Presenting Purchase Planning: Costa Rica 2023

As a nimble and independently owned importer, we recognize that a roaster’s selections can only be made in advance with real-time information. Our green buying team is passionate about working actively with producers at origin throughout the year and sharing their knowledge and experiences with roasters like you.

SCA Expo 2023 Round-Up!

EXPO is approaching, and this is the round-up of everything we’ve got going on at and around the show! See you in Portland, friends.

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.

New Compostable Green Coffee Sample Bags

Our new green-coffee sample bags are made from biodegradable plant-based materials and designed to be composted by you. One of our primary values is to decrease our negative impact on the earth at every chance we get, and this is a real-life opportunity to do so. We believe this new packaging is a step in the right direction, but simply sending out a compostable material instead of a plastic material doesn’t mean we’re doing anything better unless these bags actually end up in the compost.

Regenerative Agriculture and The New Generation of Specialty Coffee in Tarqui, Colombia

We’ve been sourcing some of our favorite coffees from Huila, Colombia, since the early 2000s, when we started developing relationships with producers farming along the verdant mountains that are home to this region. The delicate balance found within the cup profile of coffees from this area keeps us searching for more — strong, sparkling acidity with notes of clean fruit, carmalized sugars, and just enough body to hold it all together.

IMPORTANT: Special Note on Freight Accessory Charges

We all know it, that feeling of pure joy as another pallet of our favorite coffees arrives to the roastery. Watching eagerly as the pallet is lowered out of the truck and “look!”, the driver is even bringing it inside for us even though we didn’t request it — nice, right?

Costa Rica Purchase Planning

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

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.