#also wholesale has more of the specialty blends which means having to learn which beans to mix

[erythristicbones]

usually at work all of the coffee bagging is split between two ppl, i do all the retail and the other guy does all the wholesale. but he's going home for a month on july 14th, which means for that month i will be the only one doing all the bagging

so like on one hand i feel "sweet more money/shifts, maybe i can actually afford that new phone soon" but on the other hand........yeah, it does mean that im gonna have a lot more responsibility on my shoulders alone huh

[mreugenehalsey]

How Can Roasters Ensure Quality – In The Roastery & In The Café?

Unpredictability is one of the biggest challenges wholesale roasters face. That, and maintaining quality.

You need to bring out the best in the quality coffee you’ve purchased, through careful profiling, roasting, and storage/degassing. But, how can you make sure that the drink served to the consumer is of the same excellent quality? And if you can’t ensure that, how can you achieve positive brand awareness and create demand for your coffee?

There are no simple answers to these questions, which I’ve been grappling with over the years. However, there are some factors that may help you. They’ve certainly helped me as I’ve grown as a roaster.

You might also like: What You Should Know Before Expanding Your Coffee Roastery

Bags of roasted coffee ready for shipping. Credit: Nordhavn Coffee Roasters.

What Is Roasted Coffee, REALLY?

Think you know what you’re selling? Aromatic, brown beans that get turned into cups of pure deliciousness? Well, yes, but it’s also a bit more complicated than that.

We have to remember that roasted coffee is a semi-finished product. Unlike bottled wine or packaged chocolate bars, roasted coffee beans need to be brewed before they can be consumed.

Simply put, this means that what you provide to your customers needs to go through further processing before being enjoyed by the end consumer – the coffee drinker.

And so, if you don’t have your own coffee shop, you inevitably lose control over the quality of your products at a certain stage.

Roasted coffee beans. Credit: Nordhavn Coffee Roasters.

What Is Quality?

If we want to tackle quality issues, we need to understand what quality means in the coffee world.

As a Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) member, I align my idea of quality coffee with that of specialty. Specialty coffee is coffee that has received 80+ points out of 100 when being cupped by a qualified Q-grader.

But this, of course, is just a numerical way to quantify quality. As Ric Rhinehart wrote in 2009, as Executive Director of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (which later merged with Europe’s association to become simply the SCA), you would expect these coffees to have distinctive flavor profiles and be produced in special geographic regions, perhaps with microclimates.

You might also like Coffee Tasting Exercises That Will Improve Your Palate

And Rhinehart also wrote of “the fundamental premise that specialty coffee beans would always be well prepared, freshly roasted, and properly brewed.” [Emphasis mine.]

In other words, quality coffee should be treated as “special” in every stage of the supply chain, from crop to cup.

Imagine the coffee value chain was a relay race in which the first runner is the grower, the second is the roaster, the last is the barista, and the baton is coffee. If the baton is dropped when being passed, it is unlikely that the team will win, right? As Rhinehart continues to say, “The final experience is dependent on no single actor in the chain dropping the baton…”

Yet however short and direct the coffee chain might be, it is always tricky and unpredictable. So, what happens if one of the players “drops the baton”?

A specialty latte: grown with care, roasted with care, and brewed with care. Credit: Nordhavn Coffee Roasters.

Five Tips For Wholesale Coffee Roasters

What are our main goals as specialty coffee roasters? To produce quality coffee. To see that quality appreciated. And to run a profitable business.

It’s worth mentioning that, as roasters, we all dream of producing quality coffee that is appreciated by everyone – this is our Holy Grail. Yet we must accept that this is unachievable.

Instead, we need to focus on crafting quality coffee that a significant number of consumers like. And here are my tips for achieving that.

1. Green Coffee Sourcing

I believe we have a duty to make our coffee both good and accessible so that all consumers can enjoy it. Yet reasonably priced green coffee isn’t always easy to find. In my experience, the high prices make it difficult to sell to potential customers.

I suggest buying good coffee that will also give you a reasonable profit margin, even when sold at a lower wholesale price. What works for me, in Denmark, is buying a variety of green coffees priced between €4 and €8 per kg. This can be a good starting point when building your customer base.

