk-based espresso and great as a well-extracted espresso.

Brown Sugar, Cherry, Mandarin Orange, Raspberry, Red Currant, Vanilla

Grab it here - Burundi Microlot

 

April 2021 Secret Label

Our Secret Label for April 2021 is now available for a limited time. Get it in 1kg packs of whole beans by default, or choose your preferred grind setting to freshly ground it from our roasted coffee beans.

We have blended three remarkably different coffees to produce contrasting features in the cup.

There are some powerful, rustic bass notes from a fully traceable Organic lot, prodigious body and texture generated by the opposing acids that bloom to fill the palate's outer boundaries and a stunning microlot with dark berries and sparkling sweetness to round out the finish.

A coffee with distinct and unique attributes is a gamble with bold flavours and a deliberate, risky move by pairing malic and citric acids in the same cup.

Technically, it's against the "textbook" theory of coffee blending, but we are brave and able to back our expert roasting skills.

A lot is happening here with the cup changing as it develops fantastic complexities.

Rich in praline, toffee and caramels, the juicy sweetness of the berries plays delicately against the rustic dark cocoa notes.

Buy as much as you want - we will roast it daily until the lot runs out.

AROMA - baker's cocoa,

FLAVOR - praline, caramel, dark berries, milk chocolate

ACIDITY - alternating malic and citric - yes, believe it.

BODY - rich, full, syrupy.

BALANCE - a lot going on, refines in the finish.

AFTERTASTE - caramel, chocolate and praline with dark berries.

OVERALL - it develops terrific complexity.

For a limited time only - ending when the allotment has run out, which may occur before the end of the month.

 

Roaster's Rant - Good Guys Gone Bad

Being chronically time-poor, I've never been one of those price shoppers trying to save a dollar by comparing deals and instead value convenience over cost.

It's why I've historically supported retailers like The Good Guys, as their store is nearby and whenever I have needed something quickly, it's simple to get in and out fast, or at least it used to be.

Over the last 14 years, we have spent a small fortune with them on computer equipment, appliances, etc., as every transaction worked so well.

A good friend has been working from home for more than 12 months since the beginning of the pandemic, with her office in Melbourne's CBD closed until recently.

Before the shift to home working, she looked forward to her daily ritual of espresso coffees in nearby city cafes. How to obtain that crucial daily caffeine fix, or 2, became one of the first issues to deal with being stuck at home.

Messing around with espresso machines and grinders was never going to be her preferred option, so instead, she opted for a plunger as instant was not appealing.

I would grind up some fresh coffee beans every few weeks and drop them at her veranda on the way home. Each fresh pack was a beloved experience, boasting intense aromatics, rich flavours, and the boldness only fresh coffee can provide.

After many months of repeating this process of freshly ground coffee and seeing how quickly it degrades, my friend began to understand the lifecycle of fresh coffee and why pre-grinding coffee inevitably speeds up the deterioration.

So I politely suggested she purchase a primary grinder at home to use whole beans and extend the enjoyment period of the coffee. Recently, with her birthday approaching, I bought her a grinder so she could prepare freshly ground coffee with a plunger each day.

Being short on time, I thought it would be convenient to pick up a grinder as I drove past The Good Guys.

Since I had visited that store multiple times before, I was well aware of what I needed and its location and confidently asked a staff member to grab the product for me to purchase the grinder without any hassle.

Here's where it started to fail. This small, lightweight grinder blends in with other kitchen appliances.

After 12 months of frantic pandemic purchases by households around Australia, it seems this model of grinder, albeit basic, was still a "high demand" item and only available via Click & Collect, despite the stock being available in the store as confirmed by the staff member.

So, to buy this appliance, I must order it online and either have it delivered or wait for notification from The Good Guys and then drive back down to the store and collect it.

With other errands to run, I asked the store member if they could just put through a sale at the counter so I could go away and do my tasks, then come back in a few hours and collect. Nope - struck out again.

