Supplier Of Coffee Beans Buyer’s Guide

Vietnamese Coffee Exporter
Supplier Of Coffee Beans Buyer's Guide - Helena Coffee Vietnam

Supplier Of Coffee Beans Buyer’s Guide – Since coffee is grown in more than 70 countries, purchasing beans for your speciality coffee shop may seem difficult.

There are several possibilities, including, to name a few, flavoured coffee, fair-trade coffee, and coffee that is entirely organic.

Finding a trusted supplier of coffee beans who shares your company’s ideals is also essential, whether it be a group of independent small coffee farms or an outside importer.

This article will assist you in navigating the sourcing process, from choosing which coffees to feature in your cafe from which areas to identifying the kind of supplier that will be most beneficial to your company.

Choose your flavour profile and your target countries

The taste profile or profiles you wish to highlight in your coffee shop should be the starting point of your sourcing process.

Do you want to, for instance, offer an espresso with a fruity flavour profile? If so, seek out blends or single-origin coffees from nations such as Colombia or Ethiopia.

Supplier Of Coffee Beans Buyer's Guide - Helena Coffee Vietnam

It’s crucial to comprehend how coffee is processed impacts the flavour profile. Three different processing methods exist: natural, washed, and semi-washed/honey.

This can vary depending on the climate, the farmer’s preference, or custom. For instance, Brazil’s natural approach is most frequently employed due to the environment and tradition.

So how does processing affect the flavour profile of coffee? Here is a brief explanation of the three standard processing techniques and how they affect the flavour of the finished green coffee beans.

Natural/Unwashed

Farmers collect coffee cherries from trees at the perfect level of ripeness, spread them out on drying racks, and sun-dry them to remove the pulp and mucilage (the fruit surrounding the bean).

A brighter taste profile and a fuller body have been reported to result from this, which usually takes three to six weeks. This technique is most frequently utilized in places like Ethiopia, Brazil, or Yemen, with dry, warm climates and minimal humidity.

Honey/Pulped Natural

Before sun-drying them, as in the natural/unwashed technique above, farmers remove the skin from ripe coffee cherries but leave the gooey mucilage and meaty centre intact.

The method results in a pleasant and well-balanced flavour and typically takes two weeks with practically continual attention to the beans. Most of the time, Costa Rica uses it.

Thoroughly Washed

After selecting ripe coffee cherries, producers immerse them in a water tank and remove any that float to the top.

The leftover cherries’ pulp and mucilage are next removed using a lot of water, followed by fermentation, machine washing, and drying of the cleaned beans.

This approach, which usually takes four weeks, lets the coffee keep the flavour profile unique to the bean rather than absorbing the flavour of the processing technique.

It is most frequently utilized in wetter nations like Kenya that don’t have the right weather for sun drying. However, washed coffees are now more commonly seen in any origin that creates premium Arabica beans.

When purchasing coffee beans, you should take into account various other aspects in addition to your desired flavor profiles and nations. These factors include accessibility, price, a farm’s or importer’s commercial practices, and even the political environment of a nation. Due to the sensitive nature of the coffee plant, certain locations or farms may experience lulls in output.

As a result, you might not always be able to purchase coffee beans from the same supplier. When buying green coffee beans, keep an eye out for other potential problems, such as shifting flavour profiles and vast volumes of inferior or flavourless beans.

Select your suppliers

You’re prepared to select a supplier of coffee beans now that you have a better understanding of which coffee beans from which nations meet your ideal flavour profile.

Coffee importers and direct sourcing from farms are your two primary supply alternatives if you intend to roast your beans. Here are some things to consider as you determine the best course for your company:

Importers

The coffee industry frequently uses coffee importers. They are middlemen who find green (unroasted) coffee beans and give them to roasters.

Greater control and consistency over your product are advantages of this strategy because importers are in charge of assigning a profile to each coffee and ensuring quality. Due to the significant seasonal and lot variations in coffee beans, this is very important.

An importer likely needs to charge at least $4.50 per pound to break even to cover the cost of transporting beans to their plant and subsequently to a buyer.

However, there are certain drawbacks, such as a lack of a personal connection with your farmer and higher costs than purchasing a farm directly.

