Jeremy,
Don't take this the wrong way, it's just what's on my mind, and should be taken for what that's worth... but why take someone else' impression about either a coffee from last year or their impression of an importer? Why not call them and form your own opinion based on your impression? What if Sam says the coffee stunk, or they were rude? Does that mean you won't call and develop a business relationship? You won't know how the water is until you stick your own toe into it.
Almost to a man, the report here was that Royal CA was a pita to deal with. Had I believed that was the case 100% of the time, I would not be on the verge of ordering my 15th bag in less than a month.
I understand we like to venture forth with insight from others and I'm not saying you're wrong for asking, but in the end you still need to wade in. Again, take it with a grain of salt, I'm just thinking out loud.
I hear you, Peter. I certainly would not make a judgment on one person's feedback, and possibly not even an entire community. But getting impressions from the community would give me some expectations, which are helpful as a small roaster contacting large importers.
For example, My first experience with a large importer was with Cafe Imports, an importer, as you probably know, which is very generous about sending multiple samples, even though I usually only order 3-6 bags (way under half the samples they send). Unfortunately, after working with them I decided to look into a few other importers, one of which included Royal CA. Having CI set the precedent, which I misinterpreted as the norm, I had Royal CA send me about 10 samples, after which Jason and I ordered five bags [of great coffee], if my memory serves me correctly. [BTW, since we split the bags, we weighed each of them, and they were all 2-3 lbs. short.] A few weeks later I emailed to get some samples sent and one of the reps reamed me for my audacity, saying that she would not send "8 more samples for a potential 2 bag order" (which was an exaggeration and therefore deliberately condescending since I had never ordered
just two bags from them). She went on to say that "we do not send out unlimited numbers of samples. We send out samples so that you get a general sense of the quality of coffee that we carry, and then if you have questions about specific coffees please call and ask." [I have to point out the irony about her complaining about sending a few pounds of samples, even though we were shorted more than that in the coffee that we paid for...]
Now, the last thing I want to do is be a PITA to my importers, but I had gone to Royal CA with the wrong expectations. Had I asked the community here, I would have likely heard someone like you giving them due praise, and someone like me giving fair warning that while they offered quality coffee, they do not offer the same service as CI to small operations--information that would have been certainly informed the way I approached them.
That said, in asking for impressions of an importer, I'm just hoping to learn from others' experiences, which may or may not inform the way I approach them. As a small roaster, it is easy to not be valued by large importers, so I'm just trying to play my cards right. Make sense?
KCR
