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The Crown

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...
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...
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.

How Does a Coffee Become a Crown Jewel?

How Does a Coffee Become a Crown Jewel?

The Crown Jewel program started humbly in August of 2016 with a small suite of coffees we'd grown familiar with and were proud to share, and a small-scale version of our current analysis project. For all the years, the hundreds of coffees and thousands of analysis since then, the most common...

Making Iced Coffee At Home

Making Iced Coffee At Home

Making Iced Coffee At Home By Nate Lumpkin, Crown Barista The good news is that cold coffee is extremely easy to make, even if you have limited tools and equipment. Here are a couple methods you can use to make cheap, delicious, and easy cold coffee at home. FRENCH PRESS Of all the kinds of...

Cupping and the Coronavirus: an Update

Cupping and the Coronavirus: an Update

Well, who’d have thought that just over a month after wondering publicly whether the novel coronavirus would put an end to public cuppings, nearly the entire world would be thrust into an unprecedented lockdown. Here in the Bay Area, we’ve been sheltering in place since Tuesday March 17, and it...

COVID-19 Updates from Royal’s Coffee Supply Network: Peru

COVID-19 Updates from Royal’s Coffee Supply Network: Peru

Editor's note: Updates from our suppliers keep flying in, and we're doing our best to stay informed and level-headed. We'll be sharing information from our extensive network as the coronavirus situation continues to develop both domestically and abroad. Updates from Peru Perhaps one of the areas...

COVID-19 Updates for Coffee Buyers

COVID-19 Updates for Coffee Buyers

We are updating this blog entry weekly. Last update was April 13th, 2020.  These weeks have been a whirlwind, but we’ve managed to keep coffee flowing in and out of our warehouse and handle QC responsibilities, albeit with a skeleton crew to minimize contact points among our staff. We thank those...

Comparing Common Coffee Brewers – Part I

Comparing Common Coffee Brewers – Part I

By Nate Lumpkin, The Crown Barista As you all know, everything’s closed down for a little while to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, and the Crown is doing its part by staying closed. In the meantime, I have a lot of time on my hands. I’ve been curious about all the different drippers and...

Extolling the Virtues of Dark Roasts

Extolling the Virtues of Dark Roasts

Extolling the Virtues of Dark Roasts By Nate Lumpkin with illustrations by Elise Becker, Crown Baristas Man, I really love dark roast coffee. I love walking into a place and asking for a “coffee” and getting a cup that burns the heck out of my mouth and tastes like tar smoke. I love diner coffee,...