Is there a mustachian way to buy freshly roasted coffee beans in Switzerland?
I used to buy my coffee over the internet from Cafe Noir. That tastes great but it is too expensive at CHF 26.70 per kilo + postage. I have never found a better option. Coffee from supermarkets doesn’t taste as good and doesn’t seem to say when it was roasted.
Hi Bruce,
I have a subscription at www.hasbean.co.uk . I get 250gr fresh roasted beans every week.
The Mustachain way is to go through “Subscriptions” instead of “International subscriptions” where the shipping is registered and expensive. In normal subscription, I paid 100 GBP for 52 deliveries of 250gr each, which is a fine deal.
I tried several Swiss suppliers and I found out that I’m not that huge a fan coffee roasted the Swiss style. What I get from Hasbean is always roasted at least one level lighter than what you’d usually get from other places which brings out the fruity profiles.
I recommend you get one of the starter packs from Hasbean. They’re a good deal and you’ll probably stay a client.
https://www.hasbean.co.uk/collections/starter-packs
How does the price per kilo work out in practice, glina?
I am happy with the way the coffee from Cafe Noir tastes and my only problem is the overall price.
25 CHF excl. postage, so not much less than what you pay.
I find great value in getting 250gr fresh beans every week. It’s always great coffee, sometimes micro-lots or Cup of Excellence coffees. The founder of Hasbean reviews every coffee before it’s shipped out:
http://inmymug.com/
For reference the cheapest beans from Migros cost CHF 4.50/kg. So the freshly roasted ones cost 5x more and that can become a significant monthly cost for a heavy coffee drinker.
I feel like as a Mustachian I should train myself to prefer the cheaper beans by tasting the Badassity in every cup…
But why? So you can enjoy coffee on retirement? 
Even the most complete ignorants notice that “my coffee” is different. It’s not that they always enjoy it though, it can sometimes be complex or acidic.
I guess that’s one of my little luxuries that I could but wont give up unless absolutely necessary.
I am worried about hedonic adaptation turning me into a sukka.
Freshly roasted coffee, fine wine, exotic cheese, etc, are all acquired tastes. Is it good to acquire them? Or is it good to un-acquire them? How do you decide?
I read one excellent reply to an MMM thread about coffee. Somebody said that the luxury drink he enjoyed the most is a glass of freshly poured tap water. This was because he had spent years living on a sailing boat and having a limited water supply that needs to be strictly rationed. That is an impressive case of hacking hedonic adaptation.
Or putting it into money terms:
If I’m following the 4% rule then every CHF 100 that I cut from my monthly expenses means CHF 30’000 less that I have to save in my stash to reach FI.
Allight, this is a valid point. There is always something left to give up in order to get to FIRE quickly, isn’t there? Cheap beer and cervelats on the grill are a good shortcut to steaks on retirement, probably.
My FIRE goal is not very ambitious.
I’m saving a fixed minimum of 25%, 60% goes for expenses and another 15% is left floating. This may used up on vacations, weekend trips with the family, one garden party too many or will go towards savings. I may (and probably will) use this reserve to reduce my working hours slightly. This wouldn’t be possible had I fixed my saving goals much higher.
Do you have a coffee roaster in your town?
There are many in Geneva. I like Café Harare, and he might ship. I think he probably has the best prices out of any of the ones I will mention, and I’m not sure even he could beat 26.70/kg.
Otherwise, Boréal Café roasts their own. Birdie Coffee might as well (and theirs is really good!). Valmandin is another, as is Carasso, but I don’t have any experience with either of those.
I really like the Café Marimba light roast from Coop Naturaplan which chf8.50/500g (I think). I use it in a filter machine, and an Alessi stovetop.
I think if you’re making savings in other areas and you find great pleasure in a good cup of coffee that it is worth it. Any of us could be hit by a bus tomorrow.
I really love La Semeuse from Coop. around CHF 19.- per kg
I had a look at a coffee roaster shop and talked to the people there. They said that a roasted bean well stored doesn’t change much in a couple of months time. Grinded coffee on the other hand loses a lot of taste in the first twenty minutes.
What machine do you use for grinding? And which one for making the coffee?
I have a basic burr grinder which is good enough for coarse grinds for a Kalita drip brewer or French Press which are my preferred brews.
I nevertheless have to admit that I’m to lazy to work on my morning coffee and I use a full automatic Melitta Caffeo CI.
One way to work around the problem is to quit or limit coffee addiction/consumption. I had issueś with my stomach, so for me it was easy - I just had to quit drinking it.
I have solved this problem now. I stopped drinking coffee. I drink tap water instead now. It’s completely fine. Glad to have one less problem to think about!
I stopped drinking coffee for a couple of months. I am starting again now. I missed it :).
I would like to limit myself to 1kg of coffee per month or less. I want to enjoy the ritual as much as possible. One alternative is to have two small (15g) stovetop coffees per day. Or to have two large (40g) aeropress coffees on weekend-days. This should be moderate coffee consumption for 20CHF or less per month even with fancypants beans.
Today I dived back in with 30g of coffee beans plus some instant and I am buzzing…
Just one more reflection:
There are now numerous studies showing a correlation between moderate coffee consumption and lower risk of dying. People often assume that there is a causal link and that drinking coffee is good for your health. I doubt this: these simple explanations tend not to pan out over time.
I have an alternative theory that moderation might be good for your health, and that moderate coffee drinkers tend to be healthy because they tend to be better than average at moderation in all their habits and diet.
+1 agree on this. Enjoying a special cup of coffee is like stopping and smelling the flowers now and then. Well worth the time and money. If it goes into the area of addiction and each coffee becomes a fix rather than an enjoyment well then its better to give it up entirely.
Not if you are allergic to those things XD
I’m allergic to oak scents, but that won’t stop me from enjoying a glass of fine aged spirit
I actually started drinking coffee again as well. I’m buying chicco d’oro at Lidl. It’s usually in promotion and it tastes better than coffee in 99% of Swiss cafeterias.