To clarify, for anyone watching wondering what the beans actually were: -Colombia single origin bean -Specialty Grade -Locally owned farm -Carbon neutral import -100% Organic Full City + roast so very dark for craft coffee, indeed. I'm the CEO of Akira, happy to answer questions. Remember, we're not claiming to be the epitome of craft coffee. Rather, we have a challenge of bringing better sourced, higher quality, better handled coffee to people who have no idea what that means. Someone like Jacksepticeye can't do a deep dive into craft coffee because his audience won't really track it. That doesn't take away from the effort he's put in or the fact that we're operating a better supply chain than the typical grocery store/super mega corp/private equity coffee that's out there. Are we the best in craft coffee? Hell no. Am I proud of what we're building as a better for the world company than alternatives out there? Absolutely. Also thank you James for even taking a look at it. I'm honored that we've even hit the radar and I felt the actual review of the coffee was extremely fair. To pass a taste test from someone like you is a major feather in the cap, even if this particular blend isn't your preference and spent too long in transit to hold up fully. (Will look into 12 days of shipping, that's nuts).
I will probably never buy this coffee simply because I already have the coffees I like, but kudos for having a little follow up with the origin and roast.
@@cvoisineaddis that's totally fine! We're not trying to switch people off of other amazing coffee they're already drinking because most of our customers aren't drinking good coffee to begin with. We aren't trying to compete with craft coffee roasters at all, we're trying to introduce it on a very rudimentary/basic level to people who have never tried it before and may not have any concept about what it is.
Have you looked into shade grown coffee? Supposedly much better for the planet. I like that you're taking this down the ethical path and doing the work, not just buying crap off the shelf and repackaging it.
EDIT: Not having a disclaimer at the start of this about my involvement with a coffee roasting company was a mistake, and I apologise. So I just want to respond to the entirely reasonable questions asking why I'm reviewing coffee after saying I wouldn't review bags of coffee, or specialty businesses. To me this falls outside of that scope, as it doesn't really have the transparency and traceability that I'd consider the bare minimum of speciality. Secondly, this isn't really a coffee review. The coffee's flavour isn't really central or overly important to the brand or business. I talk about the flavour a little, but it is far from comprehensive enough to be useful as an actual coffee review. I also don't really see this as a small business - Sean has a huge channel, and I suspect a very good business all around. The thing that was interesting was the approach of both business and creators to finding new ways to grow their businesses, and why we might see more of this in coffee in particular.
Check your twitter the ceo of Akira coffee David Sievers said he will love to talk to you about the business he is very open and will answer your questions it could be an interesting conversation.
Well James, we trust your word. No disclaimer needed. Thanks for doing it for clarity sake. Great business video to get rpasters dreaming about new markets and potential.
I just received my first Square Mile order this week, and I can assure you and everyone else that the quality of the coffee is absolutely off the charts. I live in continental Europe so the ship rates are reasonable. I will be starting a subscription with Square Mile - it's that good.
@Speed Thrills Ordered a bag of the current Filter Blend and one of Cabellero El Campo and am very much looking forward to tasting them. Also live on the Continent and am curious if Royal Mail and Deutsche Post will manage to get those bags to me still intact...
I bought a three month sub at SM for a friend that lives in the UK and he loves it. Didn’t get any for myself cause 1 bag for me was the same as 3 bags for him. But I’ve got amazing choices here in Portland, OR, USA.
I'm in the US watching these wonderful videos. Anyone else order from Square Mile and getting the beans in the US? I'd love to try some if the shipping time and cost isn't exorbitant.
@@laurenbray8314 private labeling assumes that the individual has customized a product. Where as white label is taking what a manufacturer has already created
This is common in brewing, too, called “contract brewing.” I have no problem with this but as a coffee reviewer I do get annoyed when the brand has very little info about it, the coffee, etc
+1 for this idea, *surely* there is very little difference between all of these blends. To speculate, I think Akira probably sends creators a handful of pre-chosen blends and they just get to chose one and slap on a label.
@@trentbosnic no we develop each blend with the creators. Some of the blends share bean origins but are in different proportions and the same bean may be roasted differently depending on the blend.
My daughter is a follower of him and ordered a bag. I brewed it standard 18:1 press and thought it tasty. Tried to get more of it today actually and realized it’s back ordered. I’d buy again, but not because of his TH-cam influence but rather I tried the brand and enjoyed the experience. So kudos to my 16 year old!
I watched Jack's video, and in one of his video, he mentioned that he just bough his first expensive coffee machine set-up when he started the company so he can be better at brewing coffee. So yeah, the man loves coffee, but definitely not a big enough fanatic to start his own coffee company.
It’s just a way to make money. If he devoted himself to making the coffee than I’d buy one. But he doesn’t care so neither do it. I’m not a big enough fan of him to pay quit a bit for 12oz bag
@@markheinle6319How so? He sold people coffee, they enjoyed said coffee. Doesn't sound like a con to me. A con might be not receiving said coffee, or getting low brow garbage, in which case it wouldn't still be up and running, would it?
Let's not forget the plecibo effect! A lot of people probably want it to be good because they love the channel. Also I think doing this is very profitable and easy to succeed in for big youtubers. Most people aren't coffee fanatics, and as long as the coffee is half decent they'll keep buying! Not just for the coffee but to support the channel.
So now we know where your hair inspiration comes from! You are our hair idol James. And having tasted your coffee, I have to say, the illusion has not broken!
Hi James! Could you do a video on different milk substitutes for milk drinks? would be really interesting to see you apply your weird coffee scientific method to it. Break it down into different categories like taste, mouth feel, ethics/sustainability, foam-ability, "wellness" (how good/bad for you they are). I'd be very interested in this. My current go to is oat milk because i think its better for me, it feels more sustainable and I've heard lots of anecdotes about it being the best but I've not really seen any direct comparison videos from people I trust.
I've seen independent coffee shops coming up with their own non dairy milk blends for their customers. That is pretty cool imo. You get the best flavor, texture and creaminess just right that way and it makes for a competitive edge.
Agreed. I’ve said this before on a previous video, but non-dairy milks can heat to a higher temperature without scalding the milk, which opens more possibilities than dairy milk, especially for people who want hotter milk-based coffee drinks.
@@royh2618 I've been on a huge twin peaks rewatch binge recently and got super into coffee at the same time, but i also failed to notice the similarity despite watching loads of james hoffmann and david lynch videos on youtube for some reason
I follow Jack and routinely watch his videos; as someone who works in the coffee business I was really turned off by the lack of information given about this coffee. I'm happy for Akira Coffe, and good for him, and i'm glad he's getting orders, but I'll be sticking to my local roastery where I can get every precise bit of information I need, from people who are passionate about what they sell.
@@themustardman219 Yeah, that's how I look at it as well. Pretty sure most people that get his coffee will just be using a cheap dripper or similar machine that does undeniably make coffee, but not in all the nuance that James approached it with. Which, in my opinion, is fine, and they will likely get a somewhat satisfying coffee out of this product, too, but putting all the info on the bag might potentially even be a turnoff for someone who's not into the technical side of making coffee. I see it when I buy coffee with my husband. He just wants to get whatever in a medium price range that's not going to be too sour (We agree on sour coffees, just a BIG turn-off). I want to see where it comes from, ideally when it was roasted, what type of coffee I'm buying, flavor descriptors, roast grade and whether it was sustainably sourced. He thinks I'm overthinking it and just wants to get in and out as quickly as possible. (No inuendo intended.)
In Asia, there's a big focus on pour over skills. They talk about phases of brewing with sour, sweet, and bitter flavors extracting at different times. They talk about changing the pour method to move the slurry differently. They talk about using different brew technique to change aspects of coffee flavor. Have you ever spent time speaking with people who practice these ideas? I met a more approachable cafe owner in Taipei and talked a little about my own brew techniques (your technique but modified with a more conventional bloom) and showed him a little, asking about how I should change my technique to brew to achieve more sweetness. He gave me a few suggestions, ground some coffee for me, and gave me another opportunity to brew. Lo and behold, I brewed one of the best coffees I've ever brewed, with a sweetness that evolved four or five flavors. I went back home with probably only one thought about the whole experience: HOW???????!!!!!!!!!!????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Albert C. Tbh I believe there is no science behind these practices. I have met many Japanese and Chinese baristas. Many of them don’t really do blind tests. Personally, I would focus more on the grind settings, brew time, and water temperature instead of all these brewing details. The flavours are decided by the roasters and the beans themselves. all you can do is to extract them properly.
While Asians incorporate the science from universal brew techniques (grind size, water, temperature, blooming, etc), they’re also pretty picky about how their brew . How much water they pour over how many seconds, how many pauses they make and how long each pause is, how far or near their kettle from the coffee bed when they’re pouring and when change distance, things which are rarely touched in youtubes.
@@cappuccinogoodfinger Asian culture tends to make things ritualistic and almost to a superstitious level, love to see if there are any actual merit behind those
@@nanashi2146 Asia, or at least east Asia, is a very broad cultural group; sorta like saying European or western. sure, there are many dozens of subcultures within in an almost taxological structure, but it is a very broad culture group still. China, Korea, and Japan specifically would fall under a relatively small culture group due to their proximity and interaction with one another over a long period of time.
In the US, I got some of this coffee within 4 days of purchasing and loved it. It is a solid dark roast Colombian coffee for around $16 total. It's not the best coffee I've ever had but it was a good way to support a creator I like and indulge in my passion for more coffee.
