Roast #31: V4 Survey Results
Feedback is the breakfast of champions
I apologize for the lack of images this time around. I’ve just been a bit tired these past few weeks (from interviewing, studying, etc.), and I really want this post to go out. Anyways — enjoy!
Thank you, thank you, and thank you to all who completed the survey. I’m not a fan of filling out product surveys, so I understand the inner convincing of those who filled it out.
The winner of the V4 feedback survey is:
…and technically I never announced a V3 winner. The winners I raffled never responded, then I gave up, and I never got back to it.
The winner of the V3 feedback survey is:
I’ll reach out in a few days confirming that you’ve won. But if your e-mail has the first two letters and you know you’ve filled out the survey, you’ve won a free 120g V5 box. :)
Now, the survey results.
Question: Which bean was your favorite?
SL28. It just brought me the most joy.
Really loved the Lychee. Never had a coffee like it. I tried to pull an americano with it and it came out incredible. Americano is underrated
Y-05 + Geisha as it had the most "flavor" - the SL28 was a bit *too* balanced for me!
The results turned out differently than I expected.
How I'd organize my preferences would be 1. Gesha, 2. Y-05 Lychee, 3. SL28.
The difference between my ordering and what people inputted tells me a few things: that my palette may be deviating away from my audience's, that my brewing instructions aren't as effective in helping you all brew what I'm hoping you all taste, and that there are inconsistencies between my roast batches.
The palette conundrum:
The difference in palette is tricky. I'm starting to move away from coffee that is too funky or flavorful. I didn't hold this opinion when I executed V1/V2. My preferences now lean towards more tea-like, floral, fruity, and balanced funk profiles. I'm not too big on heavy spice, but light hints interest me. I will continue to stick with my palette as that lets me do my best work while keeping the process simple (targeting just one palette). If you are looking for heavy-funk coffees with chocolate or nutty notes, future box iterations might not be the best for you. :/
Brewing instructions could still use improvements:
I talk more about this below. Read on.
There are inconsistencies between my batches:
This is a possibility and is likely a thing that's happening. With each additional roast, the drum retains more and more heat. The roasts at the end might be slightly darker than the ones in the middle or the beginning. I try to combat this with adjustments in the later roasts, but the temp reading may only capture part of the picture of what's happening since it's measuring bean surface temp for beans in one segment of the drum.
At whatever scale, this will be a problem to keep in mind and combat since, with each completed batch, the roasting environment will always be hotter than before.
One thing I thought about to combat this would be an enforced cooldown period, where I limit how many roasts I run before forcing a reset/cooldown period. I intend to apply a forced cooldown if I continue production roasting on my current Aillio Bullet.
I'm considering renting time on a larger roaster for V5. If the numbers work out, I'm going to make the move. The benefits of going with a larger roaster are: I'll be reducing time spent roasting (lowering labor costs), I'll have better consistency across the product since there'll be fewer batches, and I'll be able to increase turnaround time (imagine being able to fulfill all orders in one day). Fingers crossed here.
Question: Anything you'd suggest for V5?
More packaging and shipping woes:
There's a lot to unpack here.
box for 120g was still a bit big, so the cards ended up getting crumpled
Lower shipping cost and use a smaller box (I think the inner box is fine). Less waste too!
When people mentioned "packaging" being too big, I always thought people were talking about the inner box. I never considered the outer box to be too big. And now, when I think about it... it makes sense why a lot of people provided feedback about the box size both this and/last round.
I'm sorry for missing this.
Downsizing on the box would tighten the packaging experience and likely cut shipping costs.
...and then, with the 240g box, I was just way off. That box was huge. I discuss it in my V4 reflection post, but I know I messed up here.
metal ties fell off after first usage
I noticed this happening once through personal use, and I assumed it was a one-off. If one of you reported it, it likely means this happened a few other times.
