The decision to expand operations brings about many factors for roasters to consider, and one of the most important is investing in a new machine. Without a higher-capacity or more advanced machine, scaling a coffee business as sustainably as possible is quite the challenge.

So to learn more about how to know when it’s time to buy a new machine, I spoke to Niko Sunko, head roaster and green coffee buyer at Bell Lane Coffee in Mullingar, Ireland.

You may also like our article on how roasters manage their green coffee supplies.

Why scale your roastery?

Like any company, most roasteries aspire to grow. In terms of sales and other areas of business development, it’s rare that a coffee roaster would want to remain stagnant.

One of the biggest ways to expand operations is to take on a wholesale client. Naturally, when selling coffee to wholesale accounts, bulk orders will increase. In turn, the amount of coffee you need to roast will rise significantly.

It’s also worth noting, however, that the profit per bag of wholesale coffee will be smaller compared to direct-to-consumer orders. So to maintain or improve profits, the quantity of coffee sold also needs to increase, which usually means buying a larger-capacity machine. By roasting larger batches of coffee, operators can reduce labour costs and save time – and thereby increase the profit margin per wholesale bag.

But selling wholesale coffee may not be the most profitable or sustainable option for many roasters – and isn’t the only reason to scale operations. Opening an ecommerce store can be a more accessible way for roastery owners to sell more coffee – which means investing in a bigger roaster in the first place.

Beyond increasing business-to-business and business-to-consumer sales, roasters also need to ensure operations remain streamlined as they scale.

“When scaling our roastery, one of the advantages was strengthening our relationships with producers,” Niko says. “Importing larger volumes of green coffee is logistically easier for us, and also improves sales and revenue for both parties.”

So when should you scale operations?

First and foremost, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to expanding your coffee roasting business.

“It’s the ideal time to scale up your roastery when you have achieved stability in your operations and all aspects of production are running smoothly,” Niko suggests. “This often signifies that you have the knowledge and capabilities to handle production, sourcing, quality control, and logistics growth effectively.”

When a roastery experiences a continuous increase in the amount of coffee it’s roasting, it presents a good opportunity to assess whether it’s worth buying a larger machine.

Essentially, roasting higher volumes of coffee is a direct result of increased sales, which thereby indicates a rise in demand. If sales data from the past few years is available (and you can predict any trends or patterns) then a roaster should be able to project sales growth over a specific period of time. 

Additionally, a roastery operator should also be able to estimate the amount of coffee to roast each week, as well as the number of hours it will take on their current machine. If the production and labour costs still break even while using that machine then it’s probably not time to upgrade to a new one.

Do you always need a larger roaster when expanding operations?

It’s certainly possible for a roaster to maintain operations while still using a small machine. But there are a few considerations to keep in mind.

Selling larger volumes of roasted coffee inevitably means more time spent operating the machine.

“Roasting smaller batches in succession to meet increased demand can be inefficient and labour-intensive,” Niko says, who uses an IMF roaster.

What’s more, consistency and quality are essential for roasting specialty coffee, so roasting smaller batches more often isn’t the most effective solution when sales start to increase.

“It will always be easier to consistently roast ten consecutive batches rather than 30,” he adds. “Investing in a larger machine often means you can exert more control over different variables, which is essential for maintaining consistency and quality as volumes increase.” 

With this in mind, most manufacturers recommend that you don’t load roasters to more than 75% of their stated capacity per roast. On top of this, equipment manufacturers also recommend a limit as to how many batches you should roast per week on one machine. 

For example, if a roaster can handle 5kg batches every 15 minutes, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you can fulfil 800kg of orders by roasting 160 batches per week without damaging your machine – not to mention the high energy costs.

Looking at different sized roasters

After choosing to buy a new machine, roasters first need to know which size will work best for them. This is largely based on how much coffee can be roasted per batch. 

Smaller-sized roasters include home, sample, and small commercial machines. Many businesses start with smaller commercial roasters which have a 1kg to 3kg capacity.

However, if a business decides to scale, they are likely to need a bigger machine to keep up with an increase in orders – ranging from a 5kg to 15kg roaster.

Medium-sized commercial roasters, meanwhile, generally have a capacity between 15kg and 30kg. In many cases, these machines work best for most roasteries.

“For example, the IMF RM30 is a higher-capacity roaster that comes with integrated features such as a destoner and loader for green coffee,” Niko says.

A machine with a batch size of 30kg or more is considered a large roaster. Some of these models can even hold 70kg batches of coffee – which makes them much more suitable for large commodity-grade roasters.

“When scaling to establish a larger operation, the IMF RM60 has an even higher batch capacity,” Niko adds. “But it’s essential to work closely with an engineering and design team to plan your roastery layout, especially if you need to include packing lines for larger operations.”

Tips for investing in a larger roaster

Although upgrading the machine is just one aspect of expanding your roastery, it will have a significant effect on operations across the board.

Cost is almost always the main consideration. Roasters are one of the most expensive pieces of equipment that coffee businesses can buy, which has a huge impact on budgets.

A bigger machine will naturally also take up more space in a roastery, so you certainly need to account for enough room to ensure an efficient workflow.

Moreover, investing in a larger roaster typically means you will need more storage space for both green and roasted coffee. Packaging supplies, ventilation systems, storage containers, increased waste, and more staff working in the roastery should all also be accounted for when designing a larger space.

Energy supply is also important. When upgrading to a larger machine, keep in mind whether the roaster is powered by gas or electricity – and how this could affect your power sources. In these cases, it’s recommended to consult a professional roastery design company such as IMF.

Scaling roastery operations is generally a smart move for most coffee businesses. However, it must be done carefully and thoughtfully – and investing in a machine is one of the most important steps.

Prematurely upgrading your roaster too soon, however, can also bring about its own set of issues. Ultimately, it’s about weighing up the pros and cons, and taking all factors into consideration.

Enjoyed this? Then read our article on how roasters store and transport roasted coffee safely and effectively.

Photo credits: Bell Lane Coffee

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In the specialty coffee industry in particular, selling coffee in grocery stores and other retailers can often come with negative connotations. Large-scale supermarket distribution networks can certainly impact coffee freshness, and thereby quality. But there are also many advantages to selling coffee in stores.

For instance, in the US alone, it’s estimated up to 67% of consumers buy coffee from supermarkets, while only 14% of people buy beans online. An even smaller 9% of consumers purchase coffee directly from roasters and coffee shops. 

In short, by ignoring grocery and retail distribution, many specialty coffee roasters are potentially missing out on one of the most effective ways to generate revenue.

Rob Bathe is the founder and owner of Folly Coffee in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Folly is a wholesale roaster founded in 2018 that sells to cafés, restaurants, grocery stores, retailers, and more.

In this article, he breaks down how roasters can successfully sell wholesale coffee to supermarkets and retailers.

You may also like our article on how roasters can attract new wholesale customers.

Why should roasters sell to supermarkets?

Many coffee professionals agree that larger-scale supermarket and grocery store distribution channels don’t exactly help maintain coffee freshness and quality. 

We can define the “physical freshness” of coffee by measuring how much carbon dioxide (CO2) it contains. Essentially, the more CO2 there is in coffee, the more “fresh” it is. This is because during the roasting process, a number of gases (including CO2) form inside coffee beans.

Over time, the CO2 trapped inside the beans slowly starts to diffuse from the beans – a process known as degassing.

Depending on their distribution channels, it can take up to several weeks for products to reach shelves in larger grocery stores and supermarkets – compared to smaller shipments that roasters and coffee shops receive. Ultimately, this means that coffee products sold in grocery retailers are unlikely to be as fresh as possible.

For most grocery stores, empty shelves means lost sales, revenue, and profitability. While a specialty coffee roaster may prioritise selling fresher coffee (and will therefore potentially have lower stock levels), a supermarket will prioritise ample back stock.

Inevitably, this will lead to selling less fresh coffee through inventory on hand, which means these wholesale clients will need more frequent deliveries. This can be especially frustrating for roasters as the supplier is often responsible for covering costs when a product becomes “out of date”.

