
Show HN: CaaS - Coffee as a Service - guico
http://www.hotcoffeeclub.com
======
AnSavvides
I am not a big coffee drinker, but I think people who are into their coffee
might like to know where exactly your coffee is coming from, if it's fair
trade etc. So this is some information you might want to put on your landing
page.

Also, maybe make it a bit more obvious what countries are eligible for
deliveries? Currently I can only see this information in the drop down when
placing an order, but making it a bit more obvious might help. For example, I
would not expect to be able to get this in Belgium, so would be inclined to
think just after looking at the landing page "Meh, sounds good but I bet it's
just for the US/UK", _close tab_.

~~~
unwind
Didn't the fact the that the price shown (at least to me, as usual on the
interwebs it's hard to be sure it's the same for everyone) was in Euros per
cup provide a hint that this might be a European company?

~~~
WA
Not really. Could be a cheap localization effort.

Although the weight is measured in kg, which speaks for a European company.
But then again, the cheapest plan says "1kg every second month" instead of
"500g per month" which is kinda weird.

~~~
guico
That's because to minimize shipping costs you will get a package of 1kg every
second month. Not 500 gram every month.

Thanks for the feedback

~~~
joeconway
using coffee which was roasted over a month ago is probably a deal breaker for
a lot of people who would use a service like this. Good examples of coffee
websites: www.hasbean.co.uk www.yorkcoffeeemporium.co.uk

~~~
jamessb
Another UK competitor is Square Mile coffee, whose subscriptions are separate
monthly deliveries of 350g or 500g
([http://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/collections/subscriptions](http://shop.squaremilecoffee.com/collections/subscriptions)).

~~~
joeconway
Oh yeah, I've seen a few places around Shoreditch selling that, its pretty
nice. I didn't realise they did subscriptions

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guico
This is my startup just launching!

Apart from the kind of forced title, what I'm really trying to do here is to
offer a steady/reliable source of good quality coffee always at a fair price.
You pay a fixed monthly fee and can be sure you'll always have great coffee at
a great price. It's not a club for coffee connaisseurs and we don't offer
exclusive blends every month - it's simply good coffee for anyone who likes
coffee.

The way I do that is by connecting local roasteries directly to end customers.
No middle man, no storage costs, no retail costs. I'm starting with coffee but
I believe it can also be done for other products (?).

Would really like to get your input on this... Would you buy this for
yourself? Would you buy it for your startup?

Cheers

~~~
shittyanalogy
Congrats on the launch!

Just to be pedantic; aren't you the middle man? I mean, if the coffee
companies tried to go direct to your customers after a couple months would you
be upset?

~~~
guico
Thanks!

Yeah, I'm getting that getting that question a lot :p Well, what I mean with
no middle man was, as opposed to traditional retail partners selling at more
than 250% the price the buy (and still with thin margins), we are charging a
thin commission out of the final price set by the producer. Well.. maybe I'm
still a middle man but not many will notice me!

------
reillyse
I run a coffee site in the US www.moustachecoffeeclub.com that also does a
subscription based service. We offer a much more premium product, and I have
to say my instinct is you should probably do too. A blend of 2/3 robusta
really is just competing with Folgers(a really cheap and nasty brand over
here). You would probably do better raising your quality level to at least
100% Arabica. At the end of the day when shipping and your business costs are
included the cost difference of those beans will be minimal.

One thing though, and I know how complex it is, is you need to simplify your
subscription page. Looking at it I have absolutely no idea what I'll be
getting, how often I'll be getting it and for what price :)

This is my plans page,
[http://www.moustachecoffeeclub.com/show_plans](http://www.moustachecoffeeclub.com/show_plans)
and admittedly it's by no means perfect however I try to simplify the
subscription down to the amount / time period :)

Good luck!

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prostoalex
US equivalent is Tonx [https://tonx.org/](https://tonx.org/) but it's not hot,
the idea is that they deliver right after roasting, so you consistently get
something freshly roasted.

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chendriksen
Pact Coffee ([http://www.pactcoffee.com](http://www.pactcoffee.com)) in the UK
offers fresh roasted coffee delivered too, but with more flexibility in your
schedule.

~~~
guico
Hi!

Thanks for the tip. I know about Pact Coffee and similar services and they
seem to serve their customers very well.

In any case, I believe it's worth pointing out that we're offering something
quite different. We're not targeting connaiseurs, coffee geeks or in general
people willing to spend time looking for their favorite blend, roast or
origin. Instead, we're offering a single great blend carefully selected by us,
aimed at all those who like great coffee and want to have it automagically.
It's just great coffee always there when you want it.

That's also why we are able to offer our single product at about 1/4 the price
those other services can. Our beans are not hand roasted, they are prepared by
experienced professionals in a fully equiped and scalable modern roastery.

Cheers!

~~~
sambenson
Fair play - sounds like you've got a great business there.