On top of that, you can source more expensive beans and target retail customers through online sales, pop-up shops, etc. However, also stocking affordable coffee helps encourage consumers new to the specialty world.

What I learned: A coffee portfolio should cater for all your customers.

Inside Nordhavn Coffee Roasters, Denmark. Credit: Nordhavn Coffee Roasters.

2. The Brewer

There are certain guidelines followed by the specialty coffee industry in the pursuit of the perfect coffee – guidelines that I call “third wave coffee rules.”

The downside to these rules is that they only work as long as you’re in full control of the brewing. If not, there’s a risk that your clients will be served a different product from what was intended.

And how many of your customers are likely to follow these rules?

I recommend a new goal for you: roasting coffee that works even for the consumers that don’t follow the third wave coffee rules. Yes, aim for quality – but aim for accessible quality.

What I learned: Roast for the brewer.

A worker inspects drying parchment coffee in Cauca, Colombia, looking for defects. Credit: Nordhavn Coffee Roasters.

3. Your Roast Profile

Discussing coffee roasting techniques goes beyond the scope of this article, but I’d like to mention a couple of useful tips I’ve learned.

Roasting for different brew methods (filter or espresso) is a common approach. However, every coffee is different and suits differing roast profiles. Origin, variety, processing method, and more affect how you should be roasting it.

You might also like How to Roast Coffee From Different Origins

So for me, roasting just for brew methods (filter or espresso) seems like a stretch. In my opinion, green coffee sourcing should dictate the roast profile rather than the brew method.

Because of this, I’m a fan of the omni roast approach. Back in 2016, Erik Squires wrote a piece about it on PDG, saying, “Omni roasting embraces the idea that any coffee can be brewed using any method. So long as the coffee was roasted well, it’ll play well across a variety of brew methods… ”

However, remember what I said about roasting for the brewer? Omni roasting is often only successful when a skilled barista is able to use cutting-edge espresso machines and grinders. And if you’re selling it for home brewers? The majority of a roaster’s customers usually have little or no experience with espresso recipes.

So, if this describes your situation, you can temporarily abandon omni roasting and instead adapt the roast profile. This will help ensure the customer enjoys the coffee.

What I learned: Not all coffees are the same, not all brewing methods are the same… so, why should roasting techniques be the same? Adapt.

The Sanremo Opera, an espresso machine designed for the specialty coffee market by world-leading baristas. Credit: Nordhavn Coffee Roasters.

4. Coffee Freshness

Initially, I thought I was doing my customers a favor by selling them freshly roasted coffee. But I later realized that this was causing problems.

You see, fresh coffee is still degassing, or releasing carbon dioxide. And this can significantly affect brewing. Yet over time, there is less carbon dioxide to release and the brew recipe will, therefore require less adjustment.

And the fewer adjustments needed for the recipe, the increased likelihood of consistently good beverages.

What I learned: Help your customers out; send them coffee that’s rested.

5. Training

In my years as a specialty coffee roaster, training my customers has been a big part of my work. It is a win-win strategy: your customers learn to appreciate great coffee and, in turn, this creates more demand for your product.

Your customers are the ambassadors of your coffee, the interface with the audience. Do your best to train them. You will reap the rewards.

What I learned: There is no better service for yourself, and your clients, than training.

A green bean blend ready for roasting – at which point, it will leave the roaster’s hands. Credit: Nordhavn Coffee Roasters.

As wholesale roasters, we have to accept the setbacks of the coffee value chain, but that doesn’t mean we should give up. Instead, we should try our best to minimize quality problems.

So, take each challenge as a chance to learn more. Look for creative ways to support baristas and home brewers.

Because after all, isn’t our ultimate goal a delicious cup of coffee?

Enjoyed this? Check out What You Should Know Before Expanding Your Coffee Roastery

Written by Francesco Impallomeni, Co-Founder and Roastmaster at Nordhavn Coffee Roasters.