In the case of coffee, this would be around three to six months after its roasting date. This is because most of the flavours have degraded at this point. In turn, selling retail coffee at wholesale prices can lead to thinner margins compared to direct-to-consumer or coffee shop sales. 

Weighing up the pros and cons

That’s not to say, however, there aren’t upsides to selling your coffee in supermarkets. 

Specialty coffee roasters can still have an advantage over their competitors. All coffee products on retail shelves are subject to the same environmental conditions. In theory, this means fresher coffee will always taste better. In most cases, products sold by larger regional and national brands will be much longer past the roast date because of longer transit times and larger warehouse and back stock inventories.

More importantly, selling coffee in grocery retailers increases visibility of your brand and introduces your products to a wider range of people. In some cases, partnering with high-quality supermarket brands can even elevate your brand and business. 

And if you have the capacity for it, there is also potential to significantly increase product sales through effective in-store strategies.

Types of wholesale distribution models

There are two main distribution models for selling coffee in grocery stores and supermarkets, and there are many factors roasters need to consider when deciding which one to use.

Self-distribution

When using this distribution model, roasters deliver coffee directly to stores. For the most part, the roaster is responsible for inventory management, product rotation, invoicing, and payment collection. 

According to standard practices in the industry, once the coffee is delivered (along with the invoice), the buyer has 30 calendar days to pay for the product. This often shows as “net 30” on invoices.

There are several advantages and disadvantages to using self-distribution models. Although more labour and time is required, roasters can often improve their profit margins. 

Furthermore, self-distribution is a great option for roasters who are new to selling to supermarkets and grocery stores. This model allows you to determine your wholesale roasting capacity for a number of locations and regional areas. Roasters can also leverage using this distribution model to build stronger sales pitches to potential future wholesale partners.

This model is also an opportunity to learn more about each location and wholesale client, and build relationships with managers and buyers.

However, it’s important to keep in mind when each grocery retailer is available to receive deliveries, as this could change from store to store.

Partnering with a third-party distributor

When working with an independent distributor, roasters will deliver coffee to a warehouse or distribution centre. From here, the distributor is responsible for taking orders and delivering products to supermarkets and grocery stores.

The distributor sends a purchase order (also known as a PO) to the roaster which includes details of the order, such as the quantity of coffee needed and expected delivery date. 

The roaster will then invoice the distributor. Compared to self-distribution, this helps to streamline the invoicing and payment processes. The distributor is also responsible for deliveries, inventory management, product rotation, and invoicing and payment collection from buyers – which can help roasters save time and labour, too.

Additionally, working with a third-party distributor provides more opportunities to expand sales and work with new wholesale clients in different regions and markets.

However, it’s important for roasters to remember that distributors don’t exclusively work with them. Your products will be a few of potentially thousands within the distributor’s portfolio, and they may have a different sales focus every month which isn’t geared towards your product. 

In turn, roasters should set realistic goals and expectations before working with a distributor, and communicate these clearly with them.

Another crucial factor to consider is that roasters will have little control over inventory management at store level. Similar to grocery retailers, distributors also prioritise larger back stock over freshness – and the supplier is still responsible for the costs of out-of-date products. 

In turn, it’s important that roasters work closely with distributors to balance both stock and coffee freshness, and make sure the end consumer receives a high-quality product.

How should you price coffee in supermarkets?

Before approaching potential wholesale clients, creating an effective pricing strategy for grocery retailers is essential.

When determining wholesale prices, roasters should factor in margin requirements for both distributors and retailers. This will help to increase the chances of working with distributors and clients in the future.

Margin requirements for grocery stores and supermarkets can vary, but they generally fall in the range of 30% to 40%. Distributors, meanwhile, have more variable margin requirements, so there is more room to negotiate depending on the volume of your product sales. In general, most distributors have a 15% to 25% margin requirement, but it’s better to assume a larger margin requirement when setting your prices. 

Discounts and promotions can be a crucial part of successful partnerships with grocery retailers. Some supermarkets will split the total discount value with the roaster, but in other cases, the roaster may have to cover the full cost of the discount.

In line with this, it’s important to not set wholesale prices at the lowest possible amount. This will provide you with little to no room to apply discounts and promotions to your products, while still maintaining your overall needed margins.

Remaining competitive

To stand out against other brands, you will need to price your products competitively. It is recommended to price match – or at least be within US $1 – of the highest-priced coffee available in store.

If you decide to charge more than the highest-priced coffee, you also need to set an aggressive sales and promotion schedule to drive consumer interest. Ultimately, price is one of several indicators of quality to the customer. By selling your coffee at the same or similar price to the most expensive coffee, it tells the consumer that your product is one of the best available.

Trying to out-price your competitors isn’t a sustainable strategy in the long term, however. Larger brands with higher sales volumes will always have the resources and capacity to undercut prices if they need to.

Developing an in-store strategy

Once you have partnered with a grocery store or supermarket and your coffees are on the shelves, there is still more work to be done. 

Some important factors to consider in the long term are:

Shelf placement

• Having your products at eye level will significantly increase sales, especially when compared to placement on the bottom shelves
• Is your coffee sold in the same section as similarly-priced coffees? This will help to easily indicate the quality of the product to consumers

Number of stock-keeping units (SKUs)

• How many types of coffee is the retailer willing to buy? Three or more is necessary to create a billboarding effect with your brand. This term refers to increased visibility on shelves due to multiple facings
• If the retailer only wants to buy one or two SKUs, are they willing to double or triple the number of facings to create a similar billboarding effect? “Facings” refers to the number of shelf spaces or slots dedicated to one brand
• Too many SKUs, however, will increase the chances of lower-selling coffees going out of date. To avoid this, it’s best practice to approach buyers with no more than five of your best selling coffees to start, with the option of expanding in the future based on sales volumes

Choosing displays

• End cap displays (placed at the end of an aisle) and stand-alone displays (can be placed anywhere in the store) in high-traffic areas help to increase sales significantly
• In some stores, managers can select where to place displays. In others, meanwhile, display spaces are mandated and will need to be confirmed with the buyer
• Many retailers charge fees for specialised displays, but increased sales can offset these costs

Samples

• Many buyers expect brands to offer in-store samples, and they can be an effective way to showcase the quality of your coffee
• Have a plan in place to organise sample tasting, as well as how often you will be able to offer samples

Choosing to work with a grocery store or supermarket is a huge decision for any roaster. In summary, it ultimately depends on your capacity to scale production and the level of risk you are willing to take.

But when carried out successfully, selling coffee in a grocery retailer can open your brand up to a much wider range of customers – and potentially help increase sales significantly.

Enjoyed this? Then read our article on how roasters can diversify their income.

Photo credits: Folly Coffee

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Storing roasted coffee safely and effectively, as well as moving it around a roastery efficiently, are essential to the success of any roasting business. In line with this, roasters need to follow a set of best practices to protect the integrity of their coffee.

To find out more, I spoke with Roberto Pedini, Expert Process Manager at IMF Roasters. Read on for more of his insight into how roasters can best store and transport roasted coffee.

You may also like our article on how specialty roasters manage their green coffee supplies.

Why do roasters need to preserve roasted coffee quality and freshness?

Before coffee is roasted, maintaining the freshness and quality of green coffee is paramount. Inevitably, if roasters store green coffee in optimal conditions, they can preserve its innate characteristics. This means that once it’s roasted, customers can experience the full spectrum of a coffee’s flavours.

Generally speaking, green coffee stays fresh for between six months and one year after harvest. 

Roasted coffee, however, is much less stable – and will lose its freshness in a matter of weeks.

This is because when high temperatures are applied to green coffee, many chemical reactions take place. These reactions then create irreversible changes within the cell structure of the coffee beans – and thereby help to develop its flavours and aromas.

During the roasting process, a number of gases – including carbon dioxide (CO2) – form inside coffee beans. Although some CO2 and water vapour is released during roasting, the majority of it remains trapped inside the beans. This is because they are porous and will easily absorb gases.