One thing fans of Jack should be reminded of is that Jack once said, that there’s a difference between a stan and a fan. A stan would plug their ears everytime someone said even one remote thing of criticism. A fan would listen, hear out their favorite creator’s shortcomings, because a fan doesn’t have to like every bit of a person. That would be unhealthy for the person’s mental health, the creator is not perfect, thats reality and you can’t escape reality. Only distract yourself from it. TL;DR: You don’t have to like every single bit of a creator you like.
I highly agree with that. When I had went to a cafe last weekend in Balloch, I had tried some West Highland Coffee and was so nice I had to order a bag. Not to mention it makes you feel a lot better to give to local businesses than giving money to supermarkets and other big corporations.
There are only 3 "influencers" that I would trust to deliver a good product. Linus Tech Tips, Gamers Nexus and James. LTT and Gamers Nexus really go out of their way for the stuff they design and have made and are very open about how the things they make are made, the quality standards they keep for products, their reasoning behind the products they sell and their costing structure. There is something to be said about a company, and yes I consider these companies, that actually take pride in their product.
@@super_salty9189 Yup, Linus and his company are great. I do not watch gamers Nexus tho, should try it. But there are couple more youtube channels like that, it mostly depends on what your interests are. Usually every big topic has at least one channel that is doing it right.
Thats a bit too general. And by the way this is how capitalism works and this coffee is for noobs and not serious coffee lovers on this channel. Its not about MAKING great coffee, its about SELLING good enough coffee to MAKE MONEY
When jacksepticeye made the announcement and said more about the logo than the actual coffee, I feared that they were just selling his brand and I really hoped that I was wrong.
My thoughts exactly. But he may also worry about his audience having no understanding or interest in specialty coffee and kept it more as "here's my product."
Congratulations, you have discovered everything he does, it's just selling, he does it for the money, wouldn't surprise me if he had script writers and he just does the same act day after day.
Same here. I am doing the bi-weekly random 250g subscription and I've had some amazing coffee. So far I really like the Escondida and the La Cumbre. Actually thinking might get a 1kg bag of the La Cumbre.
To be honest, that company actually reaching out to these huge influencers is a great marketing strategy. These TH-camrs have solid fanbases and would definitely support the creator they love. But yeah this is bringing up the question of, are they really dedicated to the craft or is it just another branch of their brand / merchandise. To be clear I am not "gatekeeping", it's just an interesting thought to me. 😊
Markiplier's clothing brand can't even keep in stock. he makes his clothing actually sounds really attractive to people that don't merch from him because they're fans.
I think King's Coast is a much more interesting example of this. They *started* as an artisan coffee company, are serious about telling us where and what they're serving, but in the past couple years has been co-owned by a small team of streamers/TH-camrs and they do special blends, origins, or reserves that have a TH-camr's branding. Super interesting as a business model and (I've heard) not bad coffee either.
It's a win-win: the roaster gets access - at almost no cost - to an enormous audience that has a tendency to "buy what they're told", Influencer gets another revenue stream for zero effort. It's like printing money.
In a similar light to the LockPickingLawyer saying a lock is "not bad". Basically, you or I could feel confident it'll be well above our usual quality level!
I'm glad you made this video. Upon the initial release of this coffee I watched Jacks video and had so many questions. I couldn't find any flavor notes, roast profile, origin or even who was behind the coffee. Little shady marketing for a producr that, with some time and effort, could be made so much better.
I'm sorry, but this youtuber coffee phenomenon is anathema to the specialty coffee industry. You have a coffee (also apparently candle) company rebranding their products and youtubers acting essentially as advertising agencies trying to make a killing off of something they know nothing about or care little about. No roast date. No quality control (being roasted abroad). No region identifier. No instructions, for the novice coffee people who will probably buy the product. It's a similar exploitation for money that has been done in the t-shirt industry and vinyl industry. Take something and someone popular, and make a killing by producing low quality/high volume (apparently not high enough) products that hide the actual production process. In vinyl, big record labels bought up all of the vinyl press production time when small labels made it popular. "Street wear" companies sprung up, many of them as a part of fast fashion chains, and rebranded cheaply made cotton t-shirts. Sorry for the rant. I like the point you made at the end, that you can buy much cheaper beans in the supermarket and they are basically the same. Keep up the good work James.
I have to say I disagree, the things you're concerned about aren't what most people care about, most just want a decent cup of coffee for which the things you listed aren't really necessary. So they're different markets, the people who care about the type of bean, the region, the roast date etc. Aren't the same people who would be buying this coffee.
Stuart Smiles :D I don’t see how it being a ‘different market’ makes the shoddy job being done by the supposed ‘specialty coffee’ company any better. As the OP said, his viewers can just buy equally naff coffee beans from the supermarket for much less. The only sell, as James said, is the name of the TH-camr who likely doesn’t care about the coffee. If James started a watch business (or even just put him name on the front of an existing shifty one) with 0 interest in the quality control of those watches being sold, would you not think he were just exploiting his popularity with his subscribers? In my opinion this differs significantly from traditional product endorsements because, taking the chaps mentioned in this video as an example, many of his fans probably think it IS his coffee company, and that he actually had some say in it beyond just sticking his name/face to it and making a video or two about it. I have to admit I was disappointed at first that James made another video about TH-camr coffee, however he did raise some good points. But I do hope this doesn’t become a regular feature.
For those people who think Sean made the coffee for money, you're not wrong. But he also want to share things that he love, just like the coca cola bits that he did years ago. Imo, the reason why Akira doesn't describe the coffee on the packaging is because it was made for Sean's fans. Most, if not all of his fans know Sean love his black coffee so we'll know what to expect if we ordered one. And for those who say "isn't it not fair for Sean not to talk more about the company that made the coffee?" In my understanding, Akira work FOR Sean and some other creator as well. Even tho Akira has other type of coffee that they sell, Sean doesn't obliged to tell you about it because it wasn't his brand nor his preference. Logically speaking, why does one need to talk about other's brand if they does not enjoy it or give them any profit. Once again, the coffee was made for his fans. So don't buy it if you want to find the best coffee out there because it wasn't, even Akira's ceo himself said that they aren't the best. p.s english is not my first language and I'm not a coffee guy
Jack is absolutely bloody passionate about coffee he drinks that shit almost four times a day which is bad but it’s obvious since he drinks it alot during recording sessions even at late streams. He made the company to share his love of coffee in the same time make the best brew as much as possible and he wanted to have a coffee company for years now long before he even became a youtuber.
I personally love coffee but lots of different types of coffee give me migraines. I have tried this coffee and I did love the taste, and it was one of the few cups of coffee to not give me a migraine. So I definitely will be buying more of it personally.
It’s been a year since this comment so I’m not sure if you came to this conclusion anyway but here goes Dark roasted coffee tends to have lower caffeine content than lighter roasted coffee, so you may find that those coffees are going to have less chance of giving you a migraine. You may also find that using recipes with a small amount of coffee in the ratio could help but I honestly don’t know on that front, just an idea.
You should start a second channel where you talk about the business side and go more in-depth with your own projects. Seeing you talk about this stuff was pretty cool!
Thanks for the fair assessment. I tend to prefer non-sour coffee, but vary wildly in what things I like. It's nice to have a fair review, even if you aren't a dark roast fan
This was great, James. I really enjoyed the dive into the business behind this bag and hearing your thoughts on the product and value proposition in general. Please do this again.
Jack has acid reflux and loves coffee, so he wanted to make something that people with issues like him can enjoy :) That is why the coffee is less acidic. He talked about it on his Twitch channel a bit
I'm caught between "hey at least the guy is getting people into whole bean specialty-ish coffee" and "who on earth goes to a gaming youtuber to get coffee recommendations???"
agreen182 I reckon both those things are positive. If this guy’s gamer TH-cam subscribers are trying a decent enough whole bean coffee for the first time because they bought it from him, that’s a good thing - it could easily be the start of a real coffee passion and lead to the discovery of more traditional coffee sourcing (like local specialty roasters). And if a gaming TH-camr has an audience who don’t already know about specialty coffee, it’s also a positive thing that they get introduced to it there, it’s not like his 24mil subscribers are already watching James’ channel, and it’s not like any of them are gonna stop buying coffee from SquareMile/CoffeeCollective/whatever-local-specialty-roaster just because their favourite gamer youtuber started selling beans. While it’s a bit cheesy and possibly money-grubbing, I think it’s also likely to be the way a (small) percentage of his fans discover real specialty coffee, and for that I respect what both he and this ghost roaster are doing.
@@IainChalmers The main problem I had with it is this youtuber, jack/sean whatever, goes on and on claiming the he started a coffee company. Not that he got a third party to make a specific roast for him. He literally says he started his own coffee company. That's a flat out lie and insulting to people like James who, you know...did start their own roastery. False advertising. And yeah, while I doubt I'll see any gaming youtubers talking about how they're excited for this year's Yemini crop or Panama Elida, if one or two of their viewers accidentally fall into the specialty coffee hole..then yay, I'm for it.
That is so spooky. I just learned that this coffee existed today and thought “wonder what James would think about that” and BAM - notification. Pure coincidence? Definitely. But great fun all the same😁
Can I ask why did you think that? It’s just a warehouse coffee manufacturer with a marketing strategy. May as well ask him to taste a random low end supermarket brand.