As you consider possible importer partners, look through our extensive list of green coffee importers.

Farms

For a cafe to succeed, buying coffee beans directly from a farm is not essential. However, many speciality coffee businesses keep in touch with the bean farms from where they source their beans.

For some business owners, this may entail frequent communication with the farms that provide them. For others, it involves going to those farms, delivering the farmer’s supplies, and forging closer, more intimate bonds with each farmer.

A speciality coffee grower should charge roughly $3.75 per pound of green beans to offer workers a living wage.

The significant advantages of this strategy are price reductions, the possibility to develop a relationship with your farmer, and transparency.

The actual exporting process, however, presents a significant obstacle. It’s a lot harder than just sending beans to your roastery.

To move the beans from the grower and manage the taxes and laws related to transferring coffee across borders, you will need to select an exporter or importer.

Some producers collaborate with a specific exporter to make this procedure more straightforward for their customers.

Sample before purchase

Whether you want to deal with a farm or an importer of coffee, it is essential to sample any partners’ products before making a purchase. “Cupping,” the industry standard for tasting coffees, entails rating samples based on appearance, aroma, and flavour.

Supplier Of Coffee Beans Buyer's Guide - Helena Coffee Vietnam

This is how it goes:

  • Ask potential suppliers for samples of each coffee you want to try.
  • You receive between 250 and 500 grams of each coffee you request from the growers or importers.
  • To accurately compare each coffee, roast your samples according to need while maintaining a constant roast degree.
  • Use the “cupping” method to evaluate each sample. You will need five glass cups for each example of roasted coffee, water, a kettle, trays for whole bean coffee, tasting spoons, and one bowl of water for each variety of coffee. During the “cupping” procedure, ensure consistency for all coffee quantities, water temperature and volume, glass cup size, grind, and extraction time.

Recognize the fair price

What price range should you anticipate for high-quality beans? Here are some guidelines for fair coffee prices before you purchase:

  • To pay their workers a living wage, speciality coffee farmers should charge you about $3.75 per pound (only for the green beans).
  • A coffee importer will probably need to charge at least $4.50 per pound to cover the cost of transporting the beans to their location and subsequently to you.
  • The aforementioned per-pound costs for your coffee beans should be expected, along with extra charges for labour (such as roasting and preparation costs if you roast your coffee), packaging, electricity, and equipment. But you can cut your equipment expenditures by adopting a communal roasting area.

Order your beans

If you still intend to do your roasting, work with your preferred farm supplier or importer of coffee to order and send your selected beans by the results of your “cupping.”

On the other hand, if roasting beans is not in your business plan, you can get coffee from a wholesale roaster pretty readily and affordably.

Because you don’t have to worry about selling a lot of one particular type of coffee, you may highlight several roasters and provide buyers with greater variety.

The best wholesale roaster for your business will depend heavily on flavour and accessibility if you purchase coffee from one.

For instance, you’ll need to account for the additional cost and shipping time to send coffee from a roaster in another city or state if you don’t have access to the type of coffee you want to sell locally.

To reduce the cost of purchasing coffee instead of roasting it, you might also want to consider if a wholesale account with a roaster includes any training or equipment.

Supplier Of Coffee Beans Buyer's Guide - Helena Coffee Vietnam

Visit Helena Coffee if you’re seeking a reliable supplier of coffee beans. Helena JSC is a leading supplier, processor, and exporter of Robusta and Arabica coffee in Vietnam.

In addition, we are regarded as one of the pioneers of success in exports of pepper and coffee to nations across the country, such as South-East Asia, China, and the world.

Our clients are companies who have an unending enthusiasm for pure green coffee beans, business ethics, and a solid name in the industry.

Please contact us if your company needs to import green coffee beans or if you want to start a network of trendy coffee shops.

Along with offering you coffee of the highest calibre at the best price, we also give you sage advice on selecting and storing the best coffee.

We provide you with the ideal choice for high-quality input rather than just selling.

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Helena Coffee Vietnam

Helena Coffee Processing & Export in Vietnam | Helena., JSC, which was established in 2016, is a Vietnamese coffee exporter, manufacturer & supplier. We provide the most prevalent varieties of coffee grown in Vietnam’s renowned producing regions.

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