All views within this opinion piece belong to the guest writer, and do not reflect Perfect Daily Grind’s stance. Perfect Daily Grind believes in furthering debate over topical issues within the industry, and so seeks to represent the views of all sides.

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The post How Can Roasters Ensure Quality – In The Roastery & In The Café? appeared first on Perfect Daily Grind.

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[cliftonsteen]

Guest Coffee: A Breakdown

Most specialty coffee shops offer a house blend that delivers a reliable flavour day after day. Typically, this will be a balanced, versatile coffee that can be served black or white. And while house blends do evolve, they generally stay the same for a period of months or years. This provides customers with something easy and consistent when they come in for their daily cup.

Some cafés, however, have established themselves as “multi-roaster coffee shops”. This means that they source their coffees from a variety of different roasters. In these cafés, certain beans from a range of different roasters will come and go after a limited period of time. These are referred to as guest coffees.

Read on to learn more about what a guest coffee is, and why you might bring one in for your coffee shop.

You may also like Five Practical Ways To Introduce Customers To Specialty Coffee

What Is A Guest Coffee?

A guest coffee is a certain bean brought in by cafe owners or head baristas which will only be served for a relatively short period of time. 

There are a lot of challenges that go into choosing a new coffee to bring into a coffee shop. With so many roasters across the world, many of which offer a huge variety of origins as well as international delivery, it really is a buyer’s market. As a result, we are seeing more and more cafes offer coffees from a number of different roasters.

For some baristas, a guest coffee may be an opportunity to educate regulars about a certain origin they haven’t tried before. For others, it might be a way to intrigue new customers and get them to come into the café for the first time.

James Hennebry is the co-owner of Rosslyn Coffee in London, UK. He says that bringing in guest coffees is a great way to share your passion for coffee with your customers. “At Rosslyn, we’re very passionate about all the incredible roasters and producers who we have come across.

“This industry is brimming with talent which isn’t represented adequately in the majority of high street coffee shops. Our guest programme allows us to present some of our favourite roasters to an audience who may not ordinarily have access to these coffees.”

Why Should You Offer Customers A Guest Coffee?

Regularly changing your guest coffee is a great way to make sure customers keep coming back to try something new. Alternatively, it can be a good way to get new customers through the door.

Guest coffees are also a perfect option for you to educate your customers. A lot of café regulars might not be aware of the world of specialty coffee. Having a guest coffee in stock is a good way to start a conversation about the wider industry and pass on some of your knowledge.

Guest coffees can also help keep employees interested in the products they are showcasing to customers. The service industry in general sees a very high turnover of staff – offering them a way to stay connected to the world of specialty coffee can keep staff interested and invested in their role.

Marian Plajdicko, co-owner of Happy Baristas in Berlin, says she sees the benefits in her team when stocking guest coffees from well-known roasters. “I think the staff are very happy about the concept. They get to taste so many different coffees and approaches and train their palates and brewing skills.”

Roasting Guest Coffee

Jaroslav Tuček is the owner of Double Shot Coffee Roasters in the Czech Republic. He tells me that more than 50% of his wholesale business comes through multi-roaster cafes. He says he’s had a mixed experience with the growing trend of guest coffee. 

“Some customers start as a multi-roaster coffee shop and slowly get tired of it. Others start offering guest coffees, and then they grow and want more. It goes both ways.”

As there are so many roasters out there offering a whole range of beans from a variety of origins, the marketplace is highly competitive. Some years ago, you might have seen cafes supporting local roasters; today, international delivery and the rise of ecommerce platforms mean that they can pick whoever they like.

Jaroslav adds: “Some cafés start as key customers and then they get kind of tired by our offering for some reason and try something else. Some decide to experiment with other roasters from abroad.”

Jaroslav also points out that cafés sourcing guest coffees need to be careful not to overreach and offer too many different guest options. By spreading themselves too thin, he says, cafés might see the quality of their guest coffees drop.

“When I go to a multi-roaster coffee shop and see twenty open bags of different beans on a shelf, that’s disappointing, and this happens a lot. 

