Advertisement: The world’s best coffee beans come from Colombia. The

Question

Advertisement: The world’s best coffee beans come from Colombia. The more Colombian beans in a blend of coffee, the better the blend, and no company purchases more Colombian beans than Kreemo Coffee. Inc. So it only stands to reason that if you buy a can of Kreemo’s coffee, you’re buying the best blended coffee available today.

The reasoning of the argument in the advertisement is flawed because it overlooks the possibility that

(A) the equipment used by Kreemo to blend and package its coffee is no different from that used by most other coffee producers

(B) not all of Kreemo’s competitors use Colombian coffee beans in the blends of coffee they sell

(C) Kreemo sells more coffee than does any other company

(D) Kreemo’s coffee is the most expensive blended coffee available today

(E) the best unblended coffee is better than the best blended coffee

TommyWallach · Accepted Answer

Hey All,

Everybody seems to be on the right track with this one, but I wanted to respond to a few complaints. This is a VERY realistic GMAT question. There are no ambiguous answers. The problem is only if you spend too much time writing stories in your head, in which case, any answer choice can begin to look good. This argument says they buy the most Colombian beans, but think of it this way:

If I buy 10 beans and you only buy one bean, it may look like I must have the best coffee.

But if you only sell one cup of coffee, your one bean means the overall quality of your coffee is super excellent.
If I then sell 10,000 cups of coffee, splitting my ten beans between them, the overall quality of my coffee is super poor.

This is why the answer is what it is. Don't get into thought processes involving the history of the company, why people buy their coffee, what effect technology may have...ANYTHING that isn't in the passage itself. Keep in mind that this question asks you weaken THE ARGUMENT, not THE CONCLUSION, so you won't be bringing in any new information.

Word up.

Hope that helps!

sushmash · Answer

I think it should be C.

Kreemo sells more coffee than does any other company. It is true that Kreemo purchases most Colombian beans but it is quite possible that Kreemo mixes these Colombian beans in their other blends because Kreemo sells more coffee than does any other company. Hence we cannot say that if we are buying Kreemo coffee we are buying the best blend.

karlsyf · Answer

I'd say C.

The statement says that ratio of Colombian beans to total beans in a blend affects quality.

So

Colombian beans
 ---------------- = quality (roughly)
 Total number of beans

The conclusion is therefore the more Colombian beans purchased, the higher the quality.

However the second part of the equation is not clear, i.e. how many beans total they use.

So if Kreemo's sales are sufficiently high, they may be diluting their coffee with lesser quality beans, and hence not have the highest quality coffee. This is also born out by real world experience (not that I'm suggesting you rely on that for GMAT =) ).

Using process of elimination, A states all equipment used is the same, and therefore removes a possible alternative factor affecting quality, strengthening the argument rather than weakening it. B also strengthens it. D price has no connection to quality, or to the argument made, which is solely referring to quality. E may be true, but the statement specifically says "You're buying the best blended coffee available today" and so is out of scope.

Both methods reach the same conclusion so I'm fairly confident.

What is OA?

trainspotting · Answer

The correct answer is  C . The advertisement says that tha more the amount of Columbian bean in the coffee, the better is the coffee. Kreemo buys more Columbian bean than any other company. But it is possible that Kreemo produces more coffee than its competitor. So that averge amount of Columbian bean in every unit of Kreemo's coffee can be less than its competitors, and therefore its coffee can be NOT the best blended coffee

perfectstranger · Answer

Premise 1: The world’s best coffee beans come from Colombia
Premise 2: The more Colombian beans in a blend of coffee, the better the blend, and no company purchases more Colombian beans than Kreemo Coffee, Inc.
Conclusion: it only stands to reason that if you buy a can of Kreemo’s coffee, you’re buying the best blended coffee available today

The sentence need an assumption : Kreemo's sales figure must be comparable that of others if the quality will be compared. If Kreemo sells more coffee than others than it is incorrect to assert that their coffee is best since The more Colombian beans in a blend of coffee, the better the blend,
C

sonnco · Answer

I burned 2:16 on this question and actually had to use POE again to come up with the right answer.

So this leaves me with B and C. B looks to strengthen the argument. If we break down C we say that even though Kreemo buys the most Colombian coffee than any of its competitors because it sells more coffee than does any other company the blend MAY be low per bag resulting in lower quality. This MAY is important.

PTK · Answer

I would provide may be the best explanation to this question.

let us say there are three companies A, B and Kreemo Coffee (KC).

Company:________________________ A | B | KC |
Columbian beans used in production:___1 | 2 | 20 |
Total beans used in production:_______10 |10 | 1000 |   <- WHO PRODUCES/SELLS MORE?! 
concentration (quality):_____________10%| 20% | 2%|  <- What is the best quality?

The higher the concentration the better the quality of coffe.

therefore C is the best answer, whihc is saying that although KC sells more it's quality isn't the best.

fluke · Answer

This question is flawed in my opinion, because none of the options really present a correlation between columbian beans and the coffee sold as cans.