Degassing & freshness

Over the course of the following few weeks, CO2 will gradually be released from the coffee beans during storage – this is referred to as maturation and “degassing”. When roasted coffee is ground, however, it will release around 60% to 70% of its CO2 – indicating an almost immediate loss of freshness. 

In turn, research has concluded that the amount of CO2 contained in coffee is a “physical” marker of freshness. Essentially, this means if there is no CO2 present in coffee, it cannot be considered fresh.

Moreover, CO2 acts as a barrier to the oxidation of roasted coffee. This process causes coffee to become stale, which further leads to degradation of flavour.

“It’s necessary to store roasted coffee properly to preserve aromas and flavours, and protect the coffee from oxidation,” Roberto tells me.

There is, however, such a thing as coffee being “too” fresh. If you grind and brew coffee which contains too much CO2 (or too soon after roasting), the higher volume of gases will impede extraction. This means it’s easy to underextract your coffee, which leads to astringent and sour flavours.

As such, many coffee professionals recommend grinding and brewing coffee a few days after roasting. The specific time period, however, is very much dependent on a number of factors, such as:

• Variety (or even species)
• Processing method
• Bean density
• Roast profile

Food safety regulations

For roasters around the world, food safety rules and regulations can vary. But no matter their geographical location, all roasters need to make sure their roasted (and green) coffee remains free of contaminants.

Although the roasting process is considered a “kill step” (the point where dangerous pathogens and microorganisms are removed from a product), it’s still possible for roasted coffee to become contaminated.

Without adequate storage conditions and facilities, pests and insects can feed on or nest in roasted coffee beans. Similarly, in warm and humid conditions, fungi and mould may grow in roasted coffee.

So, how do roasters store and transport roasted coffee?

When choosing a storage solution for roasted coffee, many roasters opt for silos. These are specifically designed to protect roasted coffee beans from oxygen, humidity, and other environmental factors.

“IMF’s silos are available in different sizes, shapes, and designs,” Roberto says. “They can also be safely installed outdoors if there is not enough space within a roastery.”

As well as storing coffee in optimal conditions, roasters also need to ensure they store and move roasted coffee beans around their facilities adequately and safely.

To streamline the process of moving green coffee to the machine, many roasters use pneumatic conveyors, conveyor belts, or trolleys. This allows them to move large batches of green coffee quickly, while also reducing the risk of injury from lifting heavy loads.

“It’s very important to protect coffee while moving on a pneumatic conveyor or conveyor belt to avoid breaking any beans, as well as minimising any degradation in quality,” Roberto says. “IMF’s solutions rely on certain technologies and designs to handle coffee safely.

“Moving roasted coffee beans has to be a gentle and slow process – it’s important to control the speed and pressure,” he adds. “Pneumatic conveyors are the most flexible and sanitary solutions, while mechanical conveyors are more suitable for shorter distances.”

Post-roasting storage

Similarly to how they transport green coffee, many roasters use pneumatic conveyors, conveyor belts, or trolleys to move roasted coffee beans from the machine to storage solutions. Designing an efficient and ergonomic roasting space can also help to streamline this process.

It’s essential that roasted coffee is placed in containers which protect it from oxygen, humidity, and other environmental factors. For this reason, many roasters choose to invest in silos to store roasted coffee. 

However, it’s also paramount that roasted coffee storage systems allow the beans to mature and degas at a steady rate. For instance, Roberto explains that IMF’s roasted coffee silos include built-in degassing valves, so that CO2 can be released.

What equipment do roasters need?

No matter which storage and transportation solutions roasters choose to use, they need to invest in high-quality equipment.

“Roasters need professional, high-quality equipment which is specifically designed to carefully handle roasted coffee for both storage and transportation,” Roberto explains.

Silos are some of the most effective ways to preserve the freshness and quality of roasted coffee, while also eliminating the risk of contaminants. 

“IMF’s silos are made of steel,” Roberto tells me. “They also include shock absorbers, which minimise the likelihood of damaging or breaking beans during loading.” 

This is especially important as broken or damaged beans will lead to a decline in coffee quality – and thereby the consumer’s experience, too.

Arguably however, the most important piece of equipment for any roastery is the roaster itself. Without a high-performing professional machine, roasters will never be able to achieve consistent and high-quality roast profiles.

Roberto explains that some roasters, such as IMF’s, utilise heat retention and recirculation technology. These systems can not only improve consistency of roast profiles, but also reduce energy consumption – and therefore costs.

What are the benefits of managing roasted coffee supplies effectively?

Firstly, any roaster is obliged to follow food safety regulations. Therefore, they always need to make sure their coffee is free from contaminants and debris.

However, alongside this, maintaining coffee quality and freshness is key. Many specialty roasters pay high prices for green coffee, so they need to ensure the end consumer will experience the full range of the coffee’s flavours and aromas. In turn, coffee companies can build more trust and brand loyalty.

Another important consideration is minimising waste and streamlining operations. Roastery employees can often spend a lot of time transporting coffee around warehouses, so investing in conveyor systems could lighten their workloads. 

As a result, roasteries can focus on other areas of their business, as well as potentially increase profit margins.

Similarly, systems like silos, dosers, and packaging lines can help to reduce waste – which can also decrease costs – and free up space in a roastery.

“IMF also provides conveyor systems which move roasted coffee from silos to packaging lines,” Roberto says.

They might not seem like a priority, but storage and transport are incredibly important factors to consider if roasters want to consistently sell high-quality roasted coffee. Given that roasted coffee is an unstable product, it’s all too easy for it to lose its freshness and integrity.

To reduce this risk as much as possible, roasters need to invest in the right storage and transportation equipment, and design their roastery around these solutions.

Enjoyed this? Then read our article on how coffee roasters can design an appealing and efficient roasting space.

Photo credits: IMF Roasters

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Sourcing and buying green coffee is certainly a big part of this, but efficient inventory management is also paramount. When stored and used improperly, green coffee will quickly lose its freshness, and thereby its quality as well.

However, with many medium or larger-sized roasters often having anywhere up to a year’s supply of green coffee, how can they manage their inventories as effectively as possible?

To find out, I spoke with Giorgio Mosca, the Export Manager at IMF Roasters. Read on for more of his insight.

You may also like our article on how coffee roasters can design an appealing and efficient roasting space.

Why is preserving coffee freshness and quality so important?

Many coffee professionals often talk about coffee freshness in terms of roasted coffee – and rightly so.

The roasting process (essentially applying high temperatures to green coffee) causes a great number of chemical reactions. These reactions then create irreversible changes within the cell structure of the coffee beans – helping to develop flavours and aromas.

Roasting also enables us to grind and brew coffee as the beans become more brittle. However, at the same time, roasting makes coffee a much less stable product. Green coffee can stay fresh for between six months and one year after harvest. Roasted coffee, however, only remains fresh for a matter of weeks.

Once roasted, coffee is more susceptible to a number of environmental factors, such as heat, light, moisture, and oxygen. Ultimately, when exposed to these variables for a significant amount of time, coffee loses its distinctive flavours and aromas more quickly. Eventually, it will taste stale and flat.

Green coffee freshness

However, despite having a longer shelf life, we also need to remember that green coffee can lose its freshness, too. Prolonged exposure to oxygen, water, and extreme temperatures will have adverse effects on green coffee quality and freshness. 

“During roasting, the moisture content of green coffee beans will influence the chemical reactions, and therefore the formation of flavour,” Giorgio tells me.

According to the International Coffee Organisation, the ideal moisture content for green coffee is between 8% and 12.5%. In turn, if the moisture content was to fall outside of this range, roasters wouldn’t be able to get the best out of their coffee.

Moreover, green coffee freshness can depend on a number of other factors. Some of these include:

• Origin country
• Harvest date
• Variety
• Processing method
• Bean density

In line with this, roasters need to ensure they store their green coffee in dry, cool conditions to best preserve freshness and quality.

Avoiding and mitigating contamination

Not only is preserving green coffee freshness vital for roasters, but maintaining the integrity of green coffee is equally important.