I know this video is about 2 years old at this time but many more content creators have their own coffee "company" now. I've bought from 2 of the people I watch on TH-cam (Nerdrotic's Geek Grind Coffe and Adam Crigler's Crigler Coffee) and have really enjoyed the coffee. Compared to what I can get at the supermarket. The big advantage to the content creator is not only another source of income for them from the coffee sales but it can build a stronger connection between the viewer and the TH-camr. Not only do they spend time watching that persons content but now there's a connection of the coffee (hopefully good) and that enjoyable drinking experience. I've ordered from Crigler Coffee twice and I'm about to place another order soon. The price is good and I've really enjoyed the product. Plus I enjoy knowing that I'm helping to support content creators I enjoy watching. So far my favorite is their Covfefe Blend.
Korn the band released their signature blend of coffee. Supposedly each of the members had a hand in choosing where the beans were sourced from. Would love if you tried/reviewed it! ❤️
This puts a funny, non serious question in my head: which celebrity coffee is the best? Or is there a celebrity out there that happens to be a coffee nerd that could do better? Love the business focus on this video. It's a fascinating concept with the rise of social media influencers.
I'm a big fan of Jacksepticeye and I do love coffee. So when I bought it, it was more to support him. But I quite liked his coffee and bought myself another bag. it is rather expensive so I wouldn't say it's my everyday coffee, but more of a Pick-Me-Up coffee when I'm having a bad day.
Would be interesting to see an updated review of the top of the morning/akira coffee brand. At some point after the initial launch they started also offering a light roast and I have been really enjoying that, they also have a medium roast now as well though I have not tried it yet. They have also started to give a little bit more information on the product pages including the country of origin, however the FAQs state that the source may occasionally change. Would like to see a review of the newer offerings as well as a review of the other offerings akira has through other publishers, see how similar or different they are.
I found this informative and enlightening. I just try to buy locally when possible. Honestly I find James refreshing in his presentations. I gave up on trying to make espresso after two months of frustration and realized I can still enjoy James videos and cups of regular good old coffee. Please keep videos coming
@@mamaharumi Agreed. I like the smoky slightly bitter taste of a good dark roast, but usually go for medium dark to still get some complex under tones.
Same here. Down the primrose path I trot, straight to Satan's grotto; shunning virtue, doing most things that I ought not to, since the beans are bound to roast, steam the milk's...my motto.
I tweeted ya about this ages ago, but didnt really think youd look. So glad you did. I couldn't find any info on the sourcing or anything, even though they say its ethical. I was just suspicious. Thanks for the video James! You're one of the TH-camrs that can be trusted and takes pride in his work. You are definitely one of my favourites.
I'm curious if you'd ever consider trying the Top of the Morning coffee again now that they've had more time to learn about shipping and such, and now that there is a light and medium roast blends
@@bagofnails6692Because he hasn't tried light/medium roasts, and the pipeline has likely improved. Added to the fact that he likely has the money to be able to spend on it, and knows quite a bit about the subject matter. Reading comprehension is one hell of a thing, huh?
I recently started getting into coffee. It all started with a bag of beans I got as a gift. No grind set up whatsoever in my household. So I bought a grinder and started to integrate brewing coffee to my morning habit. Eventually I ran out of that coffee. I didn't realize there's so much to consider in buying beans. A lot of brands claim to their products are "fresh" without (basic) identifiers such as roast date or roast level. Weird customer experience to just guess it myself. Even weirder I see ads on Facebook marketplace with the proposition of making your own coffee REPACKING business -pretty much what a youtuber coffee brand is
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I think a better approach would be to work with a small specialty roaster that actually puts a lot of care and attention to their coffee. I might work better as a sort of sponsorship deal, too, no need to re-brand to fit the influencer. If it's a recommendation that's coming from a place of trust and they make genuinely compelling arguments, which should be easier given it's actually a meritable product, I can see it as a net win for everyone. What they did here, although it makes sense for their business, I feel displaces smaller specialty coffee roasters and shops, and does nothing to improve the industry and economics of this new space. On the bright side, I have something to try today when brewing this dark roast I got. I'm going to try a cooler water to see if it changes anything. Great content, James!
But we are a tiny company. We have only 5 employees and are trying our best in how we built a better supply chain, using better beans, etc. Like there is some major coffee industry gatekeeping going on in these comments and I'd love a chance to actually explain some of these things that people are making incorrect assumptions about if people would be open to asking/hearing how this came about.
My first order: Not only did I buy the coffee, out of curiosity, but I bought a couple of coffee-scented candles. My mum and I had had previously gone through perfume stores and preferred the smell of the coffee beans( for neutralizing the scent). When I found out about the candle, I was tickled. My mum loved the gift. Now it smells more of a vanilla-citrusy coffee smell, but I love it.
I've never thought about the logistical ramifications of a recall on a coffee that's lacking a roast date or batch number, that's a good point; for me, if a pre-bagged coffee is lacking a readily visible roast date, that's a sign to stay clear from it just from a freshness perspective.
The guy did not start a coffee company, this is not even his product. Akira is the company and they are reaping the befits. Influencers promote Akira’s product with their name to their audience and that’s it. I doubt he even created the spec for the coffee. And to the guys asking James why did he made a coffee bag review, this is a business model review and coffee bag is just a side thing.
turki alturki The idea of coffee as a merch doesn’t stick with me to be honest, I say stay with T-shirts for that purpose. But I see your point, I was referring to James actually. At the beginning of the video I got the impression that the guy is roasting his own coffee. When the whole thing was explained I automatically lost interest. I guess Influencers are not my thing.
@@Max-wl5ll I disagree. If you buy a branded t-shirt or mug, you're not usually interested in the fabric or ceramic quality. You're buying a visual design and that will have come from the TH-camr (or at least their own media people) If I buy square mile coffee it isn't because of the griffin logo on the bag, it's James and his team's coffee expertise going into the bag.
I would categorize myself as a discerning coffee drinker. While I'm not the biggest fan of dark roast, I ordered a bag of Jack's coffee. It was tasty and I really enjoyed it. When more is available I'll order it and switch off daily with that and coffee from my favorite local roaster.
I appreciate that my introduction to (non-instant) coffee was through your channel than through something like this Top of the Mornin nonsense. Unlike TotM, who just try to sell their own products, you set up your viewers to be intelligent buyers and genuine fans of coffee. Good stuff, Mr Hoffmann
I follow the Carlin Brothers. I know they've put thought into their coffee, and talk about the flavor notes on the website. They also actually drink it, so it's probably decent.
As someone who kind of recently started drinking coffee and hasn't figured out what I like yet, I'd be more than willing to try it out. I think that for a TH-camr to start selling something as coffee is kind of fun! I don't know much about Jack but he seems like someone who would enjoy coffee. That interest is a little more personal than a merch shirt. I also think that it's another fun way of supporting him. There are lots of ways of supporting creators and not everyone wants to buy a shirt/mug/hat etc, so buying his coffee (which is also something that many people buy and use anyway) could be a fun and casual way of supporting him.
Overall, this sounds like a very British-polite way of saying, "this product is merely adequate and quite expensive, and do you really want to spend your money that way?" James, you're just such a nice person.
A few years ago, I purchased Dodger’s coffee from the Akira coffee co. She’s a Twitch/TH-cam personality. Interestingly enough, she was much more transparent about working to get a specific style of coffee from them. I’m curious if she was one of the first. Her criteria was the “coffee sitting at the bottom of the pot at a diner in the middle of the night”. Which, sounds terrible, really. But I was intrigued, and seeing the back and forth with Akira, I was properly curious. Bought a couple bags. Gave the second bag away to a co-worker that wasn’t a coffee snob. Whether it truly was on purpose or not... They really got that flavor profile they were going for. Not so good.
I have been struggling to make a drinkable V60 with some Ethiopian beans I picked up recently. They are quite a dark roast and I suddenly remembered you used a low temperature here for the dark roast. I'd tried temps down to 95 but it hadn't occurred to me to go all the way down to 88. Voila! Perfect.
That´s basically the business model of a lot of companies atm. Take a product, improve some aspects for X $ and than charge 10-100X of the money the improvements actually cost you. People pay 10-20$ more if someone plants a tree for 0,1$. People pay 10$ more if you give a farmer 0,05$ more for what he sells. It´s an industry at this point and it thrives on uninformed people that kind of feel bad for different things and want to buy out of that feeling.
The best part of James's product review is he knows what to say so objectively and candidly that it does not feel malicious or vindictive in the slightest. I am regularly learning from his channels about coffee from beans to brew. I am so glad I found this channel, a one-stop destination for all coffee lovers from newbies to big-time coffee nerds.
I prefer to support my local coffee roasters and shops over a random TH-camr, especially given how much they’ve struggled this year. My favorite one in my town has several varieties. They always tell you where they’re grown, what the processing was (natural, honey, etc) and tasting notes. And they always state when it was roasted. I’m usually able to get a bag that was roasted within the last week.
@@robowisanveithasung6022 he qualifies as random as his domain is not coffee making. even more accurate when you consider that he's using a "white label" coffee roaster.
As someone with a great love of coffee, but not the finances to consistently buy great coffee to love, I’d be really interested in how you’d make the best of budget coffee. I have a decent burr grinder, a French Press, a pour over and a pretty lousy espresso machine. 9 times out of 10 I buy beans from Aldi which are always dark roast, I’ve been doing my best with them but this is the first I’ve heard of using such a low temperate for dark roast pour over, does that apply to French press too? I think a ‘how to make the best out of supermarket coffee’ would be a seriously valuable video.
