AI Summary:
This article looks at what a wholesale coffee tasting can tell a café before it decides whether to work with another supplier. It covers why equipment and preparation affect what you taste, what happens during a tasting at Brawn & Brains Coffee, Coach Singapore's return tasting three years into the partnership, how to handle an existing supplier while considering another, and what happens if you decide to continue the conversation.
Quick Answer:
What happens at a wholesale coffee tasting? At Brawn & Brains Coffee, we start with a short conversation about what you're serving now and what you're looking for. Then you taste the coffee on grinders and machines calibrated to the roast, so you have a clear reference for how each coffee is intended to taste. You don't need specialist tasting vocabulary. “I like this one” or “this one's not for me” is enough.
Earlier this year, Coach Singapore asked us for a tasting, three years into our partnership. You can imagine our excitement!
We had beans laid out in blue trays, white cups along the counter, and plenty of coffee to work through. A pretty good way to spend a morning, if you ask us.
If you run a café and another coffee supplier in Singapore has come onto your radar, you'll probably recognise the feeling. We make supplier decisions in our cafés too. For us, it might be a new oat milk or flour sample sitting on the counter and someone asking, “Should we have a look at this?”
Coffee is a little closer to home for us, of course.
A new coffee can taste lovely. Changing a supplier you've worked with for some time is a bigger decision. There are people, routines and a running café involved.
So when coffee is the question, we like having actual cups on the table.
Key Takeaways
- A tasting gives you something real to work with before deciding whether to change coffee suppliers.
- Equipment and preparation can change what you taste in the cup.
- It's fine to keep talking to your current supplier as usual while you're considering another.
- A tasting can still be useful years into a partnership when the menu or coffee needs change.
Why coffee decisions start with a tasting
For serious wholesale enquiries, we host a complimentary tasting at our café.
Before we start pouring anything, we'll usually have a chat about what you're serving now and what you're looking for from the coffee. Nothing too formal. We'd much rather know a little about the café first than start putting cups in front of you with no context.
Then we taste!
Coffee is sensitive to its setup. Change the grinder, machine, water or preparation and the same beans can come across differently. At our café, we're working with grinders and machines calibrated to the roast, so we know the setup we're serving it on. It also means you taste each coffee at its best, and you see the honest process up close.
Depending on the conversation, there may be a full flight of coffees to work through. Some cups get an immediate nod. Others have you going in for another sip because you haven't quite made up your mind yet.
That's part of the fun of doing this around a table. You can say what you're actually tasting as you go. No beautifully written tasting note needed!
Three years later, Coach Singapore asked to taste again
In April 2023, Coach opened the world's first Coach café in Singapore, and we were thrilled to be the coffee partner behind it.
Three years later, Coach Singapore got in touch and asked us for another tasting session.
They weren't opening a new café and they weren't looking for another supplier. They wanted to refresh the coffee they were serving, so we gleefully got the cups out again.
And we spent the morning tasting together.
We explored different origins, compared flavour profiles, and talked through how each coffee would work alongside their menu. More importantly, we talked about the people walking through their doors every day and the kind of experience they wanted to create for them.
There wasn't one "perfect" coffee. It doesn’t necessarily have to be “love at first sip” There was simply… the coffee that felt right for their business.
That's one of the things we enjoy most about working with our partners. Great coffee isn't about choosing the most expensive bean or chasing the latest trend. It's about finding something that fits your café, your customers, and the experience you want people to remember.
Three years into working together, we were back with coffee spread across the table.
And really, we quite liked that. These are the kinds of mornings and partnerships that keep us going.
What a tasting can tell you before you choose a coffee supplier in Singapore
You should enjoy the coffee.
That sounds almost too obvious to say, but it's surprisingly easy for a supplier conversation to grow into delivery schedules, ordering, and everything else before anyone comes back to the thing you're actually going to serve.Â
At a tasting, the coffee gets its turn.
You can hear what the roaster was aiming for, taste it for yourself, and ask about whatever is in the cup in front of you. And you don't need coffee-school vocabulary to do that. “I really like this one” is more than enough. So is “this one's not for me”.
We'd much rather have that conversation than have someone nod politely through a coffee they don't actually enjoy!
If the wider supplier question is on your mind too, our guide to choosing a coffee supplier in Singapore that reflects your brand standards goes into that side of the decision in more detail.
If you're already buying from another roaster while you're having these conversations, there's no need to suddenly disappear on them. Keep communicating as you normally would. If something comes up, raise it. And if you're getting closer to making a change, have another look at your existing agreement so you know what notice you've committed to.
If it does come to a switch, our guide to switching your coffee supplier covers the practical steps.
If you decide to continue the conversation
If you're seriously considering working with us, we'll already know a little about your café and you'll have tasted the coffee before anything goes further.
If you decide to proceed, the first training happens at your outlet using the machine your team works with every day. We train one staff member per outlet so there's enough time to go through the setup together without trying to squeeze an entire team around one espresso machine.
For a little more on why we put so much weight on that part, our guide to barista training for cafĂ© staff in Singapore explains what a useful wholesale training session should cover.Â
From there, the first orders are sized to the business. There's no long-term contract lock-in and our standard payment terms are 30 days.
Like any coffee distributor in Singapore, we run our wholesale deliveries Monday to Friday. And because cafés do occasionally have plans of their own, if you urgently need coffee over a weekend, we'll accommodate it where possible.
You should know how things work before deciding whether you want to go ahead.
Back at the table
When Coach Singapore asked for another tasting this year, our work together already went back three years.
Plenty can happen in three years. Yet there we were again, cups on the counter and coffee to talk about.
Maybe that's why we still like tasting this way. No matter how long you've been working together, putting the coffee on the table gives everyone somewhere to begin. Who knows? Maybe in 3 years, it’ll be us at the tasting table!
Thinking about changing coffee suppliers?
If another roaster has you curious, tell us a little about your café and what you're looking for. We'd be happy to have a chat and take it from there.
HOW IT WORKS
- Tell us about your café
- Taste the coffee at our café.
- Talk through what comes next
FAQs
Which coffee suppliers in Singapore deliver fresh beans reliably?
A good place to start is by asking how the coffee is roasted and how deliveries work. At Brawn & Brains Coffee, we roast on demand and our wholesale deliveries run Monday to Friday. Urgent weekend requests can also be accommodated where possible.
What happens during a wholesale coffee tasting?
We'll have a chat about what you're currently serving and what you're looking for from the coffee, then taste together at our café. The setup is ours and it's dialled in for the coffee you're tasting. Serious wholesale enquiries may also taste a full flight of coffees, so there's plenty to talk about with the cups in front of everyone.
How do deliveries from a coffee distributor in Singapore work?
Every coffee distributor in Singapore will have its own delivery arrangements, so it's best to ask before you decide. Our wholesale deliveries run Monday to Friday. If coffee is needed urgently over a weekend, we'll do our best to accommodate the request.
Should I tell my current roaster I'm considering another supplier?
You don't have to announce every supplier conversation you're having. If you're still buying from your current roaster, keep speaking to them as you normally would and continue raising genuine issues when they come up. If you eventually decide to change suppliers, check your existing agreement first so you know what notice you've committed to.
What's the difference between a coffee roastery and a café in Singapore?
A roastery is where coffee is roasted for supply, while a café is where customers come in to drink it. We've been running cafés since 2013 and opened our full roastery in Bedok North in 2018. Running both means we spend our days thinking about coffee from the roasting side and the café floor.
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