Roast #44: 2025 updates, and a return to basics

competition coffee club, sourcing, packaging

First post of 2025, and it's already April.

I'll try to write and share more in the coming months. I've been focused on the "homecafe" idea (more below) that I've pushed off writing. I know many of you started your journey with us because of our transparency. It’s what makes us different from other brands, and I will continue to differentiate with that.

Here are some quick updates and thoughts I've been thinking about.

Sourcing

Things have been going well on this front. We have a healthy pipeline of samples and are in touch with a few producers/exporters expecting their samples in the coming months. How we sample now is a lot different than how we sampled last year.

missing a few on here, but here’s an overview of what we plan to sample

We know which exporters we like to work with, we know who to go to for which styles of coffees, and we are making more direct farm relationships.

Wholesale + Larger Quantities:

We’ve recently added the option for 2lb bags. I went back and forth on whether we should price it differently than what we offer for wholesale, but I opted to keep them the same. The reason why I thought they should be different was that a larger discount should be given to cafes as their added benefit isn’t just because of their potential larger buy volume, but also for them exposing our coffee to a new audience.

We’ll keep the pricing for both the same for now for simplicity.

Competition Coffee Club

One of our goals this year was to offer more "competition"-level lots. I'll be honest, these haven't been selling as well as I had hoped. I don't think it's due to the quality of these coffees, but more how we are pricing these coffees. We are taking less of a percentage on these, but I don't think our brand (and packaging) is quite there yet to command those prices.

One idea from having a larger-than-expected inventory is that we could offer a "competition-level" coffee club box. This box would contain beans that sit at a pricier tier. This box would be discounted were you to buy all three separately. This would likely be offered twice a year.

We have the supplies and workflows to support this, so it's making sense to give this a try.

Packaging:

This has been slow, and it's been on me. I've been working with Gian (@apassageforms) on designing a sticker/bag combination.

We've kinda took an unexpected turn and are exploring the mint-y/olive-ish green colorway for bags.

still very early, but wanted to share something with you all

To share thoughts about what we are thinking through for our bags/labels, we want something that’s minimal and clean, something that can allow for different colors for us to express different coffees, and something that will be easy for us to pack with.

Coffee club:

Growth:

Growth is slow, but it's there.

Overall growth is still stagnant, but our subscription numbers are (slowly) still ticking up. We haven't done much in terms in marketing or strategy, so I shouldn't be too surprised that there's not been much change.

But what has been going more well is single orders feels like it’s been up a lot more in V9 and V10, and subscriber count is still trending up.

Pricing:

We've increased our subscription prices last round, but to be honest, I don't think it was enough. Our V11 box is marked at $47.64 with a 30% discount off of 3x material costs (without labor/time). This is the most expensive box with the three coffee greens totaling $3252.

But I also do think this box will be one of our best curated boxes.

Anyways, if you are asking why are the coffee club boxes getting more and more expensive, the answer is due to increase in coffee green prices and material costs.

message by hacea coffee

Two of the coffees in this box saw increases in prices while I was sampling them. The cost to rent space/time at the roastery has gone up. The bags kraft box bottom bags we use have gone up.

All these costs add up.

Cafe:

The calling to try and open a cafe (or something) is growing. The thought has been treading in my mind since hearing that Norberto (from @obscure.coffee) is giving it a try. I’m lightly envious and super excited for him that he’s doing it. :)

Then there’s my 9-5 job not going super well. And to add onto all that, Colin, a customer, sent over a very interesting cafe listing yesterday.

I spoke with Kevin/Linh from @kinhfolk yesterday, and they provided some interesting points. They mentioned that we should think through how the space could support what we want to do.

Thinking through “what we want to do” gave us more concrete perspective in what we might want in a space.

Then there’s location. Do we have enough of a brand to be a destination spot? Most of our audience is in North Brooklyn. Would we do well if we left this neighborhood?

Lastly (and most importantly), how much money do we need (or should we have)?

Many questions to answer, but thinking through these questions excite me.

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Lots to do, and more to come.

Thank you all for the continued support.