Learning resources for specialty coffee professionals and enthusiasts including glossaries, guides, articles, eBooks and more covering different aspects of the specialty coffee supply chain.
"The idea that a particular crop, in our case coffee, is available and fresh for a portion of the year – is now long-ingrained in specialty coffee conversations. Like all other fruit, coffee berries have a finite shelf life. Unlike many other drupes, we covet the seeds rather than the pulp, and so a green coffee’s freshness is related not just to its immediate harvest timeline, but also to the length of time it takes to process (i.e., remove the seeds from the fruits and prepare them for storage and transit), the duration of international shipping, and the somewhat extended (but far from infinite) flavor of freshness during green coffee’s time on a shelf, waiting to roast."
Read"Are you starting a coffee business and need to get more information about purchasing wholesale green coffee beans? Look no further. In this blog, we take a deep dive into the most frequently asked questions from new green coffee buyers. "
Read"Getting started with a green coffee supplier can feel overwhelming and confusing. To make the process a bit easier, we answered some of the most common questions about green coffee buying. From how to choose the best beans, and learning about the types of importers to finding the best coffee supplier and more, you will learn all the tricks of the trade to make you feel confident in your coffee buying journey."
Read"Unroasted, green coffee is an agricultural commodity, and specialty coffee buyers typically treat specialty quality coffee as a seasonal product with a finite shelf life. While opinions may differ on best practices, there are a few guiding principles to keep in mind when considering your green coffee storage to best preserve and use your coffee in a timely manner."
Read"Inventory management may be one of the less glamorous jobs in a roastery, but it is also one of the most crucial. Good inventory management should reduce stress and increase both quality and profitability. In addition, be sure to have good storages practices to ensure the longevity of your green coffee."
Read"Ethiopian coffees, widely acknowledged as some of the best beans in the world, have their own unique grading system which divides qualities into numbered groups and “Under Grade” (UG) for the lowest quality beans. This Guide to Ethiopian Coffee Grades will briefly describe what you can expect to find in each single origin quality tier that Royal Coffee carries and provide both technical guidance and historical context."
Read"It’s a question every roaster and importer should know, and the answer hinges on a number of important factors."
Read"A moment resonates with me from my first trip to Brazil. An exporter picks up a pile of green coffee and, upon nothing more than a brief physical inspection, identifies its process and grade, smelling it for freshness. He smiles at me, a roaster, and says, “Know the green first.” Since that day, I’ve taken a holistic approach to understanding a green coffee’s potential: screen size, density, water content, and more. Even a selection with ideal moisture content can be marred by a single defective bean."
Read"There are a lot of perks to being a coffee buyer: traveling to origin, meeting producers, experiencing the coffee harvest. As glamorous as this role can be there is a ton of work that comes between a farm visit and a first production roast. Coffee must be sampled and approved, shipping and insurance must be arranged, and payment terms must be settled. All this work would be worthless without the appropriate tools for understanding and crafting good contracts. Mutually amicable and agreed-upon contracts are critical to the health and longevity of trade relationships – whether it’s a long-term direct-trade partnership or a one-time transaction. Using a common language for coffee buying and shipping can help avoid confusion and streamline a lengthy, complicated process."
Read"Between 2008 and 2015, I lost weeks of my life to layovers and time zone changes travelling between the United States and coffee farms in Brazil and East Africa. It was 100% worth the time I can’t have back: the opportunity to meet and speak with international coffee professionals and to experience coffee farming and processing first hand provided invaluable depth to my knowledge and love for the product."
ReadCurious about how coffee gets from origin to you?
Read"At this juncture in my career my personal satisfaction comes from the undeniable fact that individuals, families, and organizations in both coffee roasting facilities and coffee producing regions rely on me and Royal Coffee to be their purveyors of choice and market makers for their quality products that get exported. Many of my relationships on both sides of these tangible transactions have morphed into very rewarding and meaningful friendships that make up the person that I am. I am the fruition that has been created by being the person in the middle of these career long mutually satisfying transactions."
Read"Most coffee professionals on the buying, roasting, and brewing side of the industry understand and value sensory analysis of coffee. Cupping a coffee, after all, is the single most common and effective way to decide if a coffee is worth purchasing, or if a roast has succeeded or failed. Scores and notes help organize inventories, determine usage, and even provide feedback to producers. In many cases, these scores are even tied to real dollar value whether as green or roasted product."
Read"Screen size separation is typically the last step in the green coffee preparation process at the dry mill before bagging and exporting. The machines that do the work are large, multi-tiered tables that sit atop each other at a slight downward slope. The machine vibrates as coffee enters from above, and gravity does the rest of the work. Workers will hold bags at the bottom of the machine to catch the outflow of coffee. Multiple passes through the device can increase the precision of sizing, and many of the machines can be manually adjusted. I once helped tear apart and rebuild one for a producer in Zambia. His machine had accidentally been assembled with the tables out of order, so we spent the better part of an afternoon making sure that the screens with the largest holes were on top."
Read"This week we’re back on the grading table, this time focusing our attention on visual defects in green coffee. In many ways, green coffee defects share some similarities with screen size. They both impact the way coffee roasts and tastes and equally can have financial ramifications in terms of contract approvals and the value of a given lot."
Read"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 coffee density (elevation, cultivar, nutrients) or its varied effects on quality. There are a few things worth discussing, however, including the methods used to sort and measure density, the observable effects on the quality of the cup, the style of roast, and the implications for trade."
Read