How are your coffee beans lately? Mine are AWFUL!

[ian]

The cleanest snow/ice on the planet is derp in the middle of the Antarctica ice caps but even that contains evidence for volcanic dust from major volcanic eruptions and traces of ancient greek and roman lead mining.

not to mention lead dust from Broken Hill

[FenceFurniture]

Beans returned to Aldi (who have a very good return policy, btw). Bought 500g of Campos beans ($25) and just made a brew. Shoulda used a bit more - a touch weak - but the flavour is pretty good.

[AlexS]

Daughter & SIL in the USA have their coffee sent over in 5Kg packs from Mareeba, Qld. We tried all their blends some years ago when we were up there, and they liked it so much that they've drunk it ever since.

[FenceFurniture]

Daughter & SIL in the USA have their coffee sent over in 5Kg packs from Mareeba, Qld. We tried all their blends some years ago when we were up there, and they liked it so much that they've drunk it ever since.

AHA! So it's not just a cup of coffee FFS, it's worth paying horrendous postage costs via AP to USA!

($98 5 days air freight, $77 2-3 month Sea freight, or perhaps they choose the 2 day Express $168 option if they've run out?)

[ian]

I may have to start another thread about my other first world problem involving Aldi supply problems. American Style Crunchy Peanut Butter - simply the best there is, by a considerable margin. Nothing but boring Smooth.

Haven't seen it in-store for two months. Other "substitutes" from Woolworths are twice the price and half the quality.

apart from the possible (?) self-entertainment value, I suggest you cease and desist from this course.

Aldi, like the Health System, Coles, Wollies, IGA, Bunnings, OfficeWorks, Hardly Normal, et al, are all suffering from the first world's over-reliance on a global just-in-time supply chain. Among other things the pandemic is exposing how we as a community are so reliant on the operation of "lines of supply". All is good till you get a one in one hundred year event like the current pandemic.

[ian]

AHA! So it's not just a cup of coffee FFS, it's worth paying horrendous postage costs via AP to USA!

($98 5 days air freight, $77 2-3 month Sea freight, or perhaps they choose the 2 day Express $168 option if they've run out?)

Don't know where you are getting those air freight transit times from
AP tracking is showing that one of my 2 day International Express Packages (where the packaging weighs about 5 times more than the contents) was collected by the overseas air carrier on the morning of August 14 and, 8 days later, is still at Mascot waiting to be placed on a flight.
The previous two International Express Post (2 day HA, HA) items took
14 days AUS to Canada
13 days AUS to Canada
standard air mail would be no slower.

[FenceFurniture]

Aldi, like the Health System, Coles, Wollies, IGA, Bunnings, OfficeWorks, Hardly Normal, et al, are all suffering from the first world's over-reliance on a global just-in-time supply chain. Among other things the pandemic is exposing how we as a community are so reliant on the operation of "lines of supply". All is good till you get a one in one hundred year event like the current pandemic.

Yes, and panic buying didn't help that. However, coffee and Peanut Butter have always been problematic at Aldi. We have always kept 2-3 in reserve (coffee 4-6). It probably has something to do with their "alternative" brands policy.

Don't know where you are getting those air freight transit times from

Their website.

[ian]

Don't know where you are getting those air freight transit times from

Their website.

Funny, the AP site I found Coronavirus: International updates - Australia Post says for Zone 4 (US and Canada) 7 to 15 business days for Express, 10 to 20 business days for Standard, with the Economy service is suspended.

[FenceFurniture]

I may have to start another thread about my other first world problem involving Aldi supply problems. American Style Crunchy Peanut Butter - simply the best there is, by a considerable margin. Nothing but boring Smooth.

Haven't seen it in-store for two months. Other "substitutes" from Woolworths are twice the price and half the quality.

So in the absence of Aldi CPB, I bought a few different ones from Woolies to try, and none of them were too flash....but a solution presented itself.
1. Pic's PB Crunchy - too oily, a bit bland, not too bad for crunch (although small pieces), expensive ($7 for 380g jar)
2. Bega Simply Nuts Crunchy Dark Roast - far far too oily (almost like the Camembert in The Cheese Shop Sketch), boring flavour despite the dark roast, crunch size good but not enough of it, a little expensive ($4 for 315g)
3. Woolworths Crunchy PB - good consistency, a little too sweet, good size crunch but not enough of it, very good price ($2.85 for 500g)

So the solution is to blend them all together, add a few grinds of salt to taste, and a dribble of Molasses to rev up the flavour and colour a little. The result is pretty good! Something approaching Aldi's American Style Crunchy Peanut Butter. Not too oily, not too sweet or salty, plenty of crunch, and pretty flavoursome.

Overall price of $15.35 for 1195 grams is $5.14 for a 400g jar - considerably more than Aldi's, but it's a result.



Noo then, aboot that coffee......

[Glider]

Mick, you promised me yesdy on the phone that I was safe from your minerals.

That little dam is only about 6 metres high & 20 across and it dried up during the last drought so I don't think it's used at all these days. You're safe, mate.

mick

[NCArcher]

Before you add too much salt you might want to check the sodium content already in PB. It's a big no no for me. My cardiologist would have a heart attach if he thought I was eating PB

[FenceFurniture]

Nah, always careful with salt. Just a few grinds to a kilo of PB to rev it up a little. I add salt to almost nothing on my plate, and very little in some of the things I cook.

BTW, what would he attach his heart to?

It's not that bad for saturated fat at 6-7%. Sodium levels are small too, but more variable.

[NCArcher]

Clearly autocorrect there I don't know what you call small but the PB I just looked at has nearly 700mg per 100g

[FenceFurniture]

Clearly autocorrect there I don't know what you call small but the PB I just looked at has nearly 700mg per 100g

Jaysus, what brand is that? The 3 I have here are 154, 184, 274mg (and the latter is the Woolworths brand). The "other" Aldi one (which was tasteless oily rubbish is a whopping 650mg sodium).

[Optimark]

The American style peanut butter from Aldi, made in the USA, has 374mg per 100g. This is the smooth version, which I believe is the best tasting peanut butter around.

Choice magazine did a test on peanut butters sometime ago, the Aldi USA smooth version came out top of the lot.

Mick.