“Some cáfes also source coffees from various roasters, but don’t recognise the different roasting styles. This means that, a lot of the time, the coffees aren’t prepared correctly.”

Getting On The Guest List

Multi-roaster café owners spend a lot of time looking into which coffees they want to feature in their guest lineup. Sometimes, this means choosing between samples sent by roasters – sometimes, a lot of samples – who are hoping to get a spot on the guest list.

Marian says: “It is hard for me to tell people that we will most likely not be ordering from them, because we already work with a number of roasters. It’s a challenge to make sure that we give every roaster an equal opportunity to be featured, let’s say, once every two months. 

“We are happy to give feedback on the samples we receive, but growing the group of roasters we work with is difficult at times.”

James says: “It is incredibly flattering. At any given time, our samples tin has an insanely high standard of coffee in it! It’s something that we don’t take for granted and are very grateful for.”

Guest Coffee And Your Regular Customers

Getting a regular customer to experiment might not be easy. You may find that when a customer tries something on your guest list, they don’t enjoy it as much as you might have hoped.

When asked if customers ever dislike one of the coffees they have on offer, Marian says: “Yes, it’s happened many times, and we don’t make a big deal out of it. Usually, it happens with people who are classic espresso drinkers; people who like their coffee strong and bitter but really want to try something new. 

“We understand when they don’t like the taste, and swap the drink for something that they will prefer. However, it’s all about talking about it beforehand; we try to minimise these cases by explaining what people can expect.”

Batch brew also allows customers to taste a small amount of coffee before committing to a whole cup. This can be a great way to introduce customers to new flavours without wasting time, effort, and coffee. 

Stocking a guest coffee in your café can help you stand out from other coffee shops in your area. It’s a way to show your commitment to specialty coffee, and your passion for serving it. If it goes down well, it could help you attract new customers and keep regulars coming back. 

For consumers, guest coffee can be a gateway to a region or origin they never knew about. So, next time you set foot in your local coffee shop, ask the barista about what’s on the guest list. You never know – you might just get the opportunity to try something unique. 

Enjoyed this? Then read How To Meet The Needs of Today’s Coffee Shop Customer

Photo credits: Red Band Academy, Neil Soque, Van Marty, Happy Baristas

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[cliftonsteen]

Finding The Right Coffee To Suit Your Needs

It isn’t always easy to pick out a bag of beans at your favorite café or roastery. There is so much information available, but not much of an explanation, particularly for factors like altitude and tasting notes.

We put together a simple guide on how you can pick the right coffee for your preferences, no matter how experienced you are. 

To learn more, I spoke with Crawford Hawkins and Viviana Salazar from Harvest, an online marketplace for consumers and wholesale buyers, and Allie Caran, the Director of Education at Partners Coffee.

You may also like How Specialty Coffee Blends Have Evolved For Today’s Market

Where Does Your Coffee Come From?

The Harvest platform allows for guaranteed purchases of ethically sourced and traceable coffee

Coffee generally grows along the “bean belt”, a collection of more than 50 countries near the equator. These regions offer the best climate for coffee farming, including consistent temperatures of between 21 and 29°C and sufficient rainfall. 

The major coffee producing regions are Central and South America, Africa and Indonesia. By looking at where a coffee has been produced, you can get a general idea of its flavor profile (although this is not always conclusive).

Central American coffees – including those from Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica – are more “traditional” coffees that tend to have nutty, chocolatey flavors. They often have a mellow sweetness, with notes of toffee and brown sugar, and are lower in acidity.

South American coffees – including those from Brazil, Ecuador, and Colombia – often have chocolate or soft fruit flavors. Brazilian coffees tend to have a thicker texture – known as a heavy body, or mouthfeel – and their flavors vary widely as coffee in Brazil is grown at different altitudes. 

African coffees – including those from Ethiopia, Kenya, and Burundi – are usually fruity and floral, with berry and citrus flavors. They typically have higher levels of acidity, which results in a refreshing, lighter-bodied cup of coffee. Coffees from Indonesia, however, typically have a heavy body with earthy or smoky flavors.

