“The superior man understands what is right. The inferior man understands what will sell.” — Confucius
mycuppa March 2017 Newsletter
This month, we are running an experiment to test a topical retail theory that has been circulating management and business news recently.
It's about something that has changed the retail landscape of Australia in the last few years and directly led to the failure of many brands and companies - unsustainable discounting.
Only newsletter subscribers can receive a discount code for their coffee purchases this month.
Please note that we will only publish the code in our monthly newsletter to reward loyal subscribers.
Suuweet, Kenya, Redemption of the Spro and Decaf were all winners at last month's 2017 Royal Sydney Coffee Awards - read our story below on why these coffees remain clear favourites with our customers.
The Rwandan retail experiment
Over the last decade, we have built our position in the market by offering quality, fresh-roasted coffees using an everyday competitive price policy.
Of course, it isn't easy to analyze actual value, as quality versus price versus flavour are all highly subjective correlations.
We have an exciting offer exclusively for Newsletter subscribers.
For a limited time, we offer a 20% discount on one(1) pack size of coffee.
Please note that this discount applies to only one size of coffee pack and is available until the allocation sells out.
Take advantage of this fantastic opportunity to enjoy our premium coffee at discounted prices.
The code will not be publicly advertised here or anywhere else except for our newsletter - even the product itself will have no clues as to the availability of a discount.
2017 Royal Sydney Coffee Awards
"Winning takes talent, to repeat takes character" - John Wooden.
Last month, we picked up a high-ranked Silver medal for our Suuweet blend in the milk-based espresso (Cappuccino/Latte/Flat White) category.
Our Kenya also won another Silver in the Single Origin category at the 2017 Royal Sydney Coffee Awards.
These fantastic achievements are backed up by our big wins last year, taking 2x Gold, Silver, Bronze, 2016 Best in Show and Champion Roaster.
Our Decaf and Redemption of the Spro won Bronze in the Decaf and Espresso categories, respectively - the most highly sought-after medals.
The win for Suuweet was particularly pleasing as this coffee has been near and dear to my heart for so long that it's part of the family.
It's a coffee that has won many medals over the last seven years, and it's also the coffee that occupies the majority of my thoughts daily.
Whether roasting, cupping or sourcing, it is the most strategically important coffee in our portfolio.
When Suuweet was designed initially in late 2008, the brief was rather ambitious - create a stylish, classy, rich and rewarding premium blend to compete on a compelling value proposition.
It had to be priced at or below other market offerings while being superior in quality.
The Suuweet blend has remained true to this brief throughout its numerous evolutions - a simple principle of "more for less".
It occupies a place in the middle of the taste and flavour spectrum, a coffee that can appeal to most coffee lovers without offending anyone.
Those of you familiar with the fickle palate of many coffee drinkers will know it takes work to create something widely accepted.
Suuweet rewards with subtle highlights that linger long after the cup empties - the true sign of an endearing coffee.
If you had asked me 12 months ago if I could imagine a Kenyan coffee growing to be the most popular and successful single origin amongst our mycuppa customers, I would have laughed it off with a typical Darryl Kerrigan response - "Tell him he's dreaming".
Historically, high-grade Kenyan coffees had yet to be broadly available in the retail market due to the high cost and the intense, pointed attributes of the cup profile. Kenyans sometimes have wild acidity that requires taming with a deft hand on the roaster and the espresso machine.
Hence, Kenyan coffees were commonly utilized in smaller proportions as a blend accent to enhance premium offerings or for specific brewing purposes such as plunger/French press or filter coffees.
This is because Kenyan coffees' robust acids and intense flavours significantly contribute to the cup's overall taste.
As we did with our Suuweet blend, we took some bold steps with quality Kenyans to create a coffee product that would be more suitable for the coffee enthusiast and also deliver upon our enduring value proposition of providing more for less.
In our March 2017 Newsletter, we often feature an opinion piece from our roaster - ironically named The Roaster's Rant.
The information published in our newsletter is controversial, so we are not prepared to publish that article publicly to keep the peace within our industry.
For those interested, the article's topic was the great deception in the Coffee Roasting Competitions - companies using chequebook coffee and winning medals on roasting systems using beans that bear no similarities to their everyday coffees.
In other words, they treat consumers as fools with the classic "bait & switch" marketing.
