Mastercraft sells many, many coffees, because people frequently request a specific coffee and the customer gets what the customer wants. There are THREE quality levels in coffee -
Value Coffee, High Value Coffee, and Gourmet Coffee:
Value Coffee
These coffee are represented by the names we all grew up with like Maxwell house, Hills Bros., Superior, etc. This category of coffee sells more pounds per year, compared to the ‘High Value’ or ‘Gourmet’ coffees. Yet the value coffee market share is eroding as the general consumer has become more sophisticated. Value Coffees tend to be very affordable and very ‘ok’ in their taste profile. Mastercraft’ House blend is my favorite, and we get it from a small roaster, with a very simple bag. So without advertising, and fancy packaging we are able to put all of the value into the coffee. It took Mastercraft 100’s of coffee tasting to find this coffee. The price is really good and it wins taste tests over coffees that costing more. The bags weigh 1.5 oz. each, which is about as light as you can go and still have real coffee. Mastercraft does not sell any of the substandard coffees like Ultra, or many others. Taste it and you will be surprised how good an affordable coffee can be. Yet there are still better coffees.
High Value Coffee
High Value coffee is defined a price and quality level above about 80% of the coffees out there. 100% Arabica beans and a really nice flavor. It still is not an equal to a Caribou Coffee or Starbucks, but it is not far away, yet the price is significantly below the gourmet coffees. You would you would think this category of coffee would have many different coffees to choose from, but that really in not the case.
I have spent the last couple of years looking for what I believed was the best representation of this High Value category, and our winner is McGarvey’s Coffee. Please try a sample and you will see what I mean.
Gourmet Coffee
There are only a handful of true gourmet coffees. They are your choice when only the best will do, and you are willing to pay the premium price. This category of coffee is the fastest growing category when you look at its percentage of the total product mix. Gourmet Coffee definitely uses only Arabica beans. Plus these coffees come from roasting houses that really understand the nuances in bean selection, blending, roasting, and ultimately packaging in high quality materials to keep the coffee really fresh.
We carry Starbucks and Caribou Coffee as our two gourmet coffees. When we do blind taste tests with a group of coffee drinkers, Caribou always wins. Caribou also ranked #1 when Consumer Reports did their analysis. It is certainly a coffee for you to consider.
