The Royal Blog
Coffee News
Education + Resources
Crown Jewels
The Crown
Now Hiring – Junior Trader
Now Hiring: Junior Trader Royal Coffee | Emeryville, CA | Full-Time, Hybrid About the role Royal Coffee has been importing specialty green coffee since 1978. We're independent, family-owned, and have teams in Emeryville, Oakland, Canada, China, and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Sales Team...
Now Hiring – Sales Associate
Now Hiring: Sales Associate Royal Coffee | Emeryville, CA | Full-Time, Hybrid About the role Royal Coffee has been importing specialty green coffee since 1978. We're independent, family-owned, and have teams in Emeryville, Oakland, Canada, China, and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Sales Team...
Ecuador Coffee Export Review: Loja, Zamora Chinchipe & Pichincha
Article Summary: This article is a green coffee export review of Ecuador written for specialty coffee buyers and importers. Key topics: Ecuador produces roughly equal volumes of Arabica and Robusta, with total 2024/2025 production at 355,000 60kg bags. The country uses the U.S. dollar, resulting...
Notes Between Cups, Volume 3
Chris Kornman on the hidden biases shaping every coffee cupping: how context, neighboring cups, and ritual influence sensory evaluation — and where the SCA CVA falls short.
Now Hiring – Quality Control Assistant
Now Hiring: Quality Control Assistant Royal Coffee | Emeryville, CA | Full-Time, On-Site About the role Royal Coffee has been importing specialty green coffee since 1978. We're independent, family-owned, and have three distinct teams in Emeryville, Oakland, and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The...
What Does ‘Direct Trade’ Actually Mean? A Specialty Coffee Reality Check
By Isabella Vitaliano and Chris Kornman Article Summary Direct Trade originally popularized by specialty roasters in the late 1990s to improve transparency and relationships with producers, the term suggests direct communication and pricing agreements between roasters and farmers. In practice,...
Coffee Shipping Timelines Explained: Intend Ship Date, ETA & Real Transit Averages
Understand the difference between Intend Ship Date, ETA, and Expected Delivery, plus real transit averages by lane to help you plan your green coffee purchasing with confidence.
IEEPA Tariff Refunds: Where Royal Coffee Stands
CBP’s new CAPE refund portal is live, and Royal Coffee has filed its Phase 1 claims. No refunds have been issued to date, and timing at the customer level remains unconfirmed. Here’s where things stand.
What is microlot coffee?
Article Summary: Microlot is a third wave term and represents highly traceable coffee in the 7-50 bag range. Elevation, processing techniques, cultivar, farm name, region, farm size producer name, producer story and more are all elements that can be provided when purchasing a microlot...
Why Don’t We See More Organic Coffee?
Organic coffee didn’t disappear. It just stopped being the headline.
While global demand continues to grow, specialty roasters have shifted focus to varietals, processing, and story, pushing organic into the background. At Royal Coffee, it remains a core belief: without sustainable farming, there is no future for coffee.
Now Hiring – Barista for The Crown: Royal Coffee Lab & Tasting Room
Now Hiring: Barista for The Crown: Royal Coffee Lab & Tasting Room Passionate about specialty coffee & service? This is for you! Barista Responsibilities: Stellar Customer Service & Beverage Excellence in The Tasting Room (core responsibilities) Create and serve drinks to the high...
Colombian Coffee Regions and Varieties
Coffee grows throughout Colombia, with fresh harvests available nearly year-round. More than half a million coffee producers contribute to the country’s status as third in global export volume. Farmers grow traditional varieties, engineered hybrids, and even bespoke “discovered” coffee plants, and demonstrate uncommon innovation in production, processing, and fermentation.
Understanding Decaffeination: Methods, Logistics & Quality Impacts
Article Summary There are two main types of decaffeination processing, indirect and direct solvent. Indirect solvent method uses Green Coffee Extract (GCE) which draws out caffeine through diffusion. GCE molecules then become saturated with caffeine while the green coffee is essentially free of...
Understanding The IEEPA Tariff Refund Process: What Coffee Roasters Need to Know
Recent court rulings around tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) have created understandable confusion across the coffee industry. In this article, we break down what the Supreme Court ruling actually means, where the government refund process stands today, and what coffee roasters should realistically expect as the situation develops.
Scoring Specialty Coffee – What do the Numbers Mean?
This article outlines how coffees are graded and scored under commonly used systems, and works to define “specialty” coffee while examining the nuance and complexity of cup score values. Sections of note include definitions of individual attributes, a breakdown of what cup scores mean, and a discussion of recent, controversial updates to the tools professional graders use to evaluate a coffee’s quality.