“It’s essential to prevent green coffee from becoming contaminated in the same way as any food product,” Giorgio says. “You need to store green coffee away from excessive humidity and extreme temperatures to avoid the formation of fungi or moulds, as well as to not attract any insects or pests.”

According to European Union regulations, the roasting process is considered a “kill step”. This is a term used in the food safety industry to describe the point where dangerous pathogens and microorganisms are removed from the product. However, it is still possible for green coffee to become contaminated in other ways, which can have a negative impact on quality. What’s more, it could have harmful effects on consumers.

Food safety regulations vary from country to country, so it’s important for roasters to check which ones apply to them. Water activity in green coffee should remain between 0.5% and 0.7% aw (a measurement of vapour pressure between the food product and the vapour pressure of distilled water) in line with food safety protocols.

It should be noted that many food safety laws and requirements fall within the responsibility of green coffee importers and exporters. However, roasters also have a duty to make sure their green coffee is free from contaminants before it arrives at their roastery using a set of quality control checks. Moreover, roasters are also responsible for food safety while the green coffee is in storage, and beyond.

What equipment do roasters need to preserve green coffee freshness & quality?

First and foremost, upon arriving at the roastery, specialty coffee roasters have to ensure their green coffee is fresh and of a certain quality. Checking for any primary and secondary defects is also important, which can include:

• Broken beans
• Black beans
• Signs of pest infestations
• Presence of mould
• Physical contaminants, such as stones or small sticks

“For roasters, it’s crucial that green coffee meets their desired quality standards, especially to maintain consistency throughout the roasting process and in the final product,” Giorgio explains.

Secondly, roasters need to make sure they store their green coffee in optimal environmental conditions. 

For example, to maintain a green coffee moisture level of 8% to 12.5%, a roastery’s storage space should have between 60% and 65% humidity level, with a temperature range of 15°C to 25°C (59°F to 77°F). In order to do this, roasters can invest in a well-designed ventilation system.

In terms of storage equipment, green coffee silos are a popular solution for many roasters. These are specially-designed storage containers which are available in different shapes and sizes. Some silos are polygonal-shaped, while others are circular.

“IMF’s silos help to preserve freshness and quality by preventing green coffee from coming into contact with moisture and oxygen,” Giorgio says. “This way, roasters can protect green coffee from excessive humidity to maintain its inherent organoleptic qualities.”

He also adds that alongside storage solutions, IMF also provides equipment for roasters to precisely measure a number of environmental factors, such as humidity and exposure to light.

How do specialty roasters manage their stock?

As well as investing in the right equipment, roasters also need to use proper techniques for green coffee inventory management.

Most roasters use a “first in, first out” (FIFO) system for storing and roasting green coffee. This involves roasting coffee in line with when it first arrived at the roastery, while also ensuring all orders stay on track and are fulfilled.

For instance, if a roaster receives a new batch of Colombian coffee from an exporter or importer, they first need to roast any Colombian beans which predate this new batch. As a result, roasters will minimise waste and make sure that the older batch of coffee doesn’t stale and taste flat.

Storing green coffee in silos can assist with the FIFO method, as they are typically designed to dispense coffee beans to be transported to the roaster.

However, prior to roasting, green coffee must be cleaned and sorted. These processes help to remove any defected beans or contaminants.

“IMF’s cleaning and sorting machines remove contaminants based on size or weight, such as twigs, stones, dust, and materials from green coffee packaging,” Giorgio explains. “We also provide optical sorting machines which use infrared refraction and multispectral cameras to recognise any foreign objects based on colour and shape which aren’t visible to the naked eye.”

Ultimately, cleaning and sorting systems ensure that green coffee – and thereby roasted coffee – are consistently free from contaminants and impurities.

What are the benefits of managing green coffee supplies effectively?

Firstly, it’s important to point out that roasters are obliged to follow food safety regulations, and should therefore always make sure their coffee is free from contaminants and debris.

However, alongside this, many specialty roasters pay high prices for green coffee, so they need to maintain and preserve the quality of their products as much as possible. That way, the end consumer will experience the full range of the coffee’s flavours and aromas – building trust and brand loyalty.

A large part of this lies with consistency. Let’s say a customer orders a bag of Kenyan coffee, and then orders the same coffee again three months later. The customer naturally expects the coffee to taste similar, so proper storage and inventory management is essential to this.

Moreover, if a roaster fails to store green coffee correctly, it can undo the hard work of producers and exporters who have helped to maintain coffee quality throughout the supply chain. Similarly, the coffee will lose its unique characteristics, and may even drop a few points on the Specialty Coffee Association’s 100-point quality scale.

Reducing waste and labour

Finally, proper green coffee inventory management helps roasters to minimise waste, and thereby costs – improving the efficiency of their business.

“IMF offers customisable solutions which help roasters manage their green coffee effectively,” Giorgio says. “We design storage and dosing systems which optimise both space and workflow.

“Our automated systems also help to minimise labour, while the centralised filtration system ensures a cleaner and safer workplace,” he adds.

For any roaster to be successful, proper green coffee inventory management systems are crucial. Without these methods in place, green coffee can quickly become old, stale, or even contaminated.

To ensure that they are always selling high-quality coffee, roasters need to invest in the right storage equipment and implement a set of reliable and consistent stock management techniques. 

Enjoyed this? Then read our article on how heat retention & recirculation can help specialty coffee roasters to improve efficiency.

Photo credits: IMF Roasters

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But alongside this, roasters also need to make sure all their coffee stays fresh – no matter how many they are selling at any given time. To do this, they need to carefully manage and rotate their stock of green coffee.

Although stock rotation can be challenging, there are several ways in which roasters can do this effectively, sustainably, and profitably. To find out more, I spoke to Richard Sandlin, Director of Business Development at Royal Coffee. Read on for more of his insight.

You may also like our article on whether you can freeze green coffee.

Why do specialty coffee roasters need to rotate their beans?

In simple terms, green coffee rotation is done in two ways:

• When roasters sell previous harvests of a particular coffee to customers and then purchase a new harvest of the same coffee.
• When roasters sell a previous harvest of a particular coffee to customers and then buy a new harvest which currently isn’t on their menu.

“It’s mainly about ‘first in, first out’,” Richard says. This is when coffees which were bought first need to be sold first to make sure that stock stays as fresh as possible, but it is often more complicated than this.

“Buying green coffee isn’t as simple as buying 60kg bags or lots,” he explains. “Coffee is a seasonal product – it’s harvested at different times around the world, it ships at different times, and arrives at different times. 

“Because of coffee’s inherent seasonality, I always encourage roasters to equally consider three key pillars: price, availability, and quality,” Richard adds. “When one of these three pillars moves in a more drastic direction, sourcing the right coffee for your needs can be more difficult, so rotating your coffee and thinking more strategically can be the perfect solution.”

Preserving freshness

In order for customers to experience the full spectrum of the flavours in coffee, it must be fresh, so it’s important to rotate them. This is because as coffee ages, it oxidises and becomes stale, thereby losing its flavours and aromas.

Roasted coffee is much more susceptible to staling than green coffee as the roasting process causes a number of irreversible changes in the beans’ cell structure. However, green coffee can still age and lose its freshness, so roasters need to also take this into consideration.

Generally speaking, green coffee stays fresh for six to 12 months, so roasters should purchase coffee with this in mind.

“In a perfect world, a roaster’s coffee will arrive in an importer’s warehouse about one to three months before they need it,” Richard says. “Moreover, roasters ideally contract or buy enough green coffee to last them between three and six months.

“Rotating your green coffee efficiently ensures that you always have access to the freshest coffee, without buying 12 months of coffee upfront,” he adds.

Inventory management

Whatever size a roaster may be, stock management is an essential part of operating a business as effectively as possible.

Ultimately, roasters need to understand how much storage space is available before purchasing larger volumes of coffee. Furthermore, roasters must also be aware of which green coffee needs to be roasted first so that they can sell it sooner rather than later.

Richard, meanwhile, tells me that managing stock is also about much more than storage space.

