Resources
Showing 13 roaster resources
Why roasters are choosing to be price takers
As defining “fair prices” for coffee remains elusive, specialty roasters are targeting power imbalances in sourcing to ensure better pay for farmers. Learn why roasters are choosing to become price takers and find resources to guide your pricing decisions.
publishedDirect sourcing: how to solve the 4 most common problems
Don't panic. Learn how to solve quality issues, avoid shipping delays, bridge language barriers and make relationships last with two seasoned roasters: the founder of Neues Schwarz and the green buyer of Ozone and Hasbean.
publishedTravel through Kenya
Discover Kenya's culture and learn to truly enjoy its coffee with Vava Angwenyi. Know the diverse regions where the lots you cup are cultivated and the music to play at the cupping table. Find out what to read and how to appreciate the landscape whilst escaping the clichés.
published- Kenya
How to review prices as your green goes up
Supply reductions, climate change, volatility on the C-market, shipping crisis, COVID, and inflation are making everything more expensive. It’s hard not to pass some of the extra costs down to consumers. Learn how two experienced roasters control their costs and approach pricing with customers.
publishedWhy sometimes you just have to add things to coffee: on fermentation and adulteration
Why we’re probably not using the word “infused” right, what really happens when a farmer adds fruit to coffee and why we should think twice before calling that adulteration. Read about how one of the loudest voices in coffee approaches the subject and learn about other lesser-known benefits of fermentation such as batch consistency, longer shelf-life and why the process doesn’t have to go beyond (more or less) 36 hours.
publishedFive things you should know about Indonesian coffee
When most roasters and green buyers think of Indonesian coffee they think about wet-hulled Sumatra. Musty, earthy, spicy, tobacco-y… Some love it, others can’t stand it. However, Indonesia is much more than a cup of earthy wet-hulled Sumatra. Read the summary of our interview with Troy Kiper of Bright Java Coffee and discover the diverse flavour profiles being produced by young forward-thinking cooperatives.
published- Indonesia
Café Selva Norte: the environmental project in Peru you should support to reduce your carbon footprint
Deforestation is one of the main causes behind the emission of greenhouse gases in Peru and growing coffee under full sun, a practice which became common after the leaf rust crisis in 2013, is one of the contributing factors. To fight this, agroforestry project developer Ecotierra created the Café Selva Norte initiative. Read our interview with Guillaume Nadeau, Deputy CEO of Ecotierra Canada, to learn how the project supports cooperatives through microcredit, seedlings and technical assistance to farmers so they can transition from full sun to a healthy shade-grown crop, which will also improve their yields and double their income.
published- Peru
Caferwa: A link to Rwanda’s past and eyes on the future
Caferwa was founded in 1995, right after the genocide against the Tutsi. Historically, Rwanda had only produced semi-washed coffees. After the genocide, however, the new government decided to give the sector a boost.
published- Rwanda
The magic behind Gasharu’s coffee
Many people today would describe coffee as magical. As a child growing up in rural Rwanda in the 1990s, the bean had a real superstitious quality to it for Valentin Kimenyi.
published- Rwanda
How two growers are building a better supply chain in Guatemala
The quality of Mexican coffee can be spectacular. To understand where the quality comes from, we will now introduce you to two coffee areas and the producers we visited this year, starting with Veracruz.
published- Guatemala
Following Benjamin Pozsgai's #waytotaipei
"“A good cup of coffee is like a good band”: German roasting champion on music, letting the beans talk, and bursting the bubble Algrano follows Benjamin Pozsgai, a veteran of coffee roasting competitions, while he prepares for the World Coffee Roasting Championship in Taipei in November"
published- Honduras
Jumping on Tanzania’s roller coaster
Neel & Vera, farmers based in Tanzania, find time to trial new fermentation methods in the midst of political instability and trade breakdown
published- Tanzania