It really depends how you like your coffee, but as someone who's been in your position, I have 2 words: Moka pot. Depending where you are in it world, it can be called a stovetop coffee maker or a percolator. Point being, I really feel that a moka pot brews great coffee, almost regardless of the quality of it. That is, if you prefer dark roasts for the most part. But if you want to get the best out of your french press or pour over, check out James' channel for his videos about those, they're very instructional!
Hey James! I would love to learn more about less common coffee bean types like liberica or excelsa. I know they are supposed to be „less enjoyable“ than arabica and they are kind of a niche. Still I hope to hear your opinion on that someday, including a taste test! :) Thank you for your amazing videos, keep up the great work!
The most diplomatic review of what we all already knew: non coffee TH-cam influencer coffee is more gimmick than substance! Hats off to you for being as respectful as you are!
I have been "into"-Specialty coffee for well over a decade. Over time, my coffee bar likely costs more than a good quality second hand car in the quest for a great cup, mostly Espresso though pourover and even Aeropress are used at times. I did not know TH-cam coffee was even a "thing" until this video. Thanks for the spotlight. I have a few roasters I work with to masage the beans to my liking and they are happy to work with me. I had never seen a video by James hoffman before and am subscribing. To ME any roast over light city is pretty much burnt. Over roasting is an easy way for lesser quality beans even in the speciality category to be used at a lower cost. This is in part due to so many people partaking of Starbucks (Charbucks) who drastically over roast their beans and sell the swill as "bold".
I ordered top of the morning in the first group of purchases. im surprised that it had no bloom for you? mine was so much of a bloom i dont think ive ever seen a batch erupt like it had for me. What might cause that difference? Im definitely not a fan of acidic coffee, so this was for sure in my wheelhouse of desired flavors, but i was surprised how it had a level of fruitiness that wasnt offensive and was mostly chocolate and cream notes for my batch. You are the expert so im curious why such a difference might happen?
Agreed. I generally don't go for a dark roast, but I did order 2 bags. And I figured that I'd try it black to get the full experience. Well, not only did I find that I enjoyed the flavor profile (notably the same experience as you described), but it's actually been the first coffee that I've preferred without cream, sugar, ect. I've been super impressed with it and don't mind spending a little more for it (I should note that I usually only drink coffee on the weekends so I'm not really purchasing as frequently).
I absolutely love coffee and that’s sounds amazing. I cant purchase a bag right now since i dont have a job yet with only an allowance of 2 dollars a month isnt gonna cut it aswell.
James did mention that his bag sat in a warehouse during a heat wave, so I imagine that's part of the reason. The fact that there is no roast date/batch number also makes it that much more difficult to draw conclusions about differences in 2 bags.
Wonderful choice of words you used, Very Very smart. Those that are "in the know" and those that know you, Know what you are doing/saying. Thanks for the review
That is just a bendy strip to stop beans from spilling out. It closes the bag but doesn't seal it. James was talking about a "zip-lock" style seal on the bag, like some have, to keep them fresher longer.
Exactly what I thought it would be - basically a bag of dark supermarket brand (but the better brand) coffee with more of an emphasis on branding. I'll stick to my local roasters, thanks (Tynemouth Coffee Co and Ouseburn Coffee Co, if you're curious).
I really like Jack’s coffee- I was sceptical at first, but I enjoyed it a lot. The cold brew is especially good. It’s down to personal preference and the reviewer here doesn’t like dark roasts- but Jack loves dark roasts. So it’s normal to have a differing opinion on it. 😊
I’m in the US and bought this, shipping was only $8 and if you subscribe to receive it monthly you save 25% off the order. So for $30 you can get 2 bags, and for that price it is pretty good.
This was in my recommendation..and Its interesting how he said that darker roast are better in not boiling hot water because I remember Seán mentioning years and years ago that he loves his coffee almost warmer than lukewarm so he can quote “guzzle it down”. And for the coffee product, Seán makes things in the highest quality he can make his products for his fans and even for himself. He cares for his fans and his fans care for him that both parties do things to support both (in what ive observed for being in the community for almost a decade). His community is absolutely wholesome and supportive that just feels like a gigantic family and friends hanging out sometimes making fun of each other. For those who think he does this for money is bullcrap, he uses his money for generous acts usually ananymously. Not like other big youtubers out there Seán is one of the only ones whos seems to be an actual person.
You have a similar hairstyle to David Lynch now that you mention it! And he also loves a good dark cup of coffee. I hope you get to review it someday since there aren't any videos about it.
I was thinking about Dodger Coffee Co at the start of this video, then the logo popped up when he showed Akira's website. If I recall, Dodger had a big hand in creating her coffee so would be interesting to see what the difference is.
After watching videos here and there about your adventures in coffee, this is the first time I've heard you mention cold brew. Personally I love cold brew, but would love to see more about your impressions on it. May just have to dig further into your catalog, but I haven't seen it yet.
To clarify, for anyone watching wondering what the beans actually were:
-Colombia single origin bean
-Specialty Grade
-Locally owned farm
-Carbon neutral import
-100% Organic
Full City + roast so very dark for craft coffee, indeed.
I'm the CEO of Akira, happy to answer questions. Remember, we're not claiming to be the epitome of craft coffee. Rather, we have a challenge of bringing better sourced, higher quality, better handled coffee to people who have no idea what that means. Someone like Jacksepticeye can't do a deep dive into craft coffee because his audience won't really track it. That doesn't take away from the effort he's put in or the fact that we're operating a better supply chain than the typical grocery store/super mega corp/private equity coffee that's out there. Are we the best in craft coffee? Hell no. Am I proud of what we're building as a better for the world company than alternatives out there? Absolutely.
Also thank you James for even taking a look at it. I'm honored that we've even hit the radar and I felt the actual review of the coffee was extremely fair. To pass a taste test from someone like you is a major feather in the cap, even if this particular blend isn't your preference and spent too long in transit to hold up fully. (Will look into 12 days of shipping, that's nuts).
I was so stoked to see this video pop up David. Keep up the great work!!
This is such a classy comment. The coffee community is amazing!
I will probably never buy this coffee simply because I already have the coffees I like, but kudos for having a little follow up with the origin and roast.
@@cvoisineaddis that's totally fine! We're not trying to switch people off of other amazing coffee they're already drinking because most of our customers aren't drinking good coffee to begin with. We aren't trying to compete with craft coffee roasters at all, we're trying to introduce it on a very rudimentary/basic level to people who have never tried it before and may not have any concept about what it is.
Have you looked into shade grown coffee? Supposedly much better for the planet. I like that you're taking this down the ethical path and doing the work, not just buying crap off the shelf and repackaging it.
EDIT: Not having a disclaimer at the start of this about my involvement with a coffee roasting company was a mistake, and I apologise.
So I just want to respond to the entirely reasonable questions asking why I'm reviewing coffee after saying I wouldn't review bags of coffee, or specialty businesses. To me this falls outside of that scope, as it doesn't really have the transparency and traceability that I'd consider the bare minimum of speciality. Secondly, this isn't really a coffee review. The coffee's flavour isn't really central or overly important to the brand or business. I talk about the flavour a little, but it is far from comprehensive enough to be useful as an actual coffee review. I also don't really see this as a small business - Sean has a huge channel, and I suspect a very good business all around. The thing that was interesting was the approach of both business and creators to finding new ways to grow their businesses, and why we might see more of this in coffee in particular.
I concur! 👍
James, people will always complain about anything lol
Also, please review Nespresso machine/capsules too please 😬
Check your twitter the ceo of Akira coffee David Sievers said he will love to talk to you about the business he is very open and will answer your questions it could be an interesting conversation.
Well James, we trust your word. No disclaimer needed. Thanks for doing it for clarity sake. Great business video to get rpasters dreaming about new markets and potential.
Will be placing my order right now - at Square Mile.
I just received my first Square Mile order this week, and I can assure you and everyone else that the quality of the coffee is absolutely off the charts. I live in continental Europe so the ship rates are reasonable. I will be starting a subscription with Square Mile - it's that good.
@Speed Thrills Ordered a bag of the current Filter Blend and one of Cabellero El Campo and am very much looking forward to tasting them. Also live on the Continent and am curious if Royal Mail and Deutsche Post will manage to get those bags to me still intact...
@@bjorngerlach7829 the filter blend is absolutely a bomb in terms of flavours. its very fruity and in your face. i love it
I bought a three month sub at SM for a friend that lives in the UK and he loves it. Didn’t get any for myself cause 1 bag for me was the same as 3 bags for him. But I’ve got amazing choices here in Portland, OR, USA.
I'm in the US watching these wonderful videos. Anyone else order from Square Mile and getting the beans in the US? I'd love to try some if the shipping time and cost isn't exorbitant.
Ghost roaster: the equivalent of a ghost writer for famous people without the chops.
'White label' is usually the term you see going about for roasters like these. Some amazing roasteries do white label stuff.
@@meepage332 Formerly, now they are called ghost roasters.
Or private labeling is what they call it in the cosmetics industry.
@@laurenbray8314 private labeling assumes that the individual has customized a product. Where as white label is taking what a manufacturer has already created
This is common in brewing, too, called “contract brewing.” I have no problem with this but as a coffee reviewer I do get annoyed when the brand has very little info about it, the coffee, etc
Really hope James' channel becomes big enough that he can have his own coffee brand. He knows lots about coffee after all.
Maybe one day he'll even win the World Barista Championship or write a book, and he'll be able to afford every coffee item Ikea sells.