These are generalisations, but choosing coffee based on origin can often be a simple and effective way to find a coffee that suits your taste. There are, however, a number of different factors that affect the flavor and texture of your cup.

How Do Growing Conditions Affect A Coffee’s Flavor?

Coffee cherries from Finca San Rafael, a coffee farm in Copan, Honduras

There are a wide range of environmental factors that affect a coffee’s flavor profile. 

Allie Caran is the Director of Education for Partners Coffee, a roaster with six cafés located throughout New York City. She explains how ecological variables impact flavor: “Factors like elevation, latitude, rainfall, soil health, and plant health determine a green coffee’s raw potential. They all leave their own unique impressions on the balance of flavors.”

These factors are collectively known as “terroir”, a French word used to describe the numerous natural growing conditions that affect how a crop grows.

A coffee plant’s elevation (or altitude) is measured in metres above sea level (m.a.s.l.). Coffee grown at a low altitude (1,000 to 1,250 m.a.s.l.) tends to have low acidity and some earthy characteristics. Coffee grown between 1,250 and 1,500 m.a.s.l., however, usually has more acidity and a juicier texture or mouthfeel. Finally, coffee grown above 1,500 m.a.s.l. often has a more refined acidity and sweetness.

Temperature is also important. The optimum temperature for the Coffea arabica plant is between 18 and 21°C. Within this range, the sugars and organic compounds in the coffee cherry are able to develop for a longer period of time. This creates a more complex and dense flavor profile.

Since coffee is a fruit, it has a range of varieties, all of which taste different when brewed. Typica, Bourbon, and Caturra are the three most commonly grown. Typica provides a sweet brew with lots of clarity, while Bourbon has a more complex flavour. Caturra is usually less sweet, with refreshing acidity and a much lighter mouthfeel. 

When buying coffee, make sure you check details about things like the coffee’s variety and elevation. After you brew it, make a note of how much you like it in comparison to other coffees you’ve tasted, and what the differences were.

Choosing Ethical And Sustainable Coffee

Through Harvest’s sister company, Propina, the sale connects the producer and the buyer

A lot of consumers want to make conscious and informed decisions when they buy coffee. Customers will often want information on who grew their coffee and whether or not they were paid fairly. Terms like “sustainable” and “ethical” are often used to describe a coffee’s production, but what do they actually mean?

Allie explains: “True sustainability [means] mutual growth and success along the entire supply chain.”

She adds: “Collaborating with Harvest allows us to expand upon this, with 5% of [each] sale going directly back to our producing partners.”

Crawford Hawkins is the CEO and founder of Harvest and Propina. He explains how this works: “Harvest is an online marketplace that allows for guaranteed purchases of ethically sourced and traceable coffee.

“Propina is a non-profit that we established to provide financial tools for smallholder farmers, including weather insurance and working capital. Harvest pays the extra 5% as a donation to Propina. This serves as an additional premium on top of the fair prices paid by our partners, designed to reinforce and certify an ethical supply chain.”

Viviana, Harvest’s Chief Financial Officer, says it’s more important than ever to buy traceable and ethical coffee. “Environmentally-conscious, ethically-driven supply chains are at our fingertips. Taking action in favor of equality and sustainability does not have to cost more money or time.” 

Crawford also explains that Harvest provides other businesses with the ability to illustrate their commitment to ethically-sourced, traceable coffee. “The Harvest Private Label Service allows specialty coffee to be an extension of a particular brand. 

“Our custom-designed bags and equipment allows businesses to give their employees, clients, and other stakeholders the right coffee to suit their needs.”

It isn’t just farmers who benefit from more ethical and sustainable coffee supply chains, either. Better wages and fairer treatment mean that producers can grow higher quality coffee. This means a better cup for the consumer, showing that everyone in the supply chain benefits.

What Is Processing?

Before coffee can be roasted and brewed, the beans have to be separated from the cherry. This stage is known as processing, and it has profound effects on a coffee’s flavor, sweetness, and body.

Washed processing is popular among farmers, as it allows them more control over the coffee’s flavor profile. This involves removing the fruit from the beans and leaving them to soak in water for between 12 and 24 hours. This displaces the mucilage, which is a thick, sugary layer that coats the beans.