If I had an options saying, "it overlooks the possibility that the coffee blend in the can may not even contain the purchased Columbian beans".

What's the guarantee that Kreemo’s Coffee is not reselling the columbian beans at a higher price and used some other bean for the coffee blend in the can the ad talks about. The other flaw is that there's no comparative analysis between the concentration of coffee beans used by Kreemo's and its competitors.

"C", in my opinion, could be a possible assumption but not a flaw. Kreemo's Coffee cans could be best even if they don't get sold as much as their competitor's. Where is it mentioned that quantity of sale determines the quality of a product. Maybe the company is not able to sell its coffee because of poor marketing. Thus, Kreemo's cofee could possibly be the best coffee inspite of not having a good sale.

PTK · Answer

Fluke, 
I might agree with you to a certain extent. 
the source is unknown (well, it is from 1000 series, but is it a seflmade question or it came from GMAT-paper tests, or any other source i don't know).

A good question does not require additional assumptions to arrive to correct answer choice.

The argument says: 
premise 1: "the more Colombian beans in a blend of coffee, the better the blend". 
It means that best blend is achieved when a coffee maker uses 100% of Columbian beans.

premise 2: "no company purchases more Colombian beans than Kreemo Coffee. Inc"

Conclusion "Kreemo’s coffee is best  blended  coffee " (this is why E is wrong).

So the K's coffee is best because they buy a lot of C beans.

To weaken a question one must weaken the conclusion. But, the correct answers do not have to absolutely, without a doubt, in all circumstances weaken the conclusion. They only  have to open up the possibility  that the conclusion is not valid. The correct answer on a weaken question will typically accomplish this by introducing a new piece of information that calls into question an assumption made by the author. 
 
The possible assumptions made by author are: 
1. KC does not resell Columbian beans, 
2. KC uses all Columbian beans in production of coffee 
3. None of competitors puts more Columbian beans in coffee than KC does. 
4. Quantity of Columbian beans and the coffee sold as cans perfectly correlates.
5. beans are used in production of coffee. 
6....etc

You are right saying that: 
 
your statement attacks the 2nd assumption.

I definitively agree with this statement: 
 it weakens the 1st assumption.

this is are both very valid weakening arguments, but in test-makers view these are too easy to spot. 
Thus probably they decided to use the argument that weakens the 3rd assumption: 
"C) Kreemo sells more coffee than does any other company "

but this answer is too stretched. Why?!

Because it requires additional assumptions, such as "all coffee beans that KC buys, it uses later in production", "purchases are equal to sales", "no columbian beans are stored in stock", etc...

But C opens up a possibility that  high volumes does not necessarily mean high % or in our case higher quality .

In my example above you may change the figure 20 in 400 resulting in 40% instead of 2% concentration of Columbian beans in a cup of coffee. This strenghtens the argument. 
But also the total volume of beans a company purchases leaves a gap in possibility to intrepret differently the given information.

If the argument said that KC sells less coffee than any other company and buys more columbian beans than any other company, it would be much difficult to weaken such argument. (becuase it would result in higher concentration of coffee beans).

Hope it helps.

myfish · Answer

Advertisement: The world’s best coffee beans come from Colombia. The more Colombian beans in a blend of coffee, the better the blend, and no company purchases more Colombian beans than Kreemo Coffee. Inc. So it only stands to reason that if you buy a can of Kreemo’s coffee, you’re buying the best blended coffee available today.

The reasoning of the argument in the advertisement is flawed because it overlooks the possibility that

(A) the equipment used by Kreemo to blend and package its coffee is no different from that used by most other coffee producers 
(B) not all of Kreemo’s competitors use Colombian coffee beans in the blends of coffee they sell 
(C) Kreemo sells more coffee than does any other company 
(D) Kreemo’s coffee is the most expensive blended coffee available today 
(E) the best unblended coffee is better than the best blended coffee

According to most posts on here, this is supposedly a weaken question. However, the question askes to identify the flaw in the reasoning - which points to a FLAW question, an entirely different type of question.

KAPLAN BOOK: For Flaw questions, find the conclusion, evidence, and central assumption(s), then pre-phrase an answer that indicates the logical fallacy of the assumption

What is the central assumption? The central assumption is, that since Kreemo buys most of the Colombian coffee (which is the best) that it sells the highest quality blend.

A flaw question requires you to find the logical fallacy of the assumption.

(A) If the central assumption is that the amount of colombian coffee purchased is the only indicator for a high quality blend, it certainly includes the assumption that any kind of 'blending' would be indentical among competitors - which may not be the case. By considering that the 'blending' also impacts the quality, the argument becomes flawed.