If i won a ridiculous sum in the lottery I'd fund it
Edit: I'm serious though, I'd fund square mile usa lol
He has one of the best selling coffee brand in the UK
Nikola Arsovski lol bruhhh you ruined the joke
Yassssss
Please let this be the start of a series where James reviews haircuts.
Yes
SSSSSSSSPPPT
And Brad Mondo could do some coffee reviews?
And glasses too ;)
Nooooooooooooooo
I love the coffee business talk aspect of this video over the review itself
A video suggestion: Buy the coffee's of the other influencers that akira offers, and compare to see if there's an actual difference
+1 for this idea, *surely* there is very little difference between all of these blends. To speculate, I think Akira probably sends creators a handful of pre-chosen blends and they just get to chose one and slap on a label.
@@trentbosnic no we develop each blend with the creators. Some of the blends share bean origins but are in different proportions and the same bean may be roasted differently depending on the blend.
Ok I'm on it ;)
@@IcedCoffeeLifestyle DM me on Twitter and I'll send them to you!
@@DavidSievers Is Akira connected to The Mill?
My daughter is a follower of him and ordered a bag. I brewed it standard 18:1 press and thought it tasty. Tried to get more of it today actually and realized it’s back ordered. I’d buy again, but not because of his TH-cam influence but rather I tried the brand and enjoyed the experience. So kudos to my 16 year old!
I watched Jack's video, and in one of his video, he mentioned that he just bough his first expensive coffee machine set-up when he started the company so he can be better at brewing coffee.
So yeah, the man loves coffee, but definitely not a big enough fanatic to start his own coffee company.
It’s just a way to make money. If he devoted himself to making the coffee than I’d buy one. But he doesn’t care so neither do it. I’m not a big enough fan of him to pay quit a bit for 12oz bag
I think if you have a passion for coffee, why not! He’s probably done his research. Do what makes you happy!
ya hes a conman. are you just starting to get it? you posted this a year ago. did ya get it yet?
@@markheinle6319How so? He sold people coffee, they enjoyed said coffee. Doesn't sound like a con to me. A con might be not receiving said coffee, or getting low brow garbage, in which case it wouldn't still be up and running, would it?
Let's not forget the plecibo effect! A lot of people probably want it to be good because they love the channel. Also I think doing this is very profitable and easy to succeed in for big youtubers. Most people aren't coffee fanatics, and as long as the coffee is half decent they'll keep buying! Not just for the coffee but to support the channel.
i mean, if you are ok to spend a certain amout of money and to get the coffee you like while supporting a person you like, i think it's fine
So now we know where your hair inspiration comes from!
You are our hair idol James. And having tasted your coffee, I have to say, the illusion has not broken!
We can only hope and pray that Logan and Jake Paul never make coffee at this point
oh dear god please no
Logan's newest coffee, imported from japan.
Seriously Logan has changed so much but Jake still sucks af
Jake probably has a stash he looted during the recent riots he could sell.
I know nothing about them, other than that they are professional a-holes.
Hi James! Could you do a video on different milk substitutes for milk drinks? would be really interesting to see you apply your weird coffee scientific method to it. Break it down into different categories like taste, mouth feel, ethics/sustainability, foam-ability, "wellness" (how good/bad for you they are). I'd be very interested in this. My current go to is oat milk because i think its better for me, it feels more sustainable and I've heard lots of anecdotes about it being the best but I've not really seen any direct comparison videos from people I trust.
Philip James this would be so interesting!! I use soya barista milk right now, but would love to know more the Hoffmann way!!
100% would love to see this
Another vote for this. I find oat milk barrista versions foam the best but significantly impact the taste.
I've seen independent coffee shops coming up with their own non dairy milk blends for their customers. That is pretty cool imo. You get the best flavor, texture and creaminess just right that way and it makes for a competitive edge.
Agreed. I’ve said this before on a previous video, but non-dairy milks can heat to a higher temperature without scalding the milk, which opens more possibilities than dairy milk, especially for people who want hotter milk-based coffee drinks.
"My hair idol, David Lynch..."
...how have I only just noticed the similarity?
James' is better.
@@davidsikes No one compares to David Lynch sry
bc nobody thinks about what david lynch looks like. We just remember the dude from Eraserhead.
@@royh2618 I've been on a huge twin peaks rewatch binge recently and got super into coffee at the same time, but i also failed to notice the similarity despite watching loads of james hoffmann and david lynch videos on youtube for some reason
“Crazy clown time!”
I follow Jack and routinely watch his videos; as someone who works in the coffee business I was really turned off by the lack of information given about this coffee. I'm happy for Akira Coffe, and good for him, and i'm glad he's getting orders, but I'll be sticking to my local roastery where I can get every precise bit of information I need, from people who are passionate about what they sell.
Ahh, fancy seeing you here!
Wanna go grab a cappuccino after work?
Well, he was likely worried that most of his viewers aren't very interested in coffee, so he just went with: "So uh, I have this coffee."
It's just a business opportunity. No different then when Hollywood mainstays or music artist slap their names on alcohol or shoes.
that turned off feeling you get is because jacks a conman and youve been had. no offense, happens to the best of us.
@@themustardman219 Yeah, that's how I look at it as well. Pretty sure most people that get his coffee will just be using a cheap dripper or similar machine that does undeniably make coffee, but not in all the nuance that James approached it with. Which, in my opinion, is fine, and they will likely get a somewhat satisfying coffee out of this product, too, but putting all the info on the bag might potentially even be a turnoff for someone who's not into the technical side of making coffee.
I see it when I buy coffee with my husband. He just wants to get whatever in a medium price range that's not going to be too sour (We agree on sour coffees, just a BIG turn-off). I want to see where it comes from, ideally when it was roasted, what type of coffee I'm buying, flavor descriptors, roast grade and whether it was sustainably sourced. He thinks I'm overthinking it and just wants to get in and out as quickly as possible. (No inuendo intended.)
In Asia, there's a big focus on pour over skills. They talk about phases of brewing with sour, sweet, and bitter flavors extracting at different times. They talk about changing the pour method to move the slurry differently. They talk about using different brew technique to change aspects of coffee flavor. Have you ever spent time speaking with people who practice these ideas?
I met a more approachable cafe owner in Taipei and talked a little about my own brew techniques (your technique but modified with a more conventional bloom) and showed him a little, asking about how I should change my technique to brew to achieve more sweetness. He gave me a few suggestions, ground some coffee for me, and gave me another opportunity to brew. Lo and behold, I brewed one of the best coffees I've ever brewed, with a sweetness that evolved four or five flavors.
I went back home with probably only one thought about the whole experience: HOW???????!!!!!!!!!!????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Albert C. Tbh I believe there is no science behind these practices. I have met many Japanese and Chinese baristas. Many of them don’t really do blind tests. Personally, I would focus more on the grind settings, brew time, and water temperature instead of all these brewing details. The flavours are decided by the roasters and the beans themselves. all you can do is to extract them properly.
While Asians incorporate the science from universal brew techniques (grind size, water, temperature, blooming, etc), they’re also pretty picky about how their brew .
How much water they pour over how many seconds, how many pauses they make and how long each pause is, how far or near their kettle from the coffee bed when they’re pouring and when change distance, things which are rarely touched in youtubes.
@@cappuccinogoodfinger Asian culture tends to make things ritualistic and almost to a superstitious level, love to see if there are any actual merit behind those
@@oldcowbb Asian culture?
@@nanashi2146 Asia, or at least east Asia, is a very broad cultural group; sorta like saying European or western. sure, there are many dozens of subcultures within in an almost taxological structure, but it is a very broad culture group still. China, Korea, and Japan specifically would fall under a relatively small culture group due to their proximity and interaction with one another over a long period of time.
In the US, I got some of this coffee within 4 days of purchasing and loved it. It is a solid dark roast Colombian coffee for around $16 total. It's not the best coffee I've ever had but it was a good way to support a creator I like and indulge in my passion for more coffee.
One thing fans of Jack should be reminded of is that Jack once said, that there’s a difference between a stan and a fan. A stan would plug their ears everytime someone said even one remote thing of criticism. A fan would listen, hear out their favorite creator’s shortcomings, because a fan doesn’t have to like every bit of a person. That would be unhealthy for the person’s mental health, the creator is not perfect, thats reality and you can’t escape reality. Only distract yourself from it.
TL;DR: You don’t have to like every single bit of a creator you like.
3 videos in less than a week! Come on you're spoiling us Mr Hoffman
Daily coffee is best bought from local business
I highly agree with that. When I had went to a cafe last weekend in Balloch, I had tried some West Highland Coffee and was so nice I had to order a bag. Not to mention it makes you feel a lot better to give to local businesses than giving money to supermarkets and other big corporations.
Trusting influencers to deliver any form of quality products IS the biggest scam since the Nigerian Prince.
Penr0se I trust James a bit too much that he can probably sell me a car cleaning product if he wants to, even though I don’t own a car.
There are only 3 "influencers" that I would trust to deliver a good product. Linus Tech Tips, Gamers Nexus and James.
LTT and Gamers Nexus really go out of their way for the stuff they design and have made and are very open about how the things they make are made, the quality standards they keep for products, their reasoning behind the products they sell and their costing structure.
There is something to be said about a company, and yes I consider these companies, that actually take pride in their product.
@@super_salty9189 Yup, Linus and his company are great. I do not watch gamers Nexus tho, should try it. But there are couple more youtube channels like that, it mostly depends on what your interests are. Usually every big topic has at least one channel that is doing it right.
