[zloof]

So I'd say look at it like a spectrum. In the cafe world there is - average/ not-so-great drip coffee --> Starbucks --> Speciality/ Third Wave Coffee.

I don't know how VIA makes their product, but if you do a side-by-side taste test with Sudden vs VIA, I 100% guarantee you will notice (and prefer) Sudden. We do in fact use a pretty unique bean selection + brewing process to achieve it.

Re: drying techniques - it really varies brand by brand and when you go to a store shelf in the US, most of the brands you see are spray dried, not freeze dried. In the US, you specifically have to look for brands that say 'freeze dried' and it's usually reserved for the more expensive instant coffees. Spray drying is much cheaper, but yields a lower quality product. Freeze dried coffee is a lot more common outside of the US. Even within freeze drying - we use a smaller batch freeze drying process. I've worked in large scale manufacturing before and with a smaller batch process we are able to achieve much higher quality levels.

Re: beans - most coffee beans bought and sold are bought as a commodity product - think rice, beans, etc. They can literally be years old before being brewed. We have seen lots of these beans and they visibly have mold and insect damage. The beans we use are hand-picked when ripe. Much closer to picking grapes from a vineyard.

[brogrammernot]

I'm not trying to be an asshole, but do you really see this company taking off? You're battling the known perception of instant coffee being awful and trying to sell a super premium product within a group that's tailored to buy cheap coffee because they just don't care. That's just a brutal uphill battle from a consumer education standpoint and a price comparison standpoint.

I get that you're not trying to compare your product, which I'm sure has great quality, to the $8 jar of instant coffee but that's what the general consumer is going to do.

I will openly admit, I hated coffee until I tried a fresh cup from a friend who owns his own small business roasting coffee beans and it was incredible.

I truly hope you do succeed as that'll ideally allow you to run larger production runs to drive down costs to more affordable prices for everyone.

[freese]

When I was starting to work on Sudden I knew that the biggest challenge would be around the perception of instant coffee. It's a lot of work but we have a pretty solid plan and traction right now!

[jclos]

I think your biggest challenge is going to be to convince people to pay such a premium to save the 10 minutes they would need to make a coffee (of more or less equivalent quality) with a French press. I'm a coffee lover but I am not a coffee snob, so I don't dismiss your product based on it being instant coffee, but £60 a month is enough to cover a new French press every month plus the best beans that my local coffee shop sells and still have enough money left to go to the local café every now and then when too lazy to go out. And that's only if you don't like Nespresso-type coffee, in which case after an initial investment of 50-ish pounds for the basic machine, £60 a month is enough to buy me 150+ cups of coffee a month.

And this is just the price for 32 cups of coffee a month, which is at most 1/5 of my normal consumption.

[zloof]

I wouldn't necessarily view it as something that replaces your French press or every coffee in your life. I'll bet that the majority of the time you make coffee at home, but a few times a week you spend $3-4 on coffee at a nice cafe.

Sudden is the same thing. Continue making coffee at home, but 2-3 times a week if you want something that tastes different or that's easier - go for Sudden. At that rate, spending $5-7 a week is much closer to treating yourself at a cafe.

[brogrammernot]

I'm glad to hear it.

As others have said, if this was at REI or other stories and priced the same or higher I would totally grab some for when I go backpacking.

In any case, I'm truly impressed by your responses in this thread. Most founders don't take criticism in stride and that's, in my opinion, a main difference between those who succeed and don't.

I'll be a subscriber in the near future as I'm going to be traveling quite often the second half of this year and I'd love to avoid drinking Keurig hotel coffee.

[tedmiston]

Current customer here. I was in a similar position as yourself and subscribed to Sudden in the early days pre-YC. Just wanted to chime in that it's perfect for the frequent travel and hotel use case (as long as you have a source of hot water). I keep a few in my backpack to save myself from K-cups in offices.