About 4 years ago we noticed . . .an international mystery

Ethiopian coffee has always been our favorite, but there has always been a weird reshuffle of the business every few years, usually due to a governmental change triggered by something behind the scenes. We wanted to figure out what was going on this time.

Anaerobic Fermentation

Interest in innovative post-harvest processing styles is building across the coffee supply chain. Producers and consumers are seeing benefits like unique flavor profiles that add value to coffee, help producers, processors, mills, farms, and coffees stand out from the crowd, and help diversify offerings. 

What happens when an experimental farm and a micromill work hand in hand for five years?

Finca Juan Martin and Manos Juntas are two different projects, both striving to make coffee production more profitable for producers and consistently delicious for consumers, all under the Banexport umbrella. Banexport is our longstanding partner and friend, sourcing and exporting many of our Cauca, Huila, and Nariño offerings. Their commitment to quality, sustainability, and economic equality for producers is exemplified in their projects, particularly Finca Juan Martin and Manos Juntas.

Break It Down & Brew It Up: Coffee Cascara

When coffee is processed, the layers of skin, fruit, and parchment are broken down and removed, leaving behind the seeds we roast and brew. Those discarded layers once provided life and protection to the seeds, but don’t have to all go to waste. The skin of the coffee cherry can be dried and sold as a singular product called Cascara.

Where Are We Now? A Café Imports Australia MICE Panel Discussion

As we all came together during the week of MICE, we were excited to welcome some new and old faces to CIA HQ for an evening of good chats, tacos, and wine, paired with a panel discussion focused on the topic of change and the current state of the coffee industry.

Cauca & Nariño Purchase Planning

We have designed our purchase planning tools with you in mind to make buying coffee with us smoother than ever. By purchase planning, you can make decisions based on the most up-to-date information on current crop offerings with expert guidance from our sales reps working closely with our green buyers at origin.

Introducing our Education Team

We couldn’t be more excited to announce the addition of two new faces to Cafe Imports, representing our Education team.

Guatemala Purchase Planning

We have designed our purchase planning tools with you in mind to make buying coffee with us smoother than ever.

Costa Rica Purchase Planning

We have designed our purchase planning tools with you in mind to make buying coffee with us smoother than ever.

Brazil Purchase Planning

Purchase planning has real benefits for every coffee roaster. When it comes to Brazil, the benefits of planning ahead with us include giving you first access to a wider variety of fresh-crop lots, opportunity for greater possible creative sourcing outside our typical offerings, and the assurance of coverage throughout the year until the following harvest season.

Kenya Update 2021

In a normal February — which this is anything but — we would have staff in Nairobi with cupping spoons in hand, spending hours and hours cupping through fresh offer samples in order to put in the season’s buy plan for Kenya. 

A Series about Certifications, part 5 – Direct Trade

The mid-to-late 2000s saw the emergence of “direct trade” as coffee-sourcing concept that was designed to be something of an evolution of the certification programs that already existed in coffee at that time, specifically Fair Trade/Fairtrade. The benefits of those certifications seemed evident—organic certs provide environmental protection, Fair Trade provides financial protection—but lacked a component that was especially significant to specialty-coffee companies: cup quality.

A Series about Certifications, part 4 – Non-GMO

This fourth post covers the Non-GMO Project Verified Product certification. While this is not a common certification for coffee products, Cafe Imports has held Non-GMO Project certification since 2016 and we thought it might be valuable to share our reasoning and the requirements for this particular mark.