I would buy Nigerian Prince Coffee
Thats a bit too general. And by the way this is how capitalism works and this coffee is for noobs and not serious coffee lovers on this channel. Its not about MAKING great coffee, its about SELLING good enough coffee to MAKE MONEY
When jacksepticeye made the announcement and said more about the logo than the actual coffee, I feared that they were just selling his brand and I really hoped that I was wrong.
My thoughts exactly. But he may also worry about his audience having no understanding or interest in specialty coffee and kept it more as "here's my product."
Congratulations, you have discovered everything he does, it's just selling, he does it for the money, wouldn't surprise me if he had script writers and he just does the same act day after day.
@@dalelc43 he's donated millions to charities
Didn’t Trump have a charitable foundation as well? How much of that money actually made it to legitimate charities?
@@raoulh.4440 Most recent donation from sean I remember is donating $100,000 to the BLM movement
Me: As an Irish viewer, thank you for not doing the accent
Also me: I do kinda want to hear it though
As an other irish vewier - 3FE ??
@@benjaminlquinlan8702 one of my favourite roasters in Ireland for sure! Love Colin's passion for coffee!
Same here. I am doing the bi-weekly random 250g subscription and I've had some amazing coffee. So far I really like the Escondida and the La Cumbre. Actually thinking might get a 1kg bag of the La Cumbre.
Should he do Jack’s accent or his stage one?
@@todlambe They omni roast don't they? Do u make La Cumbre with a dripper or French press or espresso?🙂
"My hair idol David Lynch"
THIS ANSWERS SO MANY QUESTIONS
To be honest, that company actually reaching out to these huge influencers is a great marketing strategy. These TH-camrs have solid fanbases and would definitely support the creator they love. But yeah this is bringing up the question of, are they really dedicated to the craft or is it just another branch of their brand / merchandise. To be clear I am not "gatekeeping", it's just an interesting thought to me. 😊
Markiplier's clothing brand can't even keep in stock. he makes his clothing actually sounds really attractive to people that don't merch from him because they're fans.
Ya learn something new every day.
I think King's Coast is a much more interesting example of this. They *started* as an artisan coffee company, are serious about telling us where and what they're serving, but in the past couple years has been co-owned by a small team of streamers/TH-camrs and they do special blends, origins, or reserves that have a TH-camr's branding. Super interesting as a business model and (I've heard) not bad coffee either.
t-shirt, mugs, and now coffee!
It's a win-win: the roaster gets access - at almost no cost - to an enormous audience that has a tendency to "buy what they're told", Influencer gets another revenue stream for zero effort. It's like printing money.
An “OK” from James is an immense compliment.
I breathed a sigh of relief. Oh my god, Jack's coffee is actually OK? I might actually order some now haha
In a similar light to the LockPickingLawyer saying a lock is "not bad". Basically, you or I could feel confident it'll be well above our usual quality level!
I'm glad you made this video. Upon the initial release of this coffee I watched Jacks video and had so many questions. I couldn't find any flavor notes, roast profile, origin or even who was behind the coffee. Little shady marketing for a producr that, with some time and effort, could be made so much better.
I'm sorry, but this youtuber coffee phenomenon is anathema to the specialty coffee industry. You have a coffee (also apparently candle) company rebranding their products and youtubers acting essentially as advertising agencies trying to make a killing off of something they know nothing about or care little about. No roast date. No quality control (being roasted abroad). No region identifier. No instructions, for the novice coffee people who will probably buy the product.
It's a similar exploitation for money that has been done in the t-shirt industry and vinyl industry. Take something and someone popular, and make a killing by producing low quality/high volume (apparently not high enough) products that hide the actual production process. In vinyl, big record labels bought up all of the vinyl press production time when small labels made it popular. "Street wear" companies sprung up, many of them as a part of fast fashion chains, and rebranded cheaply made cotton t-shirts.
Sorry for the rant. I like the point you made at the end, that you can buy much cheaper beans in the supermarket and they are basically the same.
Keep up the good work James.
I have to say I disagree, the things you're concerned about aren't what most people care about, most just want a decent cup of coffee for which the things you listed aren't really necessary. So they're different markets, the people who care about the type of bean, the region, the roast date etc. Aren't the same people who would be buying this coffee.
Stuart Smiles :D I don’t see how it being a ‘different market’ makes the shoddy job being done by the supposed ‘specialty coffee’ company any better.
As the OP said, his viewers can just buy equally naff coffee beans from the supermarket for much less. The only sell, as James said, is the name of the TH-camr who likely doesn’t care about the coffee.
If James started a watch business (or even just put him name on the front of an existing shifty one) with 0 interest in the quality control of those watches being sold, would you not think he were just exploiting his popularity with his subscribers?
In my opinion this differs significantly from traditional product endorsements because, taking the chaps mentioned in this video as an example, many of his fans probably think it IS his coffee company, and that he actually had some say in it beyond just sticking his name/face to it and making a video or two about it.
I have to admit I was disappointed at first that James made another video about TH-camr coffee, however he did raise some good points. But I do hope this doesn’t become a regular feature.
@@jonathanjstrand I expect the viewers know that they can get equally good coffee elsewhere, but they want to support the creator they enjoy
It's for people buying coffee from supermarkets who want a better brand thinking they're stepping up. It's not exploitation, calm down.
When you started talking about street wear, i thought of one place.
Venice Beach 😂
*cuts off tie to reseal*
"Can't reseal it."
Tin ties don't really seal a bag properly, though mostly I agree that I'm an idiot.
@@jameshoffmann You're just precious.
@@jameshoffmann As a packaging supplier, I appreciate your humility.
For those people who think Sean made the coffee for money, you're not wrong. But he also want to share things that he love, just like the coca cola bits that he did years ago. Imo, the reason why Akira doesn't describe the coffee on the packaging is because it was made for Sean's fans. Most, if not all of his fans know Sean love his black coffee so we'll know what to expect if we ordered one. And for those who say "isn't it not fair for Sean not to talk more about the company that made the coffee?" In my understanding, Akira work FOR Sean and some other creator as well. Even tho Akira has other type of coffee that they sell, Sean doesn't obliged to tell you about it because it wasn't his brand nor his preference. Logically speaking, why does one need to talk about other's brand if they does not enjoy it or give them any profit. Once again, the coffee was made for his fans. So don't buy it if you want to find the best coffee out there because it wasn't, even Akira's ceo himself said that they aren't the best.
p.s english is not my first language and I'm not a coffee guy
Jack is absolutely bloody passionate about coffee he drinks that shit almost four times a day which is bad but it’s obvious since he drinks it alot during recording sessions even at late streams.
He made the company to share his love of coffee in the same time make the best brew as much as possible and he wanted to have a coffee company for years now long before he even became a youtuber.
I personally love coffee but lots of different types of coffee give me migraines. I have tried this coffee and I did love the taste, and it was one of the few cups of coffee to not give me a migraine. So I definitely will be buying more of it personally.
It’s been a year since this comment so I’m not sure if you came to this conclusion anyway but here goes
Dark roasted coffee tends to have lower caffeine content than lighter roasted coffee, so you may find that those coffees are going to have less chance of giving you a migraine. You may also find that using recipes with a small amount of coffee in the ratio could help but I honestly don’t know on that front, just an idea.
You should start a second channel where you talk about the business side and go more in-depth with your own projects. Seeing you talk about this stuff was pretty cool!
Basically the Merch t-shirt of Coffee. Got it.
Thanks for the fair assessment. I tend to prefer non-sour coffee, but vary wildly in what things I like. It's nice to have a fair review, even if you aren't a dark roast fan
This was great, James. I really enjoyed the dive into the business behind this bag and hearing your thoughts on the product and value proposition in general. Please do this again.
Jack has acid reflux and loves coffee, so he wanted to make something that people with issues like him can enjoy :) That is why the coffee is less acidic. He talked about it on his Twitch channel a bit
This clears up a few points. Thanks
You're getting scammed, kid.
@@Dotoku14 how tho
Roasting darker doesn't make it less acidic it will only taste less sour
I do so much appreciate your honest reviews Mr. Hoffman. Thanks for doing what you do in great style.
James Hoffman x David Lynch. The collab I didn’t know I needed-until now.
He talked about the back order issues recently. They have the beans, but they are having trouble getting the bags right now.
I'm caught between "hey at least the guy is getting people into whole bean specialty-ish coffee" and "who on earth goes to a gaming youtuber to get coffee recommendations???"
agreen182 I reckon both those things are positive. If this guy’s gamer TH-cam subscribers are trying a decent enough whole bean coffee for the first time because they bought it from him, that’s a good thing - it could easily be the start of a real coffee passion and lead to the discovery of more traditional coffee sourcing (like local specialty roasters). And if a gaming TH-camr has an audience who don’t already know about specialty coffee, it’s also a positive thing that they get introduced to it there, it’s not like his 24mil subscribers are already watching James’ channel, and it’s not like any of them are gonna stop buying coffee from SquareMile/CoffeeCollective/whatever-local-specialty-roaster just because their favourite gamer youtuber started selling beans. While it’s a bit cheesy and possibly money-grubbing, I think it’s also likely to be the way a (small) percentage of his fans discover real specialty coffee, and for that I respect what both he and this ghost roaster are doing.
Also, other TH-camrs in his category sell energy drinks instead, so Coffee is a much healthier alternative for Jacksepticeye to sell his audience.!