I think I’m going to move away from the tin-ties. They don’t do as good of a job as zippers with keeping coffee fresh, and they’d completely remove the “metal ties” problem.
raising quality of the labels. they were spottyish, but it's very noticeable.
I totally understand. I used to have fancy cards, and they were gorgeous, but they did add a bit of complexity as they looped in a few additional parties into the planning process.
Since I already have a format I intend to use and keep, I think I'd just need to find a print shop to print and cut the cards. There wouldn't be much of a design component required, which was the bulk of the heavy lifting with the cards in V2/V1.
Action Items:
I will find a box that fits _snuggly_ with both sizes for next time. I'll use a mailer box made with sturdy cardboard, similar to what Warby Parker uses with their glasses. This should save on shipping and result in a better experience.
I will move to bags that have a zipper closure.
I will look into upping the quality of my cards with the tradeoff of pricing in mind. If the pricing doesn't make sense, I will omit this one.
More brewing styles
More brewer styles and recipes, I bought the switch to test this batch - definitely worth it.
I only make espresso, so any notes/advice for that would be nice
I can't promise anything, so I'll just say that I’ll think about it. When you change brewers, you also change the other variables. So, the main roadblock for me adding more brewers here is the added complexity with an unclear end since there will always be more brewers to target.
As for espresso... I don't drink enough espresso to be confident with my recommendations. If I were to attempt it, I'd fall into the same issues above, but with espresso. Espresso shots will pull differently depending on water temp, flow rate, basket type, grind size, puck prep, etc. Plus, some of those variables are challenging to adjust. I know for my Silvia, I'd have to take apart the machine to adjust the pressure, and I don't think I'd be able to adjust the temperature without installing a PID controller. The variables could be complex to change for espresso and match between machines.
Action Items:
Maybe I’ll try adding an additional brewer type next time — just to say I attempted it.
Coffee was more subtle this time around
Nothing was bad about it but the coffees are more subtle than previous boxes. In general, I like it a little less subtle as sometimes I don't have the most delicate touch when making the coffee.
I wish there was some co-ferment this time. The v3 citrus was so fun. These coffees have been taking a while for me to dial in.
The coffees this round were more subtle than the prior box.
The coffees required a more delicate touch when pulling their intended notes. I experienced this when dialing in, which was why I switched the brewing guide to use a Hario Switch brewer.
In my opinion, the Y-05 Lychee was the most flavorful coffee in the box. The Y-05 Lychee required an immersion step (along with some rest) to bring out the fruitiness. If your setup didn't have an immersion step, or you didn't run additional pours, it could've been challenging to get the target brew.
But you all were right; the coffee is more subtle this round. I don’t think I’ll change how I source or what I target, as it’ll complicate the process. I know what I like, so I have a single target to source. If I change that to include sourcing to try and aim for what other people like, then it gets complicated since I won’t know if I hit the target until post-selling the product.
Action Items:
For V5, I've committed to bringing in a peach co-ferment. I'd say this is similar to the Honey Pink Bourbon in that the notes are very prominent, and it's an uncomplicated bean to brew with.
I’ve also committed to a High Ferment Natural Catimor from Yunnan, China. This coffee will highlight the “funk” profile, which we haven’t highlighted since V1.
I’ll be more explicit about what profiles each bean will consist of. Now that I can better gauge what is considered delicate, I'll note when a box is more delicate.
Question: Things to keep for V5:
The little cards / grind sample:
The grind samples and recipe are super helpful
I felt the little detail cards for each bean was a nice touch. I do think the grind sample idea and recipe was clever for helping give people a start point for dialing and brewing.
I'm glad the cards were helpful!
Fortunately, putting the grind samples wasn't a lot of work, so I'll likely continue doing that.
The larger size option:
Definitely the larger batch size option!
Larger batches!
Thank you! It's sooo touching that you all are open to buying more of my coffee. Your support helps me grow this project, and it's a strong signal of how I'm doing.
I intend to keep the 240g option and will consider larger options if I get more signal that there’s interest for it. :)
Question: How can I better my marketing?
