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UPS Transit Times for Crown Jewels
Scroll over your state for UPS transit times from Oakland, California Orders placed before 4 PM Pacific Time will ship the next business day. Waiting on a Crown Jewel? Please...
Half of the Good Food Awards Finalists Sourced by Royal Coffee, the World’s #1 Ethiopian Coffee Buyer
Two announcements made in the past week carry significant interest for us here at Royal Coffee: the Ethiopian Coffee Exporter's Association annual report, and the Good Food Awards Finalist list. According to ECEA’s official figures, Royal paid the highest average FOB price for Ethiopian coffee...
Coffee that Inspires
At Royal we cup twice every day and we carry just about every kind of specialty coffee out there. I’ve seen it all - so it isn't every day that a coffee really grabs my attention. The coffees that do - are inspiring. I’m sharing a few of these coffees that I’ve enjoyed so much with you. Here are...
An Archipelago of Flavors: Fresh Crop Coffees from the Asia Pacific Region
Many fans of Indonesian coffee revel in the deep and earthy characteristics found in the coffee of the famous production regions of this island nation. Wet hulled Gayo and Lintong coffees from Sumatra are the first that come to mind for most people in the industry when they are seeking out a...
Industry Update: Bird’s Eye View
Industry Update: Bird’s Eye View From where I sit in the Royal offices, I can see maps of several key producing countries, labelled with flowery titles: Colombia, País del Café (Country of Coffee), Guatemala, Tierra de Contrastes (Land of Contrasts), El Salvador, Rincon Mágico (Magic Corner). Much...
What We Learned From This Year’s Catracha Quality Project
We are wrapping up our analysis of the 2016 Catracha Quality Project (CQP). Royal published a lot on this over the last two months, but if you haven’t been following this series, I’d suggest starting here. I’ll summarize a few of our key takeaways below. The team has started focusing on the next...
Reconsidering How We Roast Decaffeinated Coffees
Decaf is often the unfortunate stepchild in any coffee roasting operation. Most roasters offer only one decaf coffee and if there are two, then the other decaf is usually referred to as the organic decaf. Decaf is mistreated at roasting facilities around the world every morning as the first batch...
Green Coffee Analytics Part IV – Density
An undervalued, understudied coefficient in our series about analyzing green coffee (Part I - Moisture and Water Activity, Part II - Screen Size, Part III - Visual Defects) is density. The fact of the matter is that we don’t have a complete understanding of the myriad factors influencing green...
Royal Coffee is Discontinuing the Sale of Methylene Chloride Decaf
Royal Coffee has made the decision to stop trading Methylene Chloride processed decaf. Consumer health issues surrounding MC decaf have been discussed for years, and it is a widely held position that the risks, if any, are minimal or nonexistent. Handling, producing, and transporting MC is...
Decaffeination – Stimulating Discussion About Stimulant-Free Coffee
One of the big pieces of recent news at Royal is that we’ve elected to cease contracting Methylene Chloride decaf. The reasons are nuanced, but a recent conversation with founder Bob Fulmer made it clear to me that the decision was made at least in part in principle. While the impact of Royal...
C Market: Volatility Notwithstanding
This week in macroeconomics, US employment numbers disappointed expectations of higher growth for the third consecutive month as non-farm payrolls poster lower increments since July. The stock market ended two weeks of indecisive movement by dropping lower after the jobs report, accompanied by a...
Crown on the Road: A Free Educational Event Series
Royal Coffee is proud to announce Crown on the Road, a free educational event series popping up in Los Angeles & the Bay Area. Join us for this free series while we anticipate the opening of The Crown: Royal Coffee Lab & Tasting Room. UPDATE, 11/15/2016 It's been such a pleasure putting on...
Introducing Ras Enjori: The Berry King
Introduction by Chris Kornman Ethiopia is coffee’s Mecca. The Arabica species traces its origin to the western edges of the country. Ethiopia is the rare producing nation whose internal consumption equals its export volume. In Ethiopia, coffee is not just a product, not a mere cash crop, not even...
Catracha Quality Project Measures the Impact of the Ocean Journey to Oakland, California
We have been observing and collecting data in Santa Elena as part of the Catracha Quality Project to improve upon green coffee processing strategies. (See related Catracha articles here). But once the coffee is ready to ship from Honduras, we cannot ride along in the container as it makes its...
Fall Coffees – Looking at Autumn Arrivals to Spice Up the Menu
Around this time of year many roasters begin to worry if they will have enough Central American and Mexican coffee to make it till next season, or if their Sumatra is starting to taste like a musty jute sack or if their Ethiopia will start to lose its lemony luster. While those concerns are...