(C) If the central assumption is that the amount of colombian coffee purchased is the only indicator for a high quality blend, the fact that Kreemo sells more coffee than its competitor has nothing to do with the amount of the blend in it - at least without massive mental fabrication of coffeebean ratios. Since Kreemo buys more Colombian coffee than anyone else, it is reasonable to assume that this fact alone is the cause.

Lets try this again, assuming this is a weaken question.

For Weaken questions, find the conclusion, evidence, and central assumption(s), then pre-phrase an answer that denies (weakens) a central assumption, then go to answer choices

The conclusion is that Kreemo makes the best coffee blend. The Evidence is that Kreemo buys more colombian coffee than any other competitor and the central assumption is that the coffee quality only relies on the amount of colombian coffee in the blend.

A similar logic than above can reasonably be applied.

If this is an official GMAC question and (C) is the official answer, I would like to hear what the fact that Kreemo sells more coffee than anybody else has to do with the central assumption - WITHOUT adding excessive fabrication and numerous additional assumptions about the quality of coffee that may or may not be thinned out or blended with other coffees.

Kaczet · Answer

lmao? we're told that Kreemo Coffee purchases more Colombian beans than other companies do. what if Kreemo buys enough to sell 10000000 cans of coffee and actually sells only 9999999 and thus doesn't need to mix anything?
this is a very, very bad question. you have to assume something that isn't actually explicitly stated. this question shouldn't have been released. ever.

mallya12 · Answer

TommyWallach   VeritasKarishma   GMATNinja

Not convinced with option C.

How does selling more mean they are selling low-quality coffee. Might be the case they have bought 10x more beans than any other company and they might be selling 1.25x more coffee than any other company.

Well, I expected the flaw to be on these lines-" Buying doesn't mean using". They might have bought more that doesn't necessarily mean that they are using more.

Thought A was close because all are using the same equipment to blend so they might be using the same amount of beans to make coffee (Provided that machine doesn't have any option of quantity of beans to be blended)

Please explain why I am wrong. Thank You :)

kavach · Answer

IMO: C

The statement says that the ratio of Colombian beans to total beans in a blend affects quality.

So

Colombian beans
---------------- = quality (roughly)
Total number of beans

The conclusion is, therefore, the more Colombian beans purchased, the higher the quality.

However the second part of the equation is not clear, i.e. how many beans total they use.

So if Kreemo's sales are sufficiently high, they may be diluting their coffee with lesser quality beans, and hence not have the highest quality coffee. This is also born out by real world experience (not that I'm suggesting you rely on that for GMAT =) ).

Using the process of elimination, A states all equipment used is the same, and therefore removes a possible alternative factor affecting quality, strengthening the argument rather than weakening it. B also strengthens it. D price has no connection to quality, or to the argument made, which is solely referring to quality. E may be true, but the statement specifically says "You're buying the best-blended coffee available today" and so is out of scope.

Both methods reach the same conclusion so I'm fairly confident.

Basshead · Answer

- The more Colombian beans in a blend, the better the blend
- No company purchases more Colombian beans than Kreemo Coffee
- Conclusion: Kreemo’s coffee is the best blended coffee available today

I think the confusion many people face in this problem stems from 'coffee blend'. A coffee blend is a coffee that is made up of coffee beans originating from more than one place. In contrast to a coffee blend, a single origin coffee comes from just 1 “origin”.

We're told that since Kreemo Coffee purchased the most Colombian beans, it must have the best blended coffee available. However, we're assuming here that its coffee contains mostly coffee from Colombian beans. Although Kreemo Coffee purchased the most Colombian beans, we can't say with certainty how much of the Colombian beans are going into each cup. C provides us with that flaw.

Raman109 · Answer

Understanding the argument - This is a case of misleading statistics - KC buys most of Columbia coffee, so it's the best.

Suppose the overall production of Columbia coffee beans is 10 units. And Kreemo Coffee (KC) buys 7 units out of 10. 
But let's assume KC's overall production is 2000 units. And it needs to buy 1993 units of coffee other than Columbia coffee. 
There are other smaller players who buy the remaining 3 units of Columbia coffee, and they only sell those many units - 100% Coulumbia coffee beans. 
As we can see, there is a good possibility that KC's blend has a lower %age of Columbia coffee than the other smaller players.

(A) the equipment used by Kreemo to blend and package its coffee is no different from that used by most other coffee producers - The equipment used by Kreemo and others doesn't matter here. Out of scope.

(B) not all of Kreemo’s competitors use Colombian coffee beans in the blends of coffee they sell - This strengthens the reasoning. Opposite of what we are looking for.

(C) Kreemo sells more coffee than does any other company - exactly. To cover the huge demand they need to buy a ton of other coffee beans as well.

(D) Kreemo’s coffee is the most expensive blended coffee available today - We don't know if there is any correlation between the proportion of Columbia coffee and the end price. Out of scope.

(E) the best unblended coffee is better than the best blended coffee - We don't care about this comparison. Out of scope.

VerbalBot · Answer

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