We answer: 5 questions roasters should ask their Green Coffee Importer
On 14th of June Perfect Daily Grind published an article on their website titled “5 Questions Roasters should ask their green coffee importers”, so we thought we’d give you our answers.
According to the article “purchasing coffee is no easy task - although it’s certainly an exciting one. From selecting your origins to managing inventory, there are endless considerations”, and we could not agree more, so we would like to share how we can help you plan, organize and purchase the best lots from our favourite origin: Guatemala.
1. ASK HOW THEY CUP?
Being a single origin importer, we have focused on having a strong presence in Guatemala, where our main cupping lab is located. During the 3 months of harvest, and 1 – 2 months after we receive many, we mean, many (around 1750 this harvest) offer samples from various regions. We cup them and make purchases based on the quality.
Having a warehouse in various locations in the country, we then cup the coffee received at the warehouse, in order to confirm it matches the offer. Weekly we move the coffees to our main warehouse and dry mill, where we get the ‘official sample’ – also cupped to ensure consistency.
Once the coffees are selected, milled and prepared, we cup pre-shipment samples before the coffee leaves the port. This means, once the coffee has been de hauled and sorted, we take a small sample from each bag and cup this. This is the final stage of cupping in Guatemala – and the most important one as it is a representation of the lot processed in the dry mill. Whereas all the other samples are prepared by hand.
After the month they spend on the boat from Guatemala to Europe (2 weeks for North America), we cup arrival samples to ensure all is in order after their journey. We then cup at events, with customers, and at our office in Amsterdam, we cup our stock on a monthly basis to see how the coffees are developing.
We use Cropster Cup and in Guatemala our Probat sample roasters are hooked up to the Roast intelligence. In Europe we roast on Ikawas. We always cup with the most suitable water and log our results in order to better recommend coffees for customers and constantly give feedback to our producers on their coffees.
2. ASK WHAT SERVICES THEY PROVIDE?
Our main service is to find the right coffee and producer for you. We work with hundreds of producers in Guatemala, all of whom have unique ways of working, micro-climates, processing and story. Our job is to connect you to the right one(s).
During the harvest we welcome you to come with us to Guatemala to meet producers, cup their coffees and get to know us better! Identifying as a “direct trade facilitator” we will then help you pick your coffee, we will process, export, ship, import, warehouse and finance your coffees directly from Guatemala. This means we will take care of the boring job and there are no third parties involved, you only need to talk with us!
We offer 3 months reservation time (from time of arrival), included in the price. That means we will warehouse and finance your coffee for up to 3 months so that you can take it as needed. We can organize deliveries, or releases, all prices on our offer sheet are ex-warehouse. For ongoing customers, we also offer 30 days credit. If you need a longer reservation and financing, we can extend it up to 9 months, for a small fee.
We provide full transparency on all our coffees, with producer information and pricing structure, for more info on this – we have a new page on Transparency.
3. ASK ABOUT THEIR COFFEE OFFERINGS
Guatemala: The best of the bunch. The coffees we represent have all been carefully chosen for their characteristics. They all meet our high standards on quality, sustainability and transparency. Our micro lots and special processes range from scores of 85 – 92 points and our single estate or regional blends are 83 – 84 points.
We offer different varieties, processings and regions. We specialize in micro lots from Huehuetenango but also have regional lots and wonderful producers in other regions.
If you are interested in different processes (Honey/Natural/different fermentations) coffee please contact us ahead of the harvest as we can create/process coffees just for you!
4. ASK ABOUT YOUR PURCHASING OPTIONS AND THE RECEIVING PROCESS
We are ahead with this one and you can find our answers on Origin Trips And on How to Order
5. ASK WHAT THEY ARE CURRENTLY EXCITED ABOUT
We are excited about our Harvest 2019 landing in Europe! We have spot coffees available and more coming soon – so this is perfect timing to make your reservations/orders! View our list here.
There are many amazing coffees mostly from Huehuetenango with various flavour profiles available. We are especially excited about some floral, fruity and intense acidity coffees from Concepcion Huista in Huehuetenango.
We are also excited about the naturals and honeys we processed ourselves in Fraijanes this year. We have seen some great feedback and are down to the last few available – so get in touch if you are interested!
WHAT YOUR IMPORTER WANTS TO KNOW ABOUT YOU?
We want to know what you are after: What sort of coffees do you love, what profiles, quantities and timings. This information will serve us to guide you to the right coffees, reservation timing and pricing options.
We are also interested in your story as a roastery: what you want to provide to your customers and how and how you’re looking to develop for the future. Anything you feel important for us to know, feel free to let us know! After all – we are all the Coffee Family!
Do you have other questions for us? Hit us up and we are happy to answer.
// Primavera Team