@@IainChalmers The main problem I had with it is this youtuber, jack/sean whatever, goes on and on claiming the he started a coffee company. Not that he got a third party to make a specific roast for him. He literally says he started his own coffee company. That's a flat out lie and insulting to people like James who, you know...did start their own roastery. False advertising.
And yeah, while I doubt I'll see any gaming youtubers talking about how they're excited for this year's Yemini crop or Panama Elida, if one or two of their viewers accidentally fall into the specialty coffee hole..then yay, I'm for it.
Millions of Oprah followers are anxiously awaiting her coffee instructions now...
hes a grifter getting another grift avenue. whats there to figure?
It makes all the sense in the world for David Lynch to have his own coffee brand. Twin Peaks is basically a love letter to coffee.
That is so spooky. I just learned that this coffee existed today and thought “wonder what James would think about that” and BAM - notification. Pure coincidence? Definitely. But great fun all the same😁
"Pure coincidence? Definitely." I loved this part. Have a good day, internet stranger.
@Christopher A And a great day to you sir😀
A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.
th-cam.com/video/qyQ_uUhKIZ0/w-d-xo.html
Can I ask why did you think that? It’s just a warehouse coffee manufacturer with a marketing strategy. May as well ask him to taste a random low end supermarket brand.
I know this video is about 2 years old at this time but many more content creators have their own coffee "company" now. I've bought from 2 of the people I watch on TH-cam (Nerdrotic's Geek Grind Coffe and Adam Crigler's Crigler Coffee) and have really enjoyed the coffee. Compared to what I can get at the supermarket.
The big advantage to the content creator is not only another source of income for them from the coffee sales but it can build a stronger connection between the viewer and the TH-camr. Not only do they spend time watching that persons content but now there's a connection of the coffee (hopefully good) and that enjoyable drinking experience.
I've ordered from Crigler Coffee twice and I'm about to place another order soon. The price is good and I've really enjoyed the product. Plus I enjoy knowing that I'm helping to support content creators I enjoy watching. So far my favorite is their Covfefe Blend.
You’re right, more you tubers will launch their own coffee - can’t wait for the launch of James Hoffman branded Akira Coffee, a must buy for sure 👍
Maybe if your not willing to review David's coffee you could at least try what really happens if you put a fish in the percolator? For science?
yeah that whounld be intresting
Korn the band released their signature blend of coffee. Supposedly each of the members had a hand in choosing where the beans were sourced from. Would love if you tried/reviewed it! ❤️
Jason Sowter I had no idea! That would be fantastic !
Fuck yes MetalCoffee heads 🤘
Now that I would buy!!
This puts a funny, non serious question in my head: which celebrity coffee is the best? Or is there a celebrity out there that happens to be a coffee nerd that could do better?
Love the business focus on this video. It's a fascinating concept with the rise of social media influencers.
I'm a big fan of Jacksepticeye and I do love coffee. So when I bought it, it was more to support him. But I quite liked his coffee and bought myself another bag. it is rather expensive so I wouldn't say it's my everyday coffee, but more of a Pick-Me-Up coffee when I'm having a bad day.
Would be interesting to see an updated review of the top of the morning/akira coffee brand. At some point after the initial launch they started also offering a light roast and I have been really enjoying that, they also have a medium roast now as well though I have not tried it yet. They have also started to give a little bit more information on the product pages including the country of origin, however the FAQs state that the source may occasionally change. Would like to see a review of the newer offerings as well as a review of the other offerings akira has through other publishers, see how similar or different they are.
"I'd hate to tarnish my fondness of the man's.. fine haircut"
Not something I'd expect you to say but okay
James has great choice of vocabulary
We really never should meet our hairoes. :-)
I appreciate the business discussion! Thank you for the commentary, James.
Other TH-camrs' coffee
Me: No
James Hoffman's coffee
Me: Shut up and take my money
Not necessarily that fanatical about it, but yeah, I might pick up a bag of each of his roasts out of curiosity, see how I like them.
I found this informative and enlightening. I just try to buy locally when possible. Honestly I find James refreshing in his presentations. I gave up on trying to make espresso after two months of frustration and realized I can still enjoy James videos and cups of regular good old coffee. Please keep videos coming
I used to drink only dark roast until James opened my eyes to better techniques. Now I barely touch it.
I also don't touch dark but much prefer a good quality medium or medium-light coffee. They can be just as complex and flavourful as light roasts.
@@mamaharumi Agreed. I like the smoky slightly bitter taste of a good dark roast, but usually go for medium dark to still get some complex under tones.
Same here. Down the primrose path I trot, straight to Satan's grotto; shunning virtue, doing most things that I ought not to, since the beans are bound to roast, steam the milk's...my motto.
I tweeted ya about this ages ago, but didnt really think youd look. So glad you did. I couldn't find any info on the sourcing or anything, even though they say its ethical. I was just suspicious.
Thanks for the video James! You're one of the TH-camrs that can be trusted and takes pride in his work. You are definitely one of my favourites.
I'm curious if you'd ever consider trying the Top of the Morning coffee again now that they've had more time to learn about shipping and such, and now that there is a light and medium roast blends
Why would he. He has tried it once, found it to be average taste and expensive. Why would he bother going through that again ?
@@bagofnails6692Because he hasn't tried light/medium roasts, and the pipeline has likely improved. Added to the fact that he likely has the money to be able to spend on it, and knows quite a bit about the subject matter.
Reading comprehension is one hell of a thing, huh?
I recently started getting into coffee. It all started with a bag of beans I got as a gift. No grind set up whatsoever in my household. So I bought a grinder and started to integrate brewing coffee to my morning habit. Eventually I ran out of that coffee.
I didn't realize there's so much to consider in buying beans. A lot of brands claim to their products are "fresh" without (basic) identifiers such as roast date or roast level. Weird customer experience to just guess it myself. Even weirder I see ads on Facebook marketplace with the proposition of making your own coffee REPACKING business -pretty much what a youtuber coffee brand is
I think a better approach would be to work with a small specialty roaster that actually puts a lot of care and attention to their coffee. I might work better as a sort of sponsorship deal, too, no need to re-brand to fit the influencer. If it's a recommendation that's coming from a place of trust and they make genuinely compelling arguments, which should be easier given it's actually a meritable product, I can see it as a net win for everyone.
What they did here, although it makes sense for their business, I feel displaces smaller specialty coffee roasters and shops, and does nothing to improve the industry and economics of this new space.
On the bright side, I have something to try today when brewing this dark roast I got. I'm going to try a cooler water to see if it changes anything. Great content, James!
But we are a tiny company. We have only 5 employees and are trying our best in how we built a better supply chain, using better beans, etc. Like there is some major coffee industry gatekeeping going on in these comments and I'd love a chance to actually explain some of these things that people are making incorrect assumptions about if people would be open to asking/hearing how this came about.
My first order: Not only did I buy the coffee, out of curiosity, but I bought a couple of coffee-scented candles. My mum and I had had previously gone through perfume stores and preferred the smell of the coffee beans( for neutralizing the scent). When I found out about the candle, I was tickled. My mum loved the gift. Now it smells more of a vanilla-citrusy coffee smell, but I love it.
Change the title to:
*Coffee Expert Taste Jacksepticeye's Coffee*
For them clickbait lol.
I've never thought about the logistical ramifications of a recall on a coffee that's lacking a roast date or batch number, that's a good point; for me, if a pre-bagged coffee is lacking a readily visible roast date, that's a sign to stay clear from it just from a freshness perspective.
The guy did not start a coffee company, this is not even his product. Akira is the company and they are reaping the befits. Influencers promote Akira’s product with their name to their audience and that’s it. I doubt he even created the spec for the coffee. And to the guys asking James why did he made a coffee bag review, this is a business model review and coffee bag is just a side thing.
turki alturki The idea of coffee as a merch doesn’t stick with me to be honest, I say stay with T-shirts for that purpose. But I see your point, I was referring to James actually. At the beginning of the video I got the impression that the guy is roasting his own coffee. When the whole thing was explained I automatically lost interest. I guess Influencers are not my thing.
@@Max-wl5ll I disagree. If you buy a branded t-shirt or mug, you're not usually interested in the fabric or ceramic quality. You're buying a visual design and that will have come from the TH-camr (or at least their own media people)
If I buy square mile coffee it isn't because of the griffin logo on the bag, it's James and his team's coffee expertise going into the bag.
Thanks for a balanced view of this product. I also like that the producer has responded. All good.
Great video James. Celebrity coffee like this will take some sales away from independent coffee companies who are passionate about taste and quality.
This was a very insightful video from a business perspective. Keep up the good work, James!
I would categorize myself as a discerning coffee drinker. While I'm not the biggest fan of dark roast, I ordered a bag of Jack's coffee. It was tasty and I really enjoyed it. When more is available I'll order it and switch off daily with that and coffee from my favorite local roaster.
I appreciate that my introduction to (non-instant) coffee was through your channel than through something like this Top of the Mornin nonsense. Unlike TotM, who just try to sell their own products, you set up your viewers to be intelligent buyers and genuine fans of coffee. Good stuff, Mr Hoffmann
I follow the Carlin Brothers. I know they've put thought into their coffee, and talk about the flavor notes on the website. They also actually drink it, so it's probably decent.
As someone who kind of recently started drinking coffee and hasn't figured out what I like yet, I'd be more than willing to try it out. I think that for a TH-camr to start selling something as coffee is kind of fun! I don't know much about Jack but he seems like someone who would enjoy coffee. That interest is a little more personal than a merch shirt.