“You need to know how to look for core coffees that are dependable,” he says. “For example, you can buy coffees from Honduras, Guatemala, Peru, and Colombia almost year-round to create a consistent profile for your blends.

“It’s best to focus on flavour first and origin second,” he adds. “This allows roasters more room to manage not only their inventory, but also their cash flow.

“For this particular reason, Royal Coffee launched the Royal Gem collection – 50lb (around 22.6kg) boxes of green coffee curated by our expert traders,” he continues. “Our goal with this collection is to help streamline green coffee buying and logistics to make it easier for roasters to scale their businesses by offering reliable, affordable, and delicious coffees.”   

Variety

Maintaining coffee freshness and selling a variety of different lots at the same time can often be something of a balancing act. Today’s specialty coffee drinkers expect a range of origins, varieties, processing methods, and roast profiles.

While blends are an essential part of many roasters’ offerings, single origins are also popular.

“Single origins can allow roasters to be more flexible,” Richard says. “Your single origin range can be as broad as you want it to be.”

As part of this, some roasters choose to sell much smaller quantities of coffee – including micro and nano lots. These lots can often be unique selling points for roasters as they tend to have much more distinct and complex sensory profiles.

“Royal Coffee’s Crown Jewels are process and variety-specific, micro-milled lots which are chosen specifically to sell as top-shelf offerings,” Richard says. “Each Crown Jewel lot comes with a five-part analysis which explains the producer’s story, specifications about the coffee, and a range of optimal roast profiles and brew methods, as well as cupping notes from our team.”

Micro and nano lots are available in much smaller quantities than most coffees. In turn, roasters can sell them more quickly, which not only creates a more exclusive and limited-edition product, but means that roasters can manage their stock and rotate coffee more efficiently.

How should roasters rotate their specialty coffee?

When it comes to roastery management and green coffee rotation, there can be many challenges and risks. However, there are also several ways which roasters can overcome any potential issues.

Buy smaller volumes of coffee

Although larger roasters will still need to purchase significant volumes of coffee to keep up with demand, smaller lots can help them to stay flexible. This is because they will sell – and in turn can be rotated – more quickly.

“Roasters should develop their own monthly usage calculator to understand more about their menu slots,” Richard explains. “For example, at any one time, a roaster could have three single origins, two blends, a decaf option, and then a ‘roaster’s choice’ coffee.

“Once you have more of a grasp of how much of these coffees you need every month, you can then calculate the number of full-size bags that you have to buy for any given period, as well as any 22lb (around 10kg) Crown Jewel boxes or 50lb Royal Gem boxes,” he adds.

Balance costs

For any coffee business, knowing how to manage costs is vitally important. However, roasters also need to sell coffees which will be popular with a broad range of consumers, which also means offering a broad spectrum of quality.

“For most roasters, it’s far easier to build a business on buying US $3 to $6/lb coffees than US $8 to $12/lb coffees,” Richard tells me. “If you compare quality and cost, roasters typically sell much more mid-tier priced coffee than more expensive coffee.

“However, there are also times when roasters need to buy more top-quality coffee, like Geshas or experimental processed coffees, but this is typically the exception rather than the norm,” he adds.

Packaging

When it comes to green coffee rotation, Richard explains that another important factor which can often be missed is packaging. 

With the increasing need to stand out from competitors, packaging design has become more of a focus for roasters and consumers. However, roasters still need to be mindful of how much packaging they are ordering for particular coffees.

“The more flexibility you have with your packaging, the better your ability will be to rotate your coffee,” he says. “In turn, you can then sell the freshest possible coffees.”

Purchasing packaging with lower minimum order quantities and shorter lead times can help roasters to keep on top of their stock. Moreover, doing so can also make sure roasters are managing their costs more effectively.

What are the benefits of rotating coffee?

It’s clear that when roasters rotate their coffee on a regular basis, there are a number of advantages.

Menu curation

As part of remaining competitive, every roaster needs to develop their own unique menu, while also making sure they can balance costs and remain profitable.

Moreover, a roaster’s offerings need to cater to a wide range of consumers. These include preferences for more traditional flavour profiles to people who are interested in more complex-tasting coffees.

“Many roasters look to the higher-end coffees, such as Royal Coffee’s Crown Jewels, as marketing opportunities to push the boundaries of quality,” Richard tells me. “This can pay dividends because even though these coffees are less profitable per pound, they still gauge a lot of interest from customers and wholesalers.

“Conversely, however, the more flexibility you have with your menu, the easier it will be to move coffees which perhaps aren’t as fresh,” he adds. “Even if you predominantly focus on single origins, having one or two core blends is critical to selling older coffees.

“What might taste a little older to one roaster might be in the sweet spot for another, so there isn’t one general rule of thumb to follow,” Richard continues. “Understanding your quality control process is the best place to start – the more you know your coffee, the easier it will be to catch when it is starting to taste less fresh.”

Creating more consistency for customers

For some roasters, rotating coffees can pose some risk – especially when it comes to maintaining consistent sensory profiles. This can be particularly apparent with blends, which customers often rely on for more dependable flavours.

“Coffee rotation is about thinking more strategically, diversifying your needs, and finding coffees that can wear multiple hats on your menu,” Richard explains.

“For example, honey processed Honduran coffees aren’t available all year round,” he adds. “However, honey processed coffees – or coffees which have similar flavour profiles – from other Central American countries are.

“Basing some portion of your business around blends, in tandem with single origins, means you can have something for everyone,” Richard continues.

To run a successful and sustainable roastery, stock management is clearly an important factor. However, it’s also clear that rotating coffees in a regular, structured manner is a key part of this.

“There’s no need to reinvent your entire menu every month, but rotating new items in and out every few months keeps your offerings fresh and allows you to change with the seasons,” Richard concludes. “Source and contract coffee with the seasons, which guarantees freshness while keeping a healthier cash flow.”

Enjoyed this? Then read our article on how much green coffee you should order for your roastery.

Photo credits: Royal Coffee

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Although the coffee industry’s sustainability efforts tend to focus more on production and coffee shops, it’s also important that we consider other aspects of the supply chain, including roasting.

In line with this, more and more roasters are working to reduce their emissions, as well as their costs, by investing in more efficient and sustainable machines.

To find out more, I spoke with Production Engineer at roaster manufacturer IMF, Lorenzo Mosca, and Australian Sales Manager at IMF, Will Notaras. Read on to learn more about how you can reduce emissions during roasting, and why it’s so important.

You may also like our article exploring the environmental impact of coffee roasting.

Sustainability issues in coffee roasting

As with any other area of the coffee supply chain, there are a number of sustainability concerns about roasting.

Along with the production of smoke and other harmful particulates, arguably the biggest issues are carbon emissions and hazardous gases.

“During the roasting process, several gases are released into the atmosphere, including carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and nitrous oxide – as well as dust,” Lorenzo explains. “In larger quantities, these gases and particulates are harmful to human health and the environment.”

For coffee professionals who often work in close proximity to roasters, prolonged exposure to these gases and particulates can be dangerous. Moreover, carbon emissions are known to have a significant impact on global warming.

“Ultimately, this means machines need to include emissions reduction systems,” Lorenzo adds.

Now more than ever, roasters from across the sector have been monitoring their emissions levels, as well as looking for ways to reduce them. However, in order to do so, roasters need access to specialist equipment.

“You can test emissions from roasters using a flue gas analyser,” Will tells me.

“However, roasters should also seek the assistance of expert analysts who use specialist equipment,” Lorenzo says. “In fact, some roasters are obliged to carry out these tests based on laws in their respective countries.”

As a result of the growing need for reduce emissions during roasting, more and more roaster manufacturers are integrating efficient and sustainable technologies into their machines.

Why do roasters need to reduce their emissions?

With the effects of climate change becoming increasingly prevalent, it’s essential that roasters look for ways to reduce their carbon footprint. Research shows that global warming is having a significant impact on coffee production: experts predict that up to 50% of the world’s suitable coffee-growing land could decrease in size and suitability by 2050.

