UK coffee help?

[Jester]

For me the choice is much simpler, at least in this instance.

I can spend about $50 here to buy my sister the amount of coffee I wanted to send her, and spend about $50 more to ship it from here to there.

Alternatively, I can spend about $50 over there to send her about the same amount of coffee, maybe slightly less, and spend about $7 more to have them deliver it.

Pretty easy decision for me, honestly.

[artcurmudgeon]

I appreciate the new sites in the UK. sadly it is a bear and a half to get gifts for family in the uk. I can buy them here and spend an arm and leg to ship and they might get there on time. or I buy them in the uk, spend and arm and a leg and shipping costs nothing and they get it on time.

Really hard choice...LOL

[Jester]

Found Has Bean, posted the same questions I did to the other site, and have already heard back from them with answers to every question, with the answers just as simple and straightforward as the questions, and very friendly to boot!

Too bad I neither live in England nor drink coffee, as Has Bean would have just earned a new customer!

[Gizmo]

No problems. I've only ever used their actual stores so didn't realise their customer service wasn't up to scratch.

This seems to be the site Coffeedrinker was talking about: http://www.hasbean.co.uk/

[Lace Neil Singer]

Wow... so many ground coffee shops. I'm starting to feel a bit embarrassed; tho I'm a practiced coffee drinker, I mostly drink instant.

[Jester]

I've been lurking on this forum for a long while, and registered just to respond to this.

Thank you. I'm rather honored by that!

I can highly recommend Has Bean coffee. It's not cheap, but the delivery prices are very reasonable and the coffee is very high quality (roasted- and, if requested, ground- very, very soon before shipping).

Good to know, and I can afford a bit. As for it being ground, I don't need that, as Lil Sis' boyfriend confirmed to me that she has a grinder.

They also do emailed gift vouchers so your sister can choose what she wants.

Nope. Her boyfriend has been very helpful in guiding me to her preferred styles.

My experience of Whittard coffee is that it's pretty stale by comparison (although it is a brand that is well recognised in the UK).

They are also idiots. At least, that's my impression of them. I sent them a few questions, on their own site's "contact us" form, to which I have received zero answers, but three emails trying to sell me their stuff. Which I was trying to do, if they could have only clarified a couple of things. Which, apparently, is either beyond them or beneath them. Don't know, don't care. I'll check out Has Bean. You wouldn't happen to have a website for them, would you? (Of course I'll try my google fu, but it hasn't been very good in this endeavor to date.)

Sorry, Gizmo, but Whittard lost my business. Thanks for the help, though!

[Gizmo]

Cool. I hope she likes it.

[coffeedrinker]

I've been lurking on this forum for a long while, and registered just to respond to this. Although I don't live in the UK now, I have done, and I can highly recommend Has Bean coffee. It's not cheap, but the delivery prices are very reasonable and the coffee is very high quality (roasted- and, if requested, ground- very, very soon before shipping). They also do emailed gift vouchers so your sister can choose what she wants. You may not be able to get specific coffee from your area, but if I were to give coffee as a gift, that's where I'd go. (Most of the coffee readily available in the UK is... somewhat lacking. I say this as an Australian with the benefit of living in a city with a thriving coffee culture)

My experience of Whittard coffee is that it's pretty stale by comparison (although it is a brand that is well recognised in the UK).

[Jester]

Thanks, Gizmo. That site was far more helpful than the shop I had originally intended to use.

But, since I have clearly already missed Lil Sis' birthday, I am not worried about next day delivery. And either way, it is still far cheaper than it would be to ship it from Florida!

[Gizmo]

http://www.whittard.co.uk/

They do next day premium delivery service for £7. However it is by courier.

[Jester]

Still looking for suggestions, by the way....

[cinema guy]

I just don't understand you people who don't drink coffee.....it's a life force!

The British Empire was run on tea!

Of course there's not a whole lot of it left.

[houdini]

Houdini, I appreciate the offer, but I want to try to get this to my sister by Friday, which is her birthday. (Yes, I know...I procrastinate.)

Hey, you're not too bad on the procrastinaton...at least you're looking before this birthday, right?

[telecom_goddess]

I just don't understand you people who don't drink coffee.....it's a life force!

Course I live in coffee central here in the Northwest so there ya go.

[artcurmudgeon]

and with the Yank perspective about coffee in the UK.

When I was living in Wales with my now wife, the only coffee got was this liquid concentrate stuff that truly sucked ass. I began to bring a blocks of Folgers over(its not my idea of the greatest, but the freeze dried blocks were easy to pack and easy to ship.

I began shipping 2-1lbs blocks over every couple of weeks when I wasnt over there to help my wife get by.

Disclaimer: I drink both coffee and tea and if I had my druthers, I would drink tea all damn day. But the wife complains as I can go through a box of tea on my own per week without really trying hard. You can imagine how much of a pain this can be....