green beans fresh off the boat

[ccain62]

any ideas of suggestions on how to purchase green coffee beans w/o going through a middleman. I guess you just can't stand around and wait for the ship to come in but you must be able to buy as close to c-market as possible. any suggestions? I am close to Miami, Jax, Atlanta, and have contacts in New York.

Chris

 

[eldub]

Someone has to order and pay for beans being imported.

Do you really think anyone is shipping coffee beans to the States without someone first ordering them? Traveling to countries producing coffee beans and developing relationships with growers would be the way to go, imo.

Another way might be to develop a relationship on-line with a person in a coffee bean producing country who has beans to sell. How are your language skills. I speak spanish fluently and could see maybe pulling this one off. But you are taking a gamble operating in this manner, imo. Do you think someone is going to ship you beans without first receiving payment for the produce being shipped? Are you comfortable sending your money to someone overseas before knowing he/she will come through with the product. Would you send a valuable product to someone you have never met without first getting payment?

lw

 

[hannah2012]

Like mentioned, it's a bit more complicated. In fact, most contracts have quality stipulations as well, so after it lands, samples are taken to labs for grading by independent coffee graders. A lot is at stake, and there are situations where the container gets contaminated or such as it's on the ocean (more common with African beans).

A good place to get good sizes of green beans (well, sweet maria's if you are a home user) is Coffee Shrub (look it up on google)

 

[expat]

Home roaster? Try Sweet Marias (as has been suggested). If you are in the UK try Has Bean.

New to the business? Form a relationship with an importer. These folks have long ties with the farms and co-ops they work with and can give you good advice on your bean selection. They will also provide you with any samples you want -- green or roasted to your specification -- to sample as a single origin or blend. I live in Ireland and trade with D.R. Wakefield in London. Great folks. They've been in the business for decades and are family owned and they don't have purchase minimums like some wholesalers do. That said though I'm absolutely not familiar with U.S. wholesalers of which there are many. And many specialize in beans from certain locales so that is important if you are set on using, say, beans from Africa. There are African bean importers and there are importers that bring it in from all over.

As to buying direct I have no experience. If you don't have any, and aren't buying a container full, then start with the wholesalers.