“Reducing your emissions means your carbon footprint is lower, which is much better for the environment,” Will explains. “It can also reduce your gas consumption, therefore your energy bills could decrease, too.”

As a result of the ongoing energy crisis, many coffee shops and roasters around the world are dealing with high gas and electricity prices. Ultimately, investing in more efficient and sustainable machines could help to keep these costs down.

Some newer and more modern roasters include energy-efficient technologies, such as heat recirculation systems, for instance.

“At IMF, we invest in research to develop innovative sustainable technologies,” Lorenzo says. “One example is the heat recirculation system, which recycles clean hot air using a dual function heating chamber.”

Will explains how this technology works:

“The machine uses a single burner to simultaneously incinerate emissions and create the heat source to roast the beans, resulting in lower emissions and reduced gas consumption,” he says.

“This technology is able to generate energy used in the roasting process and reduce emissions at the same time, thereby reducing energy and production costs,” Lorenzo tells me.

Furthermore, as sustainability becomes more and more important to coffee consumers, roasters need to take this into account in order to remain competitive.

“For roasters, there are several benefits to using more environmentally-friendly machines and equipment,” Lorenzo says. “For example, it shows customers that they are committed to reducing their environmental impact, which is especially important to younger generations.”

In fact, research has shown that Gen Z consumers are willing to spend up to 10% more on sustainable products – including coffee. Moreover, along with millennials, Gen Z consumers are much more likely to prioritise social and environmental factors as part of their purchasing decisions.

“Ultimately, investing in more efficient and environmentally-friendly machines means that you are adopting more sustainable business practices,” Lorenzo adds.

How can roasters reduce their emissions?

There are several ways to cut down on emissions during roasting, but one of the most notable methods is to invest in a more sustainable machine.

“More traditional and older roasters use a burner to create heat to roast the beans, and then use a separate burner (or afterburner) to incinerate the emissions,” Will tells me. “However, the afterburner releases higher levels of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

“This is because it uses higher volumes of gas than the machine needs to roast the beans, as well as the high temperature which is required to incinerate the emissions,” he adds. “IMF roasters only use one burner to carry out both functions, which in turn reduces gas consumption and emissions.”

Will explains that when investing in a new machine, roasters should look out for a number of key features.

“Heat recirculation technology is essential to reduce gas consumption and lower emissions,” he says. “As well as this, we use a patented vortex and equaliser system which allows for more consistent roast profiles.”

However, for smaller roasters, paying the upfront cost to purchase a new machine could be a challenge. Moreover, switching from a more traditional roaster to a newer machine could have a big impact on roast profiles – forcing roasters to significantly change how they roast their coffee.

Lorenzo explains that in these cases, roasters can instead invest in more efficient additional components for their machines

“There are options to upgrade your original machine so that you can lower its emissions,” he says. “This can include installing a number of different gas abatement systems, such as thermal or catalytic converters.”

Gas abatement systems help to change the chemical composition of gases, thereby effectively reducing or removing harmful emissions and air pollutants.

“Installing these systems means roasters can be in compliance with any emissions rules and regulations, as well as reducing their energy consumption,” Lorenzo adds.

He also explains other ways in which roasters can reduce their carbon footprint, which also includes adjusting their roast profiles.

“With more traditional machines, emission levels tend to be higher when you roast at higher temperatures or with darker roast profiles,” he says. “If you want to reduce your emissions, try reducing the roast temperature or total roast time, as well as roasting to more medium roast profiles.”

Furthermore, Lorenzo explains why ventilation systems are so important in making roasting more sustainable and efficient.

“More flexible ventilation systems make airflow management easier during the roasting process,” he tells me. “They reduce air volumes, especially in the final part of the process, which can help reduce the level of emissions released into the atmosphere.

“Roasters should also clean chimneys and ducts regularly to keep them free from oils and other particulates to reduce emissions,” he adds.

Ultimately, any roaster looking to minimise their emissions should start by reviewing their setup – and looking for any inefficient or underperforming equipment.

There’s no denying that the coffee industry’s focus on sustainability is going to become more and more prevalent in the years to come. As part of this, the need for roasters to invest in more energy-efficient machines is only going to increase.

However, alongside reducing their emissions, using more modern machines often means that roasters are also able to cut costs by improving energy efficiency – which is especially important at times like these. 

Enjoyed this? Then read our article on how coffee roasters can design an appealing and efficient roasting space.

Photo credits:  IMF

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By taking these factors into account, roasters can design an efficient workspace that will improve their workflow and help them to remain profitable. However, in many cases, roasters want to design a roasting space that is as suitable for customer tours as it is for roasting coffee – a trend that is becoming more and more prominent nowadays.

To learn more about how roasters can do this, I spoke to one of the Sales Managers at IMF, Giorgio Mosca, and owner of Fausto Kaffeerösterei, Klaus Wildmoser. Read on for more of their insight.

You may also like our article on streamlining quality control in your coffee roastery.

What should you consider when designing a roastery?

Giorgio explains the first and most important step to take when designing your roasting space – consultation.

“When we plan to redesign an existing roasting space, or design a new roastery, we must first establish a relationship with the customer,” he says. “We arrange a consultation to meet the client and fully understand their needs and level of roasting experience.

“Once we establish their needs, IMF can find the best possible solution for their business, based on the provided information,” he adds.

Every roaster has different needs, so these must be taken into consideration when designing a roasting space. For instance, some roasters may need to host workshops or cuppings for wholesale customers, so adequate space is necessary.

The ultimate goal is for the roaster to reap as many benefits as possible from their workspace – no matter the size and style of the company.

Storage

In order for a roastery to be efficient, the design of the space must be carefully planned, with a number of factors taken into account. These include deciding where the green coffee will be delivered and stored, to where roasted coffee will be packaged and stored, for example.

“Roasters need quick and easy access to green coffee at all times,” Klaus says. “We have ten silos at our roastery [which allows the roasters to dispense green beans].”

From here, roasters need to consider how green coffee will be moved to their machine – which means ensuring they have the space to move large volumes of green beans around the roastery.

“We spent several months optimising the design of our roasting facilities, as well as considering how we operate throughout the space,” Klaus explains. “We follow a rigorous day-to-day production plan to streamline operations.”

“Our production area is well organised so that green beans can be easily transported to the roaster,” he adds. “Once the coffee is roasted, it then needs to be moved to the roasted coffee silos.”

Roasted coffee is a much less stable product than green coffee, which can stay fresh for up to 12 months when stored correctly. However, it’s important that both are stored in optimal conditions – namely cool, dry, and dark environments with minimal contact with oxygen and no contaminants. Ultimately, this makes storage a very important consideration when first designing an efficient roastery.

Size of the roaster

As well as other considerations, the size of the roaster itself needs to be accounted for. 

“When designing a new roasting facility, IMF considers the size and capacity of the roaster, as this machine is at the heart of every roastery,” Giorgio says.

While the capacity of sample and small-batch roasters can range from 2kg to 30kg, batch size for larger commercial roasters can be up to 240kg. Ultimately, the size of the roaster will also influence which type of ventilation system is needed – meaning careful design of the workspace is essential.

“After we have accounted for the footprint of the roaster, we need to design the space around it so that there is sufficient room for other operations,” Giorgio explains. “Roasters often need designated areas to package coffee, so we must factor these in, too.”

Why should roasters make their workspace visually appealing?

Although efficiency is rightly the biggest priority when designing a roasting space, more and more coffee professionals are ensuring their roasteries can be customer-facing. 

This can be important for a number of reasons; roasters may regularly bring customers in for tours or want to host educational events, for instance.

Ultimately, this means that as the specialty coffee sector has grown, creating unique spaces has become more of a requirement for many roasters and coffee shops.

Klaus tells me how creating a visually appealing roastery helped to change the atmosphere of Fausto’s space.

“As we designed our new roastery, we were conscious that Munich is a very modern city,” he says. “IMF helped us make our roastery modern and functional, as well as eye-catching for our customers.

“Our roasting space is located next to a river, [so we included] large windows in our roastery [for employees and visitors to enjoy],” he adds.