I also think that it's another fun way of supporting him. There are lots of ways of supporting creators and not everyone wants to buy a shirt/mug/hat etc, so buying his coffee (which is also something that many people buy and use anyway) could be a fun and casual way of supporting him.
Overall, this sounds like a very British-polite way of saying, "this product is merely adequate and quite expensive, and do you really want to spend your money that way?" James, you're just such a nice person.
10/10 for diplomacy James. Very gracious!
A few years ago, I purchased Dodger’s coffee from the Akira coffee co. She’s a Twitch/TH-cam personality. Interestingly enough, she was much more transparent about working to get a specific style of coffee from them. I’m curious if she was one of the first.
Her criteria was the “coffee sitting at the bottom of the pot at a diner in the middle of the night”. Which, sounds terrible, really. But I was intrigued, and seeing the back and forth with Akira, I was properly curious. Bought a couple bags. Gave the second bag away to a co-worker that wasn’t a coffee snob. Whether it truly was on purpose or not... They really got that flavor profile they were going for. Not so good.
I have been struggling to make a drinkable V60 with some Ethiopian beans I picked up recently. They are quite a dark roast and I suddenly remembered you used a low temperature here for the dark roast. I'd tried temps down to 95 but it hadn't occurred to me to go all the way down to 88. Voila! Perfect.
Why not buy a cheaper coffee and donate the money yourself
That´s basically the business model of a lot of companies atm. Take a product, improve some aspects for X $ and than charge 10-100X of the money the improvements actually cost you.
People pay 10-20$ more if someone plants a tree for 0,1$. People pay 10$ more if you give a farmer 0,05$ more for what he sells.
It´s an industry at this point and it thrives on uninformed people that kind of feel bad for different things and want to buy out of that feeling.
We want more coffee brands/types reviews!.. I know you refuse to do that, but it can be so insightful for us mere mortals !
This coffee is basically on the same level as those t-shirts "influencers" sells or other merchandise
lol. yup slap a new label on it and call if special
honestly, a t-shirt makes more sense.
The best part of James's product review is he knows what to say so objectively and candidly that it does not feel malicious or vindictive in the slightest. I am regularly learning from his channels about coffee from beans to brew. I am so glad I found this channel, a one-stop destination for all coffee lovers from newbies to big-time coffee nerds.
I’m never this earlier. Just bought your book James, great work!
I prefer to support my local coffee roasters and shops over a random TH-camr, especially given how much they’ve struggled this year. My favorite one in my town has several varieties. They always tell you where they’re grown, what the processing was (natural, honey, etc) and tasting notes. And they always state when it was roasted. I’m usually able to get a bag that was roasted within the last week.
he’s not random, he’s donated a lot to charity though (not saying his coffee company is super duper good)
@@robowisanveithasung6022 he qualifies as random as his domain is not coffee making. even more accurate when you consider that he's using a "white label" coffee roaster.
@@mcarrowtime7095 I guess so but I wouldn’t consider him a “random TH-camr” since that would imply he is unknown or not very well known on TH-cam.
As someone with a great love of coffee, but not the finances to consistently buy great coffee to love, I’d be really interested in how you’d make the best of budget coffee. I have a decent burr grinder, a French Press, a pour over and a pretty lousy espresso machine. 9 times out of 10 I buy beans from Aldi which are always dark roast, I’ve been doing my best with them but this is the first I’ve heard of using such a low temperate for dark roast pour over, does that apply to French press too? I think a ‘how to make the best out of supermarket coffee’ would be a seriously valuable video.
It really depends how you like your coffee, but as someone who's been in your position, I have 2 words: Moka pot. Depending where you are in it world, it can be called a stovetop coffee maker or a percolator. Point being, I really feel that a moka pot brews great coffee, almost regardless of the quality of it. That is, if you prefer dark roasts for the most part.
But if you want to get the best out of your french press or pour over, check out James' channel for his videos about those, they're very instructional!
Hey James! I would love to learn more about less common coffee bean types like liberica or excelsa. I know they are supposed to be „less enjoyable“ than arabica and they are kind of a niche. Still I hope to hear your opinion on that someday, including a taste test! :) Thank you for your amazing videos, keep up the great work!
The most diplomatic review of what we all already knew: non coffee TH-cam influencer coffee is more gimmick than substance! Hats off to you for being as respectful as you are!
I have been "into"-Specialty coffee for well over a decade. Over time, my coffee bar likely costs more than a good quality second hand car in the quest for a great cup, mostly Espresso though pourover and even Aeropress are used at times. I did not know TH-cam coffee was even a "thing" until this video. Thanks for the spotlight. I have a few roasters I work with to masage the beans to my liking and they are happy to work with me. I had never seen a video by James hoffman before and am subscribing. To ME any roast over light city is pretty much burnt. Over roasting is an easy way for lesser quality beans even in the speciality category to be used at a lower cost. This is in part due to so many people partaking of Starbucks (Charbucks) who drastically over roast their beans and sell the swill as "bold".
I ordered top of the morning in the first group of purchases.
im surprised that it had no bloom for you? mine was so much of a bloom i dont think ive ever seen a batch erupt like it had for me. What might cause that difference?
Im definitely not a fan of acidic coffee, so this was for sure in my wheelhouse of desired flavors, but i was surprised how it had a level of fruitiness that wasnt offensive and was mostly chocolate and cream notes for my batch.
You are the expert so im curious why such a difference might happen?
Agreed. I generally don't go for a dark roast, but I did order 2 bags. And I figured that I'd try it black to get the full experience. Well, not only did I find that I enjoyed the flavor profile (notably the same experience as you described), but it's actually been the first coffee that I've preferred without cream, sugar, ect. I've been super impressed with it and don't mind spending a little more for it (I should note that I usually only drink coffee on the weekends so I'm not really purchasing as frequently).
I absolutely love coffee and that’s sounds amazing. I cant purchase a bag right now since i dont have a job yet with only an allowance of 2 dollars a month isnt gonna cut it aswell.
Akira’s CEO who commented on this video did say that they put in small orders so the quality is not consistent
James did mention that his bag sat in a warehouse during a heat wave, so I imagine that's part of the reason. The fact that there is no roast date/batch number also makes it that much more difficult to draw conclusions about differences in 2 bags.
Wonderful choice of words you used, Very Very smart. Those that are "in the know" and those that know you, Know what you are doing/saying. Thanks for the review
I’ve reached coffee coniseuer TH-cam I didn’t even know warm water coffee was a thing
*noting your respectful pause at your mention of David Lynch. The love was felt...and relatable.
3:40 "there's no reseal strip in here so once it's open it's open"
You cut it off right before that James!!!
That is just a bendy strip to stop beans from spilling out. It closes the bag but doesn't seal it. James was talking about a "zip-lock" style seal on the bag, like some have, to keep them fresher longer.
Exactly what I thought it would be - basically a bag of dark supermarket brand (but the better brand) coffee with more of an emphasis on branding. I'll stick to my local roasters, thanks (Tynemouth Coffee Co and Ouseburn Coffee Co, if you're curious).
Never taste your hero’s coffee 😅 - Interesting video; thoroughly enjoyed!
I really like Jack’s coffee- I was sceptical at first, but I enjoyed it a lot. The cold brew is especially good. It’s down to personal preference and the reviewer here doesn’t like dark roasts- but Jack loves dark roasts. So it’s normal to have a differing opinion on it. 😊
I’m in the US and bought this, shipping was only $8 and if you subscribe to receive it monthly you save 25% off the order. So for $30 you can get 2 bags, and for that price it is pretty good.
Unrelated to the video but I'd love to see you review all of Ikea's cocktail stuff, since you did one for their coffee stuff. Is it any good?
07:24 I love you man. You are a staggeringly nice person. Never change.
This was in my recommendation..and
Its interesting how he said that darker roast are better in not boiling hot water because I remember Seán mentioning years and years ago that he loves his coffee almost warmer than lukewarm so he can quote “guzzle it down”.
And for the coffee product, Seán makes things in the highest quality he can make his products for his fans and even for himself. He cares for his fans and his fans care for him that both parties do things to support both (in what ive observed for being in the community for almost a decade). His community is absolutely wholesome and supportive that just feels like a gigantic family and friends hanging out sometimes making fun of each other. For those who think he does this for money is bullcrap, he uses his money for generous acts usually ananymously. Not like other big youtubers out there Seán is one of the only ones whos seems to be an actual person.
You have a similar hairstyle to David Lynch now that you mention it! And he also loves a good dark cup of coffee. I hope you get to review it someday since there aren't any videos about it.
I wanna see him try Dodger coffee, it tastes like old diner coffee. I love the stuff
I believe that Dodger is also part-owner of Utopia coffee now.
I was thinking about Dodger Coffee Co at the start of this video, then the logo popped up when he showed Akira's website. If I recall, Dodger had a big hand in creating her coffee so would be interesting to see what the difference is.
@@groundcontrolto she did create it! Just like how Jacksepticeye created his. It's how we work. 😁
I love how honest you are.
Alton Brown once said "the darker the roast you get, the more you taste the process and the less you taste the beans"
So poetic... Definitely influenced my thinking.
After watching videos here and there about your adventures in coffee, this is the first time I've heard you mention cold brew. Personally I love cold brew, but would love to see more about your impressions on it. May just have to dig further into your catalog, but I haven't seen it yet.