Craft Coffee’s Coffee DNA Project (YC S14) | Hacker News Reader

Craft Coffee’s Coffee DNA Project (YC S14)

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55 pointssethbannon25 comments

If you're looking for actual DNA coffee, check this: http://www.coffeegenome.org/research/ICGN_W3_concept_note.pd...

Absolutely. That's an awesome project. Our thing is about helping consumers find coffee they love.

Been a customer for 2+ years and love the service. It's actually helped me figure out what I like in coffee so hopefully this DNA project means I can get even more of those types that I like.

I messed with the survey a bit and noticed what you select from the roasters is what dictates your level. For example, Eight O-Clock coffee gave me the cheapest subscription level while choosing Sightglass gave me the most expensive. I'm curious to know which roasters fall under which model.

Trying to hack it already! J/K. While I think this is a great way to get new customers in the door, I also like the opportunity for existing customers. If I continue to tell CC which of the selections I like, I'd like to get more like those.

Yes, that's a small part of it. If you're currently paying $5 for a bag of coffee, you don't want a $25 super high-end bag. And vice-versa. But that's just a small part. A lot of the magic is in understanding the characteristics of the beans you like and how that relates to other beans. A lot of real science and real tech went into that side and we'll continue to pour resources into it.

Oh no doubt there is more too it, just a quick observation when I got the email about it. As I said in a previous comment, I may resign up. I noticed you added some favorites/ones of interest (Sightglass, Slate, Four Barrel, and Kuma). Is there any way to make recommendations to add/reach out to?

Yup. We love supporting new coffee roasters. roasters at craftcoffee dot com

I used Craft Coffee for a few months about a year ago and was overall happy with it. Getting a variety of coffee is always nice, and the roaster selection wasn't bad. I ultimately ended up canceling because I was hoping for more variety from roasters, but I am noticing they have signed on a lot more roasters to be apart of the program so I may give it another go.

Great to hear you tried us out! The new service is vastly more personalized so we can hook you up now. :)

I've been trying to get added to Craft Coffee and MistoBox, but I almost feel like it's a beauty contest and I'm the "plain Jane with the great personality" that's the real catch!

www.darrinscoffee.com

We do blind evaluations so it's actually not a popularity contest. You can find more info for roasters here: http://www.craftcoffee.com/partner

For good coffee - go to Portland, Oregon.

I've had some of the best coffee I've ever had in North America there.

Home of Stumptown :)

New tagline for Craft Coffee: Way less expensive than a plane ticket to Portland! :)

While Portland does have Stumptown and Heart, there is a lot of fantastic coffee from all over the country. Bay Area is stacked right now (Sightglass, Four Barrel, Ritual, Devout), PA has Square One, Seattle area has Slate and Kuma, Mid-west has Populace, Metropolis and Bow Truss, OQ in New Jersey, Tandem in Maine, Flat Track from Austin, Velo from Chattanooga, Irving Farm from NY, etc, etc, etc.

A lot of great coffee in the States right now.

Portland has a lot more than Stumptown and Heart. Spella, Coava, Extracto, Clive, Oblique .... and more.

This is great. As someone from South America I appreciate their efforts. I hope they do very well.

Thanks for the kind words. Means a lot.

They lost me here: http://i.imgur.com/1hNk6vj.png

I just wanted to read the subscription table...

Thanks for the feedback. There's actually an opt-out on the survey itself. Although we strongly encourage you to take the brief survey because every coffee drinker really is different, and we can only match you with coffee you'll love if you tell us a bit about yourself.

Mike from Craft Coffee here. Happy to talk.

Mike, I build flavor profiling and quality control tools for coffee, beer, and spirit producers. I would love to help with the coffee DNA project. Shoot me an email[1]?

[1] JasonCEC@Gastrograph.com

I try not to complain, but since you are here... I buy coffee from a local roaster. It isn't in your list when I try to go through the sign up process. I can't proceed with the sign up process unless I pick a company. Meanwhile, if I want to recommend my local roaster to you, I get presented with a WuFoo form. That's cool, but I have to give you my name and email (which I don't care to do) and there is no place for me to give you contact info for the local roaster I'm trying to submit. I then go back to the original signup form and think that I'll try to find some coffee I drink occasionally, just so I can get through the signup process. As I'm scanning the list I see some that I would call extremely common-place - could be bought anywhere - and start to wonder if I'm just not the target audience (even though our household drinks a lot of coffee and we are always interested in variety). Thus, didn't sign up.

Hey. Thanks for the feedback. We really appreciate it. I think you're right about the contact info. We just want to be able to tell people when we add their request. But it should be optional. Re: the coffee list, I'm sorry that felt alienating. We do include all the most popular coffee companies in the country, but also hundreds of independents and adding more weekly. We think the service works great for any coffee drinker -- you can customize by roast, price, quantity and frequency, and our coffees all come fresh-roasted from independent roasters. So we've got you covered pretty much any way you can imagine.

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