Quality Coffee Beans

[silmanor]

I'm looking for a good shop that sells reasonably priced quality coffee beans, that is preferably in the south/west of Taipei. I don't have a big freezer, so I can't freeze loads of them, and will need to make regular trips. I'd love it to be not too far off my work/daily living path. I know Costco is an option, but I always like to support smaller shops, over multinational corporations, when given the opportunity.

Cheers

[Tiger Mountaineer]

Cama is a local franchise that roasts in small batches (hence very fresh) and seems to have an interesting variety of beans. There's one on the south side of Heping 1/2 way between Dunhua and Fuxing...pricier than Costco of course though.

There's also another 'mini-roaster' with a similar formula by Taipei Main. It's called Willbeck Cafe and they have another location here on KaiFeng street.

[SlowRain]

If you want quality, you're better off going freshly roasted. That means buying it within a day or two of being roasted and using it up within 10-14 days at the latest. Nothing from Costco would meet that criteria--nor Starbucks, for that matter. Try to find some place that will give you at least some information about the region it came from, not just the country. Some places will even tell you which farm it came from and what processing method was used [ie. natural (sometimes called dry-processed), pulped-natural (sometimes called semi-washed or honey process), or washed (sometimes called wet-processed)].

I don't have any specific recommendations for places in the area you mentioned, but you could always try ordering from Cafe Lulu in Taichung. Lulu is the barista, and her husband does the roasting. She speaks very good English, and she has a number of customers from Taipei who get her to send roasted coffee to them, partly because they like her coffee and partly because it's cheaper to run a business in Taichung. She'll grind it for you first if you want, but you should buy your own grinder if you want your coffee to taste better.

[tommy525]

On the main street of Danshui, there is a tiny cafe that has a tiny roaster on premises and bags of fresh unroasted beans. They do their own roasts. They coffee is good and their beans are nicely packed and very professionally done. And not expensive. bout 300nt to 600nt per pound. They have blue mountain which is like 1600/pound but a lot of reasonable ones. Try them out.

Main street of Danshui, the shop is only bout 10 feet by 80 feet long with the roaster right in the front (look hard and you wont miss it).

i forget the name but its like 93c or something (a take off of 85c)

[pilam99]

Fong Da in Ximending sells quite a selection of single origin freshly roasted beans. There is a place in Tianmu across from Zhongcheng park near Boutique du Velo (same side) that will fresh roast while you wait. Cafe with a signboard out front that should be easy to find, if you walk from Sogo, north side of Zhongcheng, close to Fareastone store. If you reach the Bat Bar you went too far.

[afterspivak]

OP: one of the key variables here is the kind of roasting style you favour. If you give us more information, we can give more specific suggestions.

Like other posters, I very much like Cama and some of the other small roasters scattered around Taipei--and Fong Da is a classic place in Xinmending to hang around over a nice cup of coffee. But if you are into dark roasts (west coast north American style following the tradition of Peet's Coffee) then things get trickier as most of the local shops in Taiwan use Japanese style roasting techniques. There's nothing wrong with this of course but it's a completely different taste.

One notable exception is Barista Coffee. Yes, it's a chain. And yes, the rather undignified polyster uniforms worn by the staff suggest a downbeat McDonald's more than a local version of Peet's. But their dark roasts are excellent and consistent. And if you're not satisfied with any aspect of their product, they'll replace it or refund your money.

Guy

[trubadour]

Cama is a local franchise that roasts in small batches (hence very fresh) and seems to have an interesting variety of beans.

they are pretty good - I think the house roast is fine but not cheap at 250+NT for a half pound..

[Steviebike]

On the main street of Danshui, there is a tiny cafe that has a tiny roaster on premises and bags of fresh unroasted beans. They do their own roasts. They coffee is good and their beans are nicely packed and very professionally done. And not expensive. bout 300nt to 600nt per pound. They have blue mountain which is like 1600/pound but a lot of reasonable ones. Try them out.

Main street of Danshui, the shop is only bout 10 feet by 80 feet long with the roaster right in the front (look hard and you wont miss it).

i forget the name but its like 93c or something (a take off of 85c)

This place is good been there myself. The owner has a nice dog. Dogs make coffee better - fact.

[tommy525]

On the main street of Danshui, there is a tiny cafe that has a tiny roaster on premises and bags of fresh unroasted beans. They do their own roasts. They coffee is good and their beans are nicely packed and very professionally done. And not expensive. bout 300nt to 600nt per pound. They have blue mountain which is like 1600/pound but a lot of reasonable ones. Try them out.

Main street of Danshui, the shop is only bout 10 feet by 80 feet long with the roaster right in the front (look hard and you wont miss it).

i forget the name but its like 93c or something (a take off of 85c)

This place is good been there myself. The owner has a nice dog. Dogs make coffee better - fact.

yes in fact the huge golden retriever blocking almost the entire entrance was what caught my attention and I went in there because the dog caught my attention.

it may be called 87c I think. something like that, i recall its a take of 85c (which is a nice chain).

[Chris]

Are the beans digested by civets?