Gardelli Specialty Coffees — Restaurant in Unione di Comuni della Romagna Forlivese

As a roaster I like to educate my palate and enjoy savouring as many coffees as possible from other roasters;–as such, I purchase on a regular basis coffees from reputable roasters from all around the world since there is always something new to discover and learn.

I have bought in the past coffees from Gardelli and these were fine roasts, however on this last and final occasion which brings me to this unfortunate review, I received a Kenyan roast which was a past crop coffee sold at full price; when I contacted them about this, I received an unsigned template reply from a noreply e-mail address, which makes evident how open this company is towards an interesting and fruitful communication which could potentially have lead to an improvement or even fixed an overlooked lapse.

As a side note: Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Yemen are among my favourite origins in flavour profiles resulting in having roasted a myriad of batches from a diverse selection of regions in each country as well as coffee processes; never have I come across a past crop coffee which had aged so ungracefully as the one I received from Gardelli this time. In addition, based on the coffee experience from my previous purchases from Gardelli, my water TDS, hardness, alkalinity etc. are not that divergent from theirs.

It is a shame that the customer "service" thought it wise to not properly read my e-mail, perhaps engage in a thought-provoking interaction as concerns storage conditions and/or temperatures and hence miss an opportunity to amend a lapse ... and this simply and clumsily ends in an embarrassment regarding issues such as humidity in a storage environment that needs to adhere to a steady temperature amongst other important aspect that prolong the shelf life of a coffee that was already ... 1.5 years old after harvest, as is the case with the roast I received. Very sorry, but not recommended!

In answer to your immature if not bizarre reply below: "Your review it is totally biased and we disrepcet such hateful review."

???

My review is based on my experience and is valid from my point of view in terms of cupping an aged coffee with a flat/empty flavour profile, which I would have returned and asked a refund for, had it been possible. As such, there is no "hatred" (what a juvenile perception by the way), but simply a dismissal of a mediocre coffee about which you appear incapable to accept criticism over and as such have missed yet again, an opportunity for improvement. Furthermore, having a point of view is a right everyone is entitled to and criticism serves to throw an established status quo off balance and thus initiate improvement;–therefore, should this re-view be displeasing to you I suggest you start in practising veritable customer service on the next opportunity that arises, instead of brushing off a customer with template banalities about Nordic roast styles etc. and/or lecturing in a condescending manner ... instead of attentively listening. Your sophisticated and eloquent approach as seen in your reply is more revelatory than you suspect as concerns how you perceive the world, respect and celebrate other people's opinions when different from yours; i.e. a chance to listen and strive diligently for improvement.

Veritable emotional intelligence rests upon an attitude in seeking first to understand, and only then, to be understood; it is clear that you prefer the short-cut by simplistically making yourself...

Been a loyal customer since 2018. I suspect their new biodegradable bags are not properly sealed, as coffee quickly deteriorates and absorbs the humidity even in closed bag, so I had to reduce the grind setting more than twice during the week (almost espresso setting for a filter). Never happened to any coffee I ordered before. Huge disappointment, ordered 6 bags of different beans, opened 3—all have the same issue. Not mentioning all the tastes are muted to the point when 3 different regions taste basically the same. I sent the feedback via website, but no one responded yet, so I think it’d be fair to post an honest feedback publicly now.

Update: another disappointment, their response just shows their business is converting to a purely commercial story. If that’s not the bags, then should be something wrong with your process and quality control. Updating review to one star for not even trying to figure out the problem.

Update 2: Please kindly admit, that official e-store is not the only option to buy beans. I happily bought your beans from various coffeeshops and only ordered from a website when there was no reselling shop around. Sometimes I switched to other beans to broaden the experience, but Gardelli was always no.1 in quality and consistency. And now I was hoping to buy more bags, and especially was expecting something exceptional from not so cheap Yemen. I’m getting 6 bags of something very different instead. At this moment I opened the 4th bag, and can confirm it is practically rotten, and I’m getting this kind of treatment from you. Please stop your pointless denial and treating your customer like he is stupid and deal with the problem. Also the gap between messages was more than 24 hours, stop lying publicly. Not mentioning the last message, that is left unanswered for more than 12 days. There were some simple questions regarding the grind...

First off the overall experience is great, you shop for the beans, clear mention of roast dates and shipping. It was my first order and they had some really good beans. The espresso blend beans are great for a daily use case. I also received some of the filter + espresso roasts of wubanchi and others. So far great experience. The other thing with most global roasters in Europe is the shipping charges. I think their shipping on beans worth 1kg upwards is daily decent, competitive and very good. I ordered the beans and it was roasted and shipped same day Friday last week- for the package today morning.

The ability to have a single roast profile takes away lot of decision making for the consumers too. It might not work for everyone. But for us, this is really good. Just get the same beans to use on my Mokapot and drip!

Italy to singapore in 3-4 days that’s faster than my local roaster at times :) but since I always look at experimenting with beans, Gardelli has been a great experience so far. All the best team

Update : the beans have been great so far.

If you are using a Commandante or other hand grinder + Aram espresso setup, then Omni roast beans will not work. Even at the finest grind setting the espresso shots are loose. But maybe an electric grinder could make it work. I never tried it. On an electric espresso yes the beans worked fine. That’s something to be careful about only if you are on manual...