Any chance of offering a "test drive" purchase, so I can check out the product before committing to a subscription?
Launch HN: Sudden Coffee (YC W17) – Instant coffee that doesn't suck
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Re: Launch HN: Sudden Coffee (YC W17) – Instant coffee that doesn't suck
#62I _actually_ subscribed, 8 cups for ~$19 seems pretty decent to me. Keep selling subscriptions ... it's a better business. How do your yields compare to cold brew?
Much higher than cold brew. Cold water is not great for extracting coffee - it has much lower extraction potential and creates a different flavor profile. It usually ends up tasting pretty oxidized because of the long brew time.
Re: Launch HN: Sudden Coffee (YC W17) – Instant coffee that doesn't suck
#63I get the desire for recurring revenue, but I really want to buy and try once; pledging easy cancellation near your call to action would really massage a lot of the complaints in here.
Totally get it - thanks for the feedback. You can cancel anytime simply by emailing support@suddencoffee
Re: Launch HN: Sudden Coffee (YC W17) – Instant coffee that doesn't suck
#64I don't understand the point of this product. You're obviously targeting people who already like coffee, such as myself: I already buy beans, grind them myself, and manage the process using an Aeropress, and I'm hardly some coffee hipster because I use goddamned Eight O'Clock Columbian Peaks. Yet, you are trying to sell me instant coffee, which I automatically am wary of because instant coffee is the shittiest coffee…
Short answer is - we're working on it :-)
We hired an engineer and a head of marketing in the last 2 weeks. We are very aware internally that our site has a lot of errors and a lot of what you're seeing are tests we are running. We have a larger design project going in the background.
We do want to figure out a way for more people to try the product - so expect more there.
The target market is actually interesting...there are a TON of people who are really interested in speciality coffee, but simply don't have access, know-how, or want to put in the time. As an example, someone who visited SF, tried Blue Bottle, but lives in Indiana without a Blue Bottle nearby. There are also folks who love great coffee, but really don't have the time (doctors, nurses, etc). A big surprise for us after working on Sudden for a year was that plenty of people who go to the top coffee shops in a city, every single day, don't know too much about the coffee itself (single-origin or pour over are foreign terms) - they just like the taste. A big mission we have is creating ACCESS. We want to help everyone have easy access and UNDERSTAND what great coffee is about.
So responding to your initial question - we would absolutely love to have you as a customer, and I do think you'd love Sudden, but there are a lot of folks with a much more limited understanding of coffee who still love great tasting coffee (this was very surprising to us) - and we've realized there's a huge opportunity to open a new range of coffee to those people.
Re: Launch HN: Sudden Coffee (YC W17) – Instant coffee that doesn't suck
#65Does anyone know how this compares to Starbucks Via?
I do. I met one of the founders about six months ago and got a single serving to try (before they started using the tubes).
A couple weeks ago I compared it head to head against starbucks Via while backpacking.
Sudden Coffee totally blew Starbucks Via away. It's about as much better than Via as Via is compared to the horrible Nestle stuff.
It's not going to replace my daily pourover, but for future camping trips I'll be drinking Sudden. For this use-case, the subscription model is a pain. I'd prefer to just buy two or three cases to have a supply and give some out to my outdoor friends/family.
Re: Launch HN: Sudden Coffee (YC W17) – Instant coffee that doesn't suck
#66Congrats on the launch! It's been great seeing your progress since last summer.
Thanks! We've loved using stuff from Lumi :)
Re: Launch HN: Sudden Coffee (YC W17) – Instant coffee that doesn't suck
#67Super impressed with this - one of my coworkers has been giving out samples of it, it's absolutely perfect for mornings when I'm in too much of a rush to deal with grinding / brewing, and also for camping trips.
Re: Launch HN: Sudden Coffee (YC W17) – Instant coffee that doesn't suck
#68I've been a subscriber for Sudden Coffee since Christmas and I love it. The coffee is definitely as good the corner cafe here in San Francisco. I love it because it takes me 1/10 the time to make a great cup of coffee in the morning. I just upped my subscription so I can get more every month. On top of that the customer service has been top notch so far with Kalle himself answering my questions. My initial worry was…
This reads like a run-of-the-mill marketing blurb.
I'll try to use less marketing terms next time? I'm just a satisfied customer and happy to see them do well. I'm an engineer in SF, see my Keybase: https://keybase.io/btholt
Re: Launch HN: Sudden Coffee (YC W17) – Instant coffee that doesn't suck
#69While travelling through Thailand, I discovered that the country thrives on terrible instant Nescafe. Open to international expansion?
We're currently fully focused on the US market. International expansion is definitely in the plans but not for this year. By far the biggest growth for instant coffee is in China.
Re: Launch HN: Sudden Coffee (YC W17) – Instant coffee that doesn't suck
#70Wasn't a problem with "bad" instant coffee largely solved by Starbucks VIA, which too utilizes a novel tech that produces very decent results? Even the mega snobs of /r/coffee were largely OK with it came out few years ago. Also, re: this - Instant coffee is liquid coffee that’s been dehydrated. It’s normally made with the worst beans ... Next, the liquid is boiled down and finally dehydrated by spray drying it with…
Every flight I've been on with Starbucks VIA has been absolute trash. Airplane coffee quite literally tastes like it was made with toilet water. That's honestly the only way I can describe it. I'm bearish on any improvements because I'm convinced the problem is the water they use.
You're spot on re: the water quality. An investigation at DFW a few years ago found hazardous levels of e.coli in the potable water tanks used to refill aircraft.
I wonder why the airlines aren't doing anything about this. I'm not a frequent first-class passenger, but if I were, high-quality coffee would be a big deal for me.