Coffee beans drying on a raised bed

The beans are then placed on raised beds or patios to dry. Once dried, the paper-like parchment layer is removed, leaving the green coffee bean, ready to be roasted. Washed coffees generally have clean, bright, and vibrant flavors with higher levels of acidity. 

In regions where access to a water source is less readily available, natural (dry) processing is more common. In this method, cherries are picked and then dried on a raised bed. With this method, the beans absorb more sugar from the fruit, resulting in a sweeter flavor and a heavier body.

There is also honey (pulped natural) processing, where some fruit is left on the bean before it is dried. Honey processing generally leaves the coffee with a flavor somewhere between both methods: it combines the brightness of washed coffees with the complexity of naturally processed coffees.

If you’re seeking a clearer flavor and lighter texture, then you should consider washed coffees. Comparatively, naturals often have a heavier body and a sweeter flavor. Choose honey processed coffees for something in between.

How Roasting Affects Flavor

Coffees on the Harvest platform are roasted in the US or at origin

Roasting brings out the flavors and aromas that are “hidden” inside green coffee beans. The higher the temperature a coffee is roasted to, the darker it gets.

In light roasts, most of the coffee’s natural flavor profile remains intact. This makes it easier to pick up on more delicate and subtle tastes, and the coffee’s acidity is more noticeable.

In medium roasts, the acidity is balanced with a heavier body. This means you can still taste the “origin flavors” of the coffee, but the texture will be heavier. 

Dark roasts obtain most of their flavor from the roasting process as the sugars are almost completely broken down. This makes it much harder to detect any acidity, and often results in bolder, heavier flavors with some bitterness. 

Coffees are often roasted to different levels for different brewing methods. For example, light to medium roasts are generally used for filter coffee, while darker roasts are used for espresso. 

Viviana explains that Harvest provides coffees that are roasted in the US or at origin. She tells me that a good partnership between the roaster and the producer allows the consumer to experience the full scope of a region.

When choosing coffees at different roast levels, it’s important to keep in mind your brewing method as well as your preferences. If you’re after a bolder and heavier coffee, choose a darker roast; for acidity and a more delicate flavour, aim for a lighter roast.

Useful Tips For Selecting Your Beans

QR codes on Harvest packaging connect the consumer with the producer

As a general rule, blends are used for drinks containing milk, while single origin coffees are usually drunk black. This is because blends are typically created to emphasize mouthfeel or body. Single origin coffees often have a more nuanced and complex flavor, which can be masked when milk is added.

If you want to expand your palate, try eating a range of foods that are commonly found in coffee, including chocolates, fruits, and spices. This can help you to identify flavors in coffee and decide on your preferences. 

Resources like the Coffee Taster’s Flavor Wheel are also useful for pinpointing specific flavors or tasting notes. Crawford explains that Harvest also sells sustainable chocolates and spices as well as coffee. “We sell a delicious single-origin allspice from Central Guatemala. We also feature a single-origin coffee from just a few miles away.”

Cupping is an effective way to develop your palate. It is a common practice in the specialty coffee industry, and is used to assess a coffee’s quality and flavor profile. Tasting a variety of coffees that are characteristically different will allow you to compare a number of different flavors and textures, and teach you how to pick up on them.

Develop your palate by drinking more coffee

However, there’s ultimately only one way to refine your preferences: drink more coffee! Allie says: “As you try new offerings, evaluate what you like; the flavor, the body, how it makes you feel… there really is no right or wrong way to select coffee. The best advice I can give is not to be afraid to try new things.”

It’s important to have an open mind when you’re trying to discover which flavors and textures you want in a cup of coffee. However, a deeper understanding of the information displayed on coffee bags will allow you to make more informed purchasing decisions.

Enjoyed this? Then read How To Understand The Label On Your Bag Of Roasted Coffee

Photo credits: Partners Coffee, Neil Soque, Ivan Petrich, Julio Guevara, Gisselle Guerra

Please note: Harvest is a sponsor of Perfect Daily Grind.

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