I discovered Level Ground Espresso back in 2012, and have consistently ordered the 5lb box in fairly regular intervals ever since (almost like clockwork every 6-8 months). It is my "everyday, go-to, stalwart" bean - even for french press and cold brew. Whenever I make coffee for guests, they always praise the flavour profile and quality of the roast!

However, while I appreciate the increase in costs we are all facing, sadly, the gap is shrinking between buying the 5lb box of beans under a "wholesale/bulk" construct, and just going down to the local grocery store and buying something similar for a comparable unit price (albeit smaller size, typically 350-500g). The aggressive price increases over the past 12 months have induced a significant amount of "sticker shock", further aggravating the shrinking unit price gap.

So, where previously I would often order a few small bag of beans of other roasts (big fan of Andes, Peru and Congo!), now I just constrain myself to the one box as needed. I want to keep supporting Level Ground, but find myself getting "priced out" as the value erodes.

I’ll continue to buy this delicious, not-gonna-gum-up-my-automatic-espresso-maker, heavenly-smooth, perfect-crema-conjuring coffee at $20/lb, but the sticker shock (from $70 to $100 in 6 months!) has got me wondering about alternatives whereas before I never gave it a second thought.

5 day delivery time. $ 10.00 price increase. Best organic Beans for a truly authentic espresso/ cappuccino experience.

I wanted to say that Level Ground has found the sweet spot with this coffee in terms of landing between 'premium' grocery store products and the really pricey single origin roasters but I think I've let the price influence my thinking too much. Put this in a fancy can and charge me $25 for 250g and I'll still pay it! It's deep and rich but without any of the edgy flavours from aggressive roasting. And yet it holds its own in a whole-milk latte. Paying $70 for 5lbs (conveniently packaged in two sealed 2.5 lb bags) is insane given the quality of this coffee. I will be staying with it!

ROASTERY ESPRESSO