Good luck with it all! :D

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rb2e
I was quite interested but when it asked me for my personal details such as
name, address etc, the page when you clicked "buy ground" was not protected by
SSL.

Sorry but in my opinion, info like that should be protected with SSL and not
sent in the clear. But thats just me.

Edited to add: You can goto the PayPal payment page without entering any
details like a shipping address. You might want to fix this.

~~~
guico
Well, first sorry for that.

It's on our roadmap to move away from paypal asap. The reason we started with
it was purely out of easiness.. I don't know if you're based in Europe but
around here setting up a merchant account with a company like PayMill or
Braintree can take up to 2 months before you can process any payment.

Again, sorry for that, it will be fixed as soon as we move away from paypal
which I hope will happen in the next couple of weeks.

~~~
rb2e
Hi the problem isn't with using PayPal. That's fine in my opinion for startin
up. Its your asking for people to enter sensitive information on an
unencrypted page but also, they can click through to the next screen without
entering any details like name, address. Surely this is required info and
there should be checks in place to make sure all required fields are entered
before heading to payment page.

Don't mean to be hard on you, just want to save you some problems down the
road.

Peace.

~~~
guico
Yes, I got understood that. Just mentioned paypal to explain that the checkout
flow will be fixed when we move away from them.

No worries, it's a very valid point!

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xerophtye
Is it just me, or was anyone else hoping for an API that lets you order
coffee? :P

~~~
guico
Ahah. I'll write that one down ;)

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sambenson
UK coffee lovers should check out
[https://www.pactcoffee.com/](https://www.pactcoffee.com/)

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gerhardi
No information on coffee varieties, degree of roast, country of origin of
beans. Arabica? Robusta? Blended? How dark roast or can I choose? For now I'll
prefer to ground my beans at the supermarket, as I know what I'll get.

Edit: I think that this would be important information for anyone who cares a
little bit more about their coffee.

~~~
rplnt
The site acts like there is only "a coffee". This is definitely something a
consumer that would order coffee over Internet wants to know. Or even better
wants to choose.

~~~
gerhardi
Exactly... it is like a service providing just "Clothes." \- I don't want just
"Clothes" even though I do need clothes.

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yeukhon
This reminds me of the coffee shop example in the book REST in Practice.
[http://www.amazon.com/review/RAL4KK80FQVGE/ref=cm_cr_pr_view...](http://www.amazon.com/review/RAL4KK80FQVGE/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#RAL4KK80FQVGE)

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duiker101
Congratulations on launching and good luck with your startup! While I am not a
huge fan of Aaas (Anything as a Service) your prices seem pretty low compared
to what I could find on Amazon so I would say that when I will need coffee I
will definitely try this!

~~~
guico
Great to hear that! What we're trying to do is really "Good coffee for
everyone who likes good coffee", meaning that we're not targeting coffee
connaiseurs and experts but just anyone who likes good coffee always. So I
really believe competitive price should be on our focus.

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jrnkntl
In Belgium this exists for a while now, where you get 210 grams of beans (zip
locked in a breathable bag) put in a regular envelope by mail every week -
[http://www.specialtycoffee.be/](http://www.specialtycoffee.be/)

~~~
guico
Hi. Do you use it?

~~~
jrnkntl
Nope. They're located within walking distance of my house. Talking about f.e.
the roast of the week with the people there and letting them advise about what
roast for what brewing is best this week is nice and let's me choose :) If I
didn't have the time or lived further away I would definitely use it: love
their coffee selections.

Question about your roasting/shipping: so the beans get roasted in Portugal
and then shipped directly to the customer? Where does Eindhoven come in then?
How come operations is located in The Netherlands but you don't ship to it? (
[http://www.hotcoffeeclub.com/terms#shipping](http://www.hotcoffeeclub.com/terms#shipping)
)

~~~
guico
Hi, we do ship do the Netherlands, that was a mistake (already fixed).

Our roastery is in Porto, Portugal, but we (development, sales and customer
support) are based in Eindhoven, NL.

Thanks for the info

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mastersk3
You know you could offer a lot more to your service with a proper subscription
billing service.

Disclosure: I know I'm with ChargeBee, not a pitch just an observation.

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danielrmay
What should we be looking for here? All I can see is a website selling coffee
(albeit rather slickly).

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bromagosa
What kind of pods are these? I think you should specify which coffee machine
do they work with :)

~~~
guico
They work in any traditional espresso maker and replaces the normal "pressed"
ground coffee.

Thanks for the feedback, we really should make that more clear.

PS: This is what I mean by traditional espresso maker
[http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/shop/appliances/small_kitche...](http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/shop/appliances/small_kitchen_appliances/kettles_coffee_makers/tradionalexpresso/list.html)

~~~
bromagosa
OK, that how pretty much we all brew coffee in southern Europe, cool!

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professorTuring
guico I am so interested in bringing this to Spain.

Would you contact me? Contact details in my profile =)

