Coffee roaster suppliers - how do we buy green coffee?

CONTENTS:

  1. What is the job of a green coffee supplier?
  2. What determines the purchase of coffee for a roaster?
  3. How to choose a coffee import company?




How do roasters buy coffee?

For the end customers - that is, you, dear coffee roasters, baristas and coffee drinkers - buying coffee is a simple task. Perhaps it's better to say that it's fun, picking out freshly roasted beans, reading about where they were born and what flavours they delight us with. Stories from coffee farms about growing coffee and then ours about roasting it entertain you. That's why you can read them on the specific page of the selected coffee . Between the coffee producer and us, the roaster, is an important link in this business chain. It is a coffee importing company.

Roasters use one of the following routes:

  • buying coffee directly from the producer/farmer
  • buying from a supplier of unroasted coffee



Who are the coffee suppliers to the roasters

The journey of coffee from bean to roaster is a long one. Even if we don't count the growing, flowering and ripening time of the coffee, from harvesting through processing and transport is in the order of months. In order to successfully achieve this goal of getting the coffee to the roaster, there are many things to be communicated and many documents related to buying coffee to be completed. Because of the complexity of this task, then, you need either your own coffee buyer or use the services of a coffeesupplier.

There are many companies in the world that deal with importing and selling coffee. But as it happens in any business, you need to find such suppliers that you can rely on. You can be sure that they import the best quality coffee, care about the quality of the raw material and its safety. They guarantee the complete process of coffee distribution between the producer and the roaster.

Coffee suppliers take care of:

  • selecting the green coffee producer
  • transporting the goods from the exporting country
  • storage of imported coffee
  • offer, sale and final dispatch




making coffee purchasing decisions

Companies working as suppliers of green coffee beans are in a position between roasters and coffee growers. Their role involves both ensuring the necessary legislation for transporting the coffee and addressing the needs of both the seller and the buyer. Have you heard of direct trade? This term, which translates as direct trade, is applied by suppliers of choice coffee. It is a direct negotiation with the producer, i.e. the production company or directly with the farmer, with whom they agree on a mutually beneficial price for his coffee. There is no exchange to degrade the price of the coffee, it is a reasonable assessment of the quality of the product and setting a fixed price.

On the other side is the roaster, the buyer, for whom the deciding factors are: quality, price and availability. What are the sequential steps roasters take when buying coffee? The supply company Algrano lists the following stages:

  • Discovery
  • cupping
  • information




Discovering a new coffee

Some roasters stick to their ways and don't want to change their stock management plans. By this I am referring to an approach to buying coffee where it is important for the roaster to maintain some continuity in their own offering and not change coffees. Then there's the opposite approach, where the roaster spends several hours a week researching offers from suppliers, in which they look for interesting and unique coffees. From the selected coffees, then requests samples from the suppliers.

Cupping coffee samples

This is a key part of the whole process of buying or selecting coffee for roasting. Once the samples of pre-selected coffees arrive, they need to be tasted. When tasting test samples of coffee, one must also keep in mind the purpose for which the coffee is being selected. What are the needs of the end customers, i.e. - what do you like to drink and what coffee our partner cafes require. A certain trendiness in the market and uniqueness of taste also come into play.

Coffee information

As freshness plays a role in coffee, one has to take into account limits in the possibilities of buying coffee. The quantity in terms of volume as well as the types of coffees selected. Therefore, from the samples that have passed the cupping selection, a final selection is made based on additional information. Who, what, how and why this or that coffee was handled How it was grown, how it was processed and also awareness of environmental and social influences. In this final selection, the whole story of the coffee is given space.




How a coffee supplier is selected

If a roaster has been on the market for years, it has its tried and tested suppliers. Often over the years, the business relationship between roaster and green coffee vendor turns into a true friendship. Hold coffee brings people together, right? New roasters either embark on gaining experience with supplier companies through an experimental method, inu today's online green coffee buying is a piece of cake, or they learn from more experienced industry peers

However, the best way is tomake personal contact either by arranging a meeting with a representative of the company in question or perhaps by visiting the company's stand at coffee fairs. For example in theCzech Republic at events such as Barista of the Year you can usually meet Chicas Industry. This name belongs to a company from Brno that imports fine coffee from South America, Mexico and India. Personally I am a big fan of them, these women are a great inspiration.




And how do you buy Gesha coffee?

I still have to tell you one more way of buying coffee for the roastery. There is one coffee that differs significantly between the different coffees. It is calledGesha (Geisha in some versions) and its taste quality is absolutely superior to other coffees. Of course, growers can also experiment with this variety in different environments. Gesha from Yemen, for example, has attracted a lot of attention recently.But the most prized coffee in the world is Gesha from Panama.

In this case, the buying process changes because the target is a specific coffee. When cupping, you will bechoosing a particular pick or processing of this luxury coffee. That's exactly how we do it. We aredirectly connected with Finca La Cabra, the producers of the Panamanian Gesha coffee you buy from us.

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