It's just an entry-level grinder, nothing special or fancy, and unfortunately, this was turning into a real struggle to understand why all the fuss if they had stock in the warehouse out the back.

Reluctant to order it on my ancient not-so-smartphone without reading glasses, the experience of being ushered away from a store empty-handed when they had stock available was genuinely perplexing.

Taking a moment to ponder, I thought to myself, what's the point of having these expensive stores and staff and not enabling goods to flow to the customer, mainly when I was one of barely three customers in that huge store?

Now, in a grumpy frame of mind, I stomped back to my vehicle, took off to the office and placed my online order, thinking their promising offer of "Ready in 1hr or less" would redeem my negative opinions.

Nope - I struck out a 3rd time. I placed the order just moments after the cut-off time had expired.

The next day, I received the notification my order was available for collection and to print out the email and take it along with my ID for collection, which I duly fully complied with their requirements.

With the optimistic expectation that everything would be OK and I would be back on track, I attended the normal click-and-collect counter. I was rejected once again, unable to process my order, so they told me to go outside to the rear of the warehouse around the back. For a moment, let's be kind and not score a strike for that rebuff, as I was overdue for a lucky break sooner or later.

Unfortunately, when I drove around the rear, ten large trucks and vans were waiting in front of me; the poor guy doing the picking was having trouble processing the orders. It was raining cats and dogs, and I ended up waiting for what felt like forever, way too long in my now irritated state, not a suitable time to collect from their warehouse mid-afternoon. So, let's score the collection process as another strike.

Buying this small kitchen appliance had turned into challenging work, and by the time my order was finally in my hands, the Good Guys had gone bad.

When searching for something entirely different on the internet later that day, I ironically found a lower price on the same grinder at another online seller; it could have been delivered to my door the next day for free (lovely promise, but in reality unlikely given shipping is still a random lottery) but the point is I would have saved a lot of time and frustrating running around.

This is a typical example of an epic failure in omnichannel sales strategy, which occurs repeatedly with Repco, Bunnings, and Officeworks during and outside lockdowns.

They are holding limited stock (or deliberately creating an illusion of scarcity by keeping it centralised), pushing customers into a restricted corner, treating them like crap and causing so much friction in the process that it's bound to destroy loyalty towards the brand.

How is their omni-channel idea a step forward when it's this difficult?

Companies with significant investments in physical stores are forcing customers to place orders online. In the process, they are deluding on whether it's a better experience for everyone involved. They are focusing only on their own selfish, myopic, internal needs.

I've had a few great click-and-collect experiences, but it seems to be the minority.

Every second day, I receive another marketing email from The Good Guys promoting the same stuff - buy online and save, or Click and Collect for extra savings.

They are trying to push customers away from their existing point of difference (a store) and into the vast melting pot of online shopping. They hope to survive this race to the bottom with a high-cost base simultaneously paying for all those physical stores.

It's hard to see the merit of cannibalising your store networks with email incentives to buy online whilst holding expensive store leases and sales staff. Do they think it's easy to offer anything different online in a commodity market? I'm afraid not.

Undoubtedly, it's the hero management promoting the promise of reducing costs and improving workflow (whilst collecting huge JobKeeper bonuses). However, the customer experience has been lost in the process, and they are possibly blind to a rapidly growing sizeable global competitor with much faster execution capability.

Australia's retail giants have had over a decade to build efficiency with omnichannel, and most are still pretty crap at getting even the basics right.

Continued poor execution in Omni-channel is how Amazon gets a leg up in markets with faster logistics over the fumbling retail brands that currently have a distinct advantage with their national store networks.

Some Australian brands fail to realise their significant potential and can't leverage the opportunity because they prioritise cost reduction and profits over delivering a basic, fundamental customer experience.

Ultimately, it's short-sighted goals by companies with short-term objectives led by management with even shorter performance targets until they can receive bonuses.