Recently, Royal Coffee’s Director of Business Development, Richard Sandlin, caught up with Sprudge to discuss our newest line of boxed green coffees, the 50 lb Royal Gem. Here is the Q&A and FAQ for the new product line. 

Can you tell me a little bit about the conceit behind Royal Gems? 

We wanted to help streamline coffee buying and shipping to make it easier for roasters to scale their business by curating reliable and delicious coffees that they can count on and removing logistics headaches by offering free shipping. Our menu focuses on a wide array of consistent profiles, season after season, including Fair Trade, Organic and women-produced coffees. Royal Gems are affordable and consistent coffees roasters can rely on to build their blends, seasonal espresso, single origin offerings, or their core coffees. Plus, the 50 lb box is easy to handle and easy to store.  

Where do Royal Gems fit in relative to your other offerings like Crown Jewels and your higher quantity green coffee?

 In 2016, we launched the Crown Jewel collection, 22 lbs of super-specialty green coffee complete with a multi-layered analysis to help roasters make the best of each roast and brew. These coffees are often micro-lots with experimental processes. The Royal Gem expands on the small pack journey and focuses on scalability.  

Royal Coffee was founded in 1978 and we’ve built so many great relationships with producers over the decades. Our decades of experience grant us the opportunity to offer roasters everything under one roof. The Royal Gem fits into that essential mid to top tier option that roasters often find a hard time sourcing alongside our full and incredibly diverse menu that Royal has provided for generations.  

Our business is about connecting, and the opportunity to connect roasters with producers is what makes our industry special. Scaling those relationships is what makes it thrive. Our first offerings come from several dual-certified cooperatives, ASOBAGRI in Guatemala, APROCCRUMA in Peru, Ketiara in Sumatra, COMSA in Honduras. These four groups are cooperatives that Royal has long relied on for high-quality, traceable, and delicious coffees. Another notable relationship is the Hambela Estate from METAD, a long-time supplier of top-shelf Ethiopian coffees that have found a global audience.  

Our decades of experience grant us the opportunity to offer roasters everything under one roof. The Royal Gem fits into that essential mid to top tier option that roasters often find a hard time sourcing alongside our full and incredibly diverse menu that Royal has provided for generations. 

 What sort of customer do you envision Royal Gems serving? More of a dedicated home roaster or smaller micro-roaster or something different entirely?

Speaking from many years of experience in the small pack space, it’s clear that everyone loves good coffee. Home roasters, micro-roasters, macro-roasters etc. All coffee finds a home and good coffee finds it fast. The Royal Gems allow micro to medium roasters in growth mode to find a consistent, delicious profile for their entire menu, 50 lbs at a time with free shipping within the contiguous USA. We offer flat rate options to Canada including customs clearance and we can also ship the Gems worldwide. 

Please share something about the Royal Gems that you want the public to know. 

A lot of people in this industry are looking for how to do more at origin. I often find that even the smallest roasters want to do something, but get overwhelmed by the options, or perhaps don’t realize their impact.  If you are looking for a way to give back, strengthen your supply chain, support women– produced coffees, diversify your menu, but aren’t sure how, the Royal Gems can be a great option to simplify and do a whole lot more than you might think. We have a lot of great projects in the works to better connect roasters at origin and producers with roasters, streamline ordering, and just make coffee better. More on those soon. We are thrilled to offer this program and hope to streamline the coffee buying experience for experienced and brand– new roasters alike. 

Royal Gem FAQs

What is the 50 lb Royal Gem? 

The 50 lb Royal Gems are wholesale specialty green coffee for roasters looking for smaller sizes of some of Royal Coffee’s best-selling coffees. 

What is the difference between the 50 lb Royal Gems and the 22 lb Crown Jewels? 

While it is true that the 50 lb Royal Gems and the 22 lb Crown Jewels both come in boxes and are sourced by our team, beyond that, the types of coffees in each collection are very different. The Royal Gems represent classic, reliable coffees that are affordable and delicious; coffees that you can build your business on. Crown Jewels are rare microlots available in limited quantities that push the envelope of specialty coffee, often featuring new and experimental processing methods. 

What are the shipping options for the 50 lb Royal Gem? 

We offer free shipping in the contiguous US via FedEx Ground. We also offer affordable flat rate shipping to Canada, which includes customs brokerage. Of course, if you’re local, will call at our Oakland warehouse is also an option.

Do I have to ship my Royal Gems right away or can I leave them  in my position? 

You may leave Gems in your position. 

Do you offer full-size bags of the Royal Gem coffees? 

Yes we do (depending on stock availability). Please email us at info@royalcoffee.com or ask your trader for more information. 

Will you be adding more coffees to the 50 lb Royal Gem collection? 

Yes. We will be adding more coffees seasonally. Stay tuned! 

Do you ship to Canada? 

Yes. Here are the shipping costs:

1-5 Royal Gem Boxes = $100 USD
6-10 Royal Gem Boxes = $190 USD
11 – 20 Royal Gem Boxes = $300 USD

*Flat rate shipping applies to addresses in Canada’s 10 provinces. For addresses in Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Iqaluit, please contact us for rates.  

**If you would prefer to arrange customs brokerage through your own account, please contact us. 

Please reach out to info@royalcoffee.com for more information. 

Do you offer samples of the Royal Gem coffees? 

We do not offer samples of the 50 lb Royal Gems.