The 2024 year in coffee

Smashing the taste buds - one covfefe at a time

Dec 10, 2024

2024 was a heck of a year for coffee at TMR Towers.

For the first (and probably only) time, I collated information on the majority of the coffee I purchased across the last year.

I started this to help shine a bit of a light on my coffee preferences, and to also highlight some gaps that I should probably stop ignoring.

Here are the key stats from all 78 bags of coffee that I ended up brewing. There’s a few bags that didn’t make the list, but this represents 99% of the coffee that ended up in the belly.

Top line stats

Oh boy - $1,542 is a lot of money. I hope my wife doesn’t see this…

But, I got value for money - once you account for all the hook ups I got this week, that averages out to less than $20 a bag. A bargain at twice the price.

And while I claim I’m not a coffee addict, 5 coffee free days since 1 January is a bit of a worry. Or maybe it’s not. I’m not a doctor.

Most expensive coffee (per kg)

In this story about the most expensive coffee I've ever purchased, I claimed that the the Jose Giraldo, roasted by Manhattan Coffee Roasters, at $600/kg was the most expensive.

Correction - it’s the most expensive bag of beans I have ever purchased.

Why the correction? Well, because specialty instant coffee actually tips the scales. Flight Coffee’s Bomber Blend Instant Coffee, at $40 for 60g (when I purchased it), works out to be $666/kg.

Not that anyone is buying instant coffee by the kilo - but still.

Free is cheap

I got a bunch of free coffee this year.

Thanks to everyone who sent me a bag or two to try out. Looking at you Matty T, Matty S, Matt from Mt Zion, Peoples Coffee, Excelso Coffee, Toasted Coffee Roasters, Vanguard Specialty Coffee Co, Kū by Coffee Tech, and all others.

Legends, the lot of ya.

Thanks to your generosity, I was able to try coffees I would have never imagined trying. Coffee roasted in China and India, great roasters from the UK and Europe, and funky processes. Amazing stuff. Thank you.

Where’d that money go?

Out of the 23 or so different roasters I had the pleasure of trying, these 5 have most of my hard earned in their bank accounts - and I’m stoked for it.

Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

Top origins of the year: Colombia, Ethiopia, Brasil.

The origin story makes sense, though it looks like I’ve slept on Kenyan’s this year - traditionally my favourite origin.

There were two origins I tried for the very first time in 2024 - India and China. I got hooked up a few brews worth of beans of these thanks to Matty T (TMR contributor) and Jordy (from Peoples).

They were different from what I normally drink but both were very tasty. Super surprising given that they usually play in the commodity grade coffee space. Look out for more awesome specialty coffee from these countries.

“Process is your friend”

Most common processing method: Out of the 7 or so different processing methods I had, washed coffees were the most popular. This is a surprise - I thought I was all about those nattys!

Average rating by process: I am all about those nattys! Well, funky naturals at least. The highest scoring processing methods were anaerobic/extended fermentation/ice naturals - coming in at a average rating of 8.25/10. All those washed coffees I purchased rated around 7.45/10.

Roasters of the year

Coffees of the year

Rocket Coffee - Jairo Arcilia - Colombia - Ice Natural - 10/10
Vanguard Specialty Coffee Co - Rafel Vinhal - Brasil - Triple Fermentation Honey (Thermal Shock) - 9/10
Grey Roasting Co - Wilder Lazo - Colombia - Cinnamon Anaerobic Honey - 9/10
Firsthand Coffee - Instant Coffee - 9/10
Rich Coffee Roasters - Della - Ethiopia - Natural - 9/10
Manhattan Coffee Roasters - Jose Giraldo - Colombia - Triple Fermentation Natural - 9/10