More and more roasters are incorporating café areas into their design, too, which means creating a visually appealing roasting space is important. Ultimately, striking and well designed roasteries can leave a lasting impression on customers.

Furthermore, as consumers continue to become more educated about higher-quality coffee, designing a space where customers can view the roasting process can also add significant value to your business. Many customers are likely to be interested in understanding more about how coffee is roasted, so incorporating a viewing area into your roasting space could be beneficial.

“Many of our visitors are interested in the roasting process, but they also enjoy seeing the espresso machines we have in our coffee lab area,” Klaus tells me.

However, he adds that attracting customers is about more than just a visually appealing roastery.

“The whole package is important,” he says. “A well-designed space, friendly and welcoming baristas, and the quality of your beans.”

Considering branding when you design your space

With more and more specialty coffee companies launching in many countries around the world, branding and marketing are becoming more important than ever.

Specialty roasters and coffee shops must be able to demonstrate to the consumer how their business is different from others in the industry – typically through brand authenticity. 

The design of a roaster or coffee shop is a large part of this. Business owners need to consider how the style of their roasting space ties in and complements their brand. 

One of the ways that they can do this is choosing which materials and colours to include in their roastery.

“Today, many industrial elements are incorporated into roasting spaces,” Giorgio says. “Inspired by 1950s New York, this style is a combination of materials such as wood and metal; specifically stainless steel and black metal.”

However, while this design style may suit roasters who opt for more rustic branding, it may not be suitable for all kinds of roasters. Some may prefer a more minimalist design, while others may be looking for more vibrant colours.

“It’s important that we can produce a specific design style for each client, while prioritising functionality at the same time,” Giorgio says. “For more modern coffee shops and roasters, we need to balance aesthetics and efficiency.

“The biggest challenge is finding the right balance between the materials we use and the needs of the client,” he adds. “For example, with a previous customer, we had to use stainless steel pipes instead of rubber [to coincide with their branding].

“Meanwhile for other clients, we designed particular shapes and included certain colours to be more in line with their branding,” he says. “A significant part of this is recognising that the space is shared between many people, including roasters, baristas, and consumers.”

Every roastery owner will have their own approach to designing their space, so partnering with a tailor-made roaster design solutions company like IMF will ensure that the space is both efficient and visually appealing.

Efficiency in a roastery is essential to create a profitable, successful business. While the roaster may be the heart of the company, other operations also need to run smoothly. As such, designing your space around the roaster will only serve to streamline workflow.

Ultimately, while efficiency is vital, more and more roasters are starting to focus on the visual appeal of their roasting space. By customising the colours, materials, and styles of your roastery, you have the opportunity to align the premises with your brand and communicate brand authenticity more effectively.

Enjoyed this? Then read our article on equipping your coffee roastery: where to start.

Photo credits: Fausto Kaffeerösterei 

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Managing price risk might seem much more difficult for smaller roasters (who simply don’t have access to the same kind of tools and expertise), but that doesn’t mean they’re unable to do so.

To learn more about how coffee roasters can manage and minimise the impact of price risk, I spoke to some industry experts to learn more.

You might also like our article on how we can bridge the gap in coffee education.

What is price risk? 

Whatever way roasters buy coffee, it is a fact of life that their costs will be affected in some capacity by the C market.

Usually, this is a direct correlation, as many roasters either pay the C market price or a differential (a specific number of cents above or below the C market price).

Kat Nolte Ferguson is a Specialty Managing Trader for Sucafina North America. She says: “By our estimations, 96% of all coffees sold in North America are determined by the C market at some point.”

While some roasters do buy coffee outright – at a fixed price determined between the roaster and the co-operative or producer – the vast majority of coffee is not bought outright, and is therefore tied to the C market.  

Since the C market is driven by global supply and demand, the price of coffee can change significantly. This change can affect roasters in three ways:

• If the C price goes up, roasters may have to pay higher prices for spot coffees (available to ship immediately from the warehouse) and future coffees (contracted for delivery at a later date). Right now, since the market is so high, with little indication that it will fall significantly, most roasters have to pay high prices for coffee. 
• If a roaster “locks in” a price at a specific C market level, they can lose money if the market changes. If the price goes down after a roaster secures a price, they’re left holding a more expensive contract than the current futures price. 
• Finally, if a roaster signs a contract that doesn’t secure a specific market price (with the plan being to secure it later) and the price goes up, then they’re left with a contractual obligation to buy coffee at a higher price than they had expected. 

For all of these scenarios and more, roasters can exercise something known as price risk mitigation. This encompasses a range of tactics that can help coffee roasters soften the impact of price changes.

Price risk mitigation for coffee roasters

For larger roasters, market-based mechanisms like hedging are the most common ways to mitigate price risk. 

When hedging, companies sell a coffee futures contract when they purchase a “physical” coffee contract at the C price. This typically means that if the C price falls, these companies can buy their futures contract and use the profits to offset the price of their “physical” coffee.

Conversely, if the C price rises, these companies end up taking a loss on their futures contract, but can ultimately sell their coffee at a higher price.

However, a single coffee futures contact can be an entire container of coffee (roughly 17,010kg or 37,500lbs). As such, this kind of investment isn’t something that many coffee roasters are able to make.

“Buying and selling futures for small to medium-sized roasters is not really feasible,” Kat explains. “This is because a single futures contract is sometimes their entire annual volume.” 

But it’s important to note that when a roaster buys a contract, they don’t actually pay for the entire volume of coffee upfront – although they are responsible for the full value of the coffee if they go ahead with the contract.

Ultimately, this means that small and medium-sized coffee businesses should be more mindful when hedging, as purchasing one contract without careful consideration could pose a lot of risk.

#1: Know your market

Keeping an eye on the origin markets that are most important to your business can give you advance warning when markets are on the rise. 

Al Liu is the Vice President of Coffee at Colectivo Coffee. He says: “Four years ago, the Sumatra market went crazy. 

“Sumatra is our number-one origin; we basically need to have it all the time,” he adds. “So, when the internal market spiked and I heard that was happening, I snapped up all the spot and nearby FTO (Fair Trade and organic) lots that I could, especially from our producing partners.

“This allowed us to bulk up our inventory before the pricing really skyrocketed.” 

By keeping an eye on movements at origin, Al was able to foresee the price changes that would come for Sumatran coffee in the near future, and get out in front of them.

For cases like those we’re experiencing in 2022 (when coffee prices are on the rise in general), a little advance warning can make a big difference, and enable you to purchase enough stock to “ride out” a price spike. 

“You can find coffees that are good for you and do a lot of good for the farmer,” Kat explains. 

Prices can rise for a variety of reasons, but buying coffee at lower prices doesn’t have to mean lower prices for farmers. 

When prices rise at origin, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the producer is getting more money. Price increases can occur during other stages of export, because of transport or shipping costs.

Ultimately, roasters buying directly from co-operatives can help ensure a higher portion of the sale price goes back to the co-operative and ultimately, the producer. Beyond that, roasters also can share second payment and quality premiums to thank co-operatives and producers for their hard work. 

#2: Maintain good relationships with importers

A good relationship with importers in your region can make a huge difference in knowing when to book, how much to book, and how to hedge costs. 

Importers, especially those with contacts and sister companies at origin, keep their fingers on the market’s pulse so they can access insights that would otherwise be unavailable to roasters. 

“Know your importing partners and work closely with them to understand what might happen in the market,” Kat says. “Understanding specific supply and demand pain points is super helpful.

“If you’re working with a well-informed importer, they may even be able to alert you to incoming supply shortages or surpluses from a specific origin. That could lead to an opportunity to forge a new relationship that’s beneficial for both you and the producers.” 

Another thing that importers can help you with is hedging risk on the C market. As mentioned above, it’s difficult for smaller roasters to hedge prices by purchasing stock in the C market. But importers can aggregate smaller hedges from several customers and build hedging into smaller contracts on behalf of their roaster clients. 

#3: Embrace flexibility

Being flexible about origins and lots, especially for blends, can be another way to offset price changes and keep costs affordable. 