First off, thank you all for writing in your thoughts and suggestions. I appreciate you all taking the time to think of ways to help me improve my marketing.
Special shoutout to Shahrukh and his GF for writing in an e-mail filled with thoughts, strategies, and ideas. It just shows how much you support this project. It means a lot.
The suggestions I received ranged from more engaging social media, partnerships with tangential brands/influencers, to more in-person opportunities like more cafe popups/lemonade-stand like thing but with coffee/ and corporate-specific events.
But then when I think deeper on each, I’m realizing they all need some work/planning to execute (duh, lol.). Then I think some more, and I ask if my time should be spent in marketing right now… and I don’t think it should. I think marketing should be a focus when you have a solid foundation/core product, and you are ready to accelerate growth.
I think at the moment, the product is still evolving (ie focusing on branded packaging), and processes are still changing (ie renting a roaster), so I don’t think marketing should be a current top priority.
At the moment, all awareness and marketing seems to be happening by word of mouth. All of you are my marketing team. #goteam 🥲
Friend who heard through Instagram
A friend
From V3 and before that from a friend
^ some answers from the “How did you hear about V4?” question
So what I’m going to do is save all the suggestions for now and consider implementing some of the suggestions in the future. :)
What's been on my mind?
This wasn’t a survey question, but is something I’d like to share
Sourcing for V5:
It's going well! I've found the coffees I want to use and bought some coffees I want for V6, too. 🥲 Why did I do this? Mainly because I've found that searching for coffee (at a reasonable price) that fits my palette can be challenging, so I should buy them when I encounter them. Plus, the flavor profiles for all the coffees are pretty distinct, so there's flexibility in how I slot them.
But man, sourcing is a bit nerve-racking now. V5’s coffee total cost is more expensive than V4, so what I have to put up front is higher than before. And since I don’t have a subscription model implemented, it’s a bit scary having to wonder if I will make enough sales to cover my costs.
I’ll write more about how I source greens, the entire process, and maybe how my experience has changed from V1 to V5. So, I’ll save the interesting details for that post.
My audience:
More thoughts as I drink more coffee... I think your opportunity is to capture an audience that cares about good coffee but doesn't know a lot about it.
When I came to that sultan event I knew diddly Squat about properly brewing a nice cup of coffee or even specialty coffees.... But like I told you at Norb's pop-up, your lychee was one that absolutely stood out to me. I think you could push people on the fence about coffee to getting into coffee.
Hearing both pieces of feedback was super touching. It's cool to hear how this project has been the entry point for some of you into the world of specialty coffee.
This feedback tells me that education and transparency should continue to be a priority, and I should design the experience so it's easy for a newcomer to be inspired and see the value of buying specialty coffee.
How this translates into concrete action items is still a bit nebulous. All I can think of is to continue being transparent about the process, writing the brewing guides, and sourcing coffees that break the traditional mold of Starbucks coffee.
And on that note, I'm going to sign off. I look forward to sharing V5 with you all, it’s going to be a fun one.
Thank you’s:
@johnthepang for introducing me to the folks over at @yellowroostercoffee and just general support. Your Instagram story replies and compliments are validation to me, and they help me keep pushing forward. 🙇
Barry, Lucas, and the entire team from @unblendedcoffee for being such cool people to work with. I appreciate what you are all doing for coffee farmers, and I’m glad I can support the mission Unblended Coffee is taking on.
And shoutout to Michael for making time to get coffee with me. It was cool to nerd out on coffee with you. 👀
@rvchelkeen from @typica.us for inviting me out to cuppings and also bringing in coffee from China. Sharing coffee from China has been on my mind for a while (relative to age of this project…), so I’m really glad I can for V5.
Got some responses, but none that were as easy as with Typica @mirza.photos for being a helpful friend. Thanks for helping critique my resume, sharing potential job openings, and lending me your bike 🚲. I appreciate and cherish our friendship.