Al acknowledges that it’s easy to get stuck in the mindset that your blend needs to have specific origins and specific proportions.

However, he says: “If you can achieve the same cup profile using coffee that’s from an origin you haven’t used and it costs less, why wouldn’t you do it?”

“As a green buyer, it’s important for us to be flexible and look for new opportunities that already exist that we may not be aware of.”

#4: Link sales contracts to the market

If you have a wholesale business, make sure you can fix wholesale contracts and market prices for the same time period. 

James Dargan is the Head of Asia Pacific Arabica for Sucafina. He says: “If your sales contract is fixed for one year and your purchase for three months, that’s a risk. You should look to match sale and purchase terms as closely as possible.” 

One potential approach is to renegotiate wholesale contract lengths so they are shorter and match the length of time for which you fix prices. Another is to fix contract prices further out to match your wholesale contract lengths. 

“Ultimately, your business and your sales will influence how far out you should fix your purchase side,” James says. 

Another aspect of wholesale contracts to consider is currency. 

If you’re operating outside the US and have wholesale contracts fixed in your local currency, you may want to consider using hedging techniques to offset potential currency changes. 

This is worthwhile as most coffee is traded on the C market in US dollars. This means that currency and foreign exchange rate changes can affect the price you pay for coffee and thus, your overall profit. James notes that if you find this difficult, you can work with banks or importers to help hedge currency risk.

Making sure things stay good for you and good for the farmer

At a time when the C price is volatile, there are several ways for small to medium-sized roasters to mitigate price risk.

Furthermore, with strong supply chains, better prices for roasters don’t have to mean lower prices for farmers. 

“Just because it’s a good deal for you doesn’t mean it’s ripping off the farmer,” Kat explains. 

Coffee can be cheaper for the roaster for a number of reasons, so building positive relationships with suppliers can help you understand just how ethical your coffee is. 

“A coffee can be cheaper because someone on the harvest side hedged a lot or because a bumper crop, such as those we see frequently in Burundi, drove the prices down,” Kat explains.

On the importer side, vertical integration can also reduce costs. For instance, Kat explains that Sucafina has washing stations in Uganda that work directly with farmers.

“This means that we’re able to provide affordable, high-quality naturals that can be substituted for more expensive Ethiopian naturals in blends.”

Another important benefit of vertically-integrated supply chains is the way in which they connect the roaster to the farmer. 

“At Sucafina, we’re working to allow a window from the farmer to the roaster that can enable them to contribute to farmer livelihoods through second payments,” Kat says. 

She adds that the company’s Farmgate Initiative is connecting roasters with specific projects that can significantly affect farmer livelihoods, as well as providing an option to deliver quality premiums directly to producing partners. 

By leveraging these four tips, roasters can minimise their exposure to changes in the C market, and better insulate themselves from price risk as a result.

Ultimately, you will need to remember that the right technique for your business will depend entirely on its size and customers. However, whether it’s embracing flexibility, tweaking wholesale contracts, maintaining good importer relationships, or a combination of these three, it’s worth remembering that managing price risk isn’t something that only larger roasters can do.

Enjoyed this? Then read our article on the Chinese coffee supply chain.

Photo credits: Sucafina

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In the roastery, this is usually a process referred to as quality control, or QC for short. These typically describe procedures that monitor and maintain coffee quality, to ensure that the first bag of coffee leaving the roastery tastes as delicious as the last.

To learn more about QC processes and how roasters can streamline them, I spoke with Sandra Elisa Loofbourow, Director of Coffee Content at The Crown, Royal Coffee’s Lab & Tasting Room. Read on to find out what she said.

You might also like our article on the different types of heat used in roasting equipment.

What is quality control, and why is it important?

For the most part, quality control is as simple as its name suggests. In a coffee roastery, it means maintaining both quality and consistency to make sure each batch that is roasted meets established quality standards.

This is important for the roaster’s reputation, as customers will expect the same quality from each bag of coffee they receive.

The focus for most QC processes is simple: removing any margin for error in the roasting process to guarantee repeatability and consistency.

While automation is a good place to start in this regard, it is not always the right solution. As such, many roasters implement quality control “stopgaps” throughout their process. These are points where the quality of the coffee is reviewed, allowing any potential problems to be addressed.

How is quality control carried out in a roastery?

As part of her work at The Crown, Sandra explains that Royal’s Tasting Room has divided roaster quality control into two areas. 

“Roasted coffee quality control falls into two categories,” she says. “The first is how the coffee behaves in the roaster (i.e. how closely it matches the desired profile). The second is how it tastes once it’s roasted.”

“Ultimately, the most important thing is to identify your goals for each coffee, and make sure they were achieved by the production roast in question.”

Sandra also notes that many roasters employ technology to manage QC processes.

“Many roasting software applications include features which allow the roast operator to indicate roast goals,” she explains. “These can include development time, end temperature, total roast time, and can even include post-roast goals like end weight and colour track value. 

“If the roast fails to meet any of these, it can be automatically flagged as a ‘failed’ roast even before cupping.”

By using technology like this, and logging the results of each batch, roasters can store details such as the time, date, batch number and roast profile. When a failed roast does flag, as Sandra says, this data can be reviewed to see if there was any obvious reason for it.

This first level of quality control gives production roasters and anyone else working in quality control the chance to understand how even the slightest deviation from a set profile can change the flavour of the coffee.

The second level, as Sandra mentioned, is cupping. By cupping coffee regularly, you can train your palate and become able to identify any off flavours. These might be undesirable (such as vegetal or grassy notes) or simply an indicator that the roast is too developed (such as smoky or ashy notes).

Cupping coffee once it’s roasted can help members of the QC team discern more about the origin of a sensory issue. By evaluating the cup profile of a batch, roasters may be able to tell if the issue is with the green coffee or their roasting process, for instance.

“Don’t forget that roast goals are usually tied to flavour, too,” Sandra adds. “This coffee might need to fulfil a specific role on the menu, for instance. Maybe it needs to taste chocolatey on espresso, or perhaps it needs to be easy for wholesale accounts to dial in. Though these goals may seem less concrete, they can still be evaluated. 

“As always, quality control professionals should set clear goals before approaching the cupping table. In the case of a production cupping, this can be as simple as asking whether or not the coffee is suitable for shipping.”

At this point, Sandra notes that having QC team members with developed palates and good sensory education is key.

“There may be times when they need to spend a little more time at the cupping table analysing new potential roast profiles, batch-to-batch consistency, or even roast defects.”

The more skilled your cuppers are, she says, the more able your QC team will be to decide whether or not a coffee meets quality standards.

Sandra adds: “Like all sensory endeavours, the wider the panel, the more salient the data. While the roaster may have a clear idea of what she wants her coffee to taste like, other people’s sensory experience of the product will still provide valuable information.  

“This can range from soft feedback (quibbling over small details about roast curves and percentages) to crucial sensory information that could have been missed, whether due to human error, palate fatigue, or specific sensory blindness,” she says.

“Having the same team cup day-to-day is important for this, but make sure the room isn’t too crowded and the process is still efficient.”

How regularly should quality control procedures be carried out?

This is difficult to judge. Quality control is important, but it needs to be implemented as part of a wider system, and keep timeframes in mind. 

Think of it in terms of helping efficiency, by cutting down on the time spent rectifying problems pre-emptively through quality control.

Sandra says: “Like everything else, the frequency of QC sessions should be linked to your ability to execute them successfully. 

“However, there are some industry standards to bear in mind. Firstly, coffee should be cupped within eight and 24 hours of roasting. Secondly, every batch that gets roasted should be cupped.”

Setting a regular, routine time to cup coffee can help with this. Carrying out QC regularly might seem like a distraction from other, “more important” areas of the roastery, so doing it in small sessions on a regular basis will mean you won’t become overwhelmed. 

“Every production roast day should have a cupping scheduled for the following day,” Sandra says. “In addition, including QC as part of your production protocols can be helpful.

“Take roast samples immediately after your post-weights, and use software to flag roasts and make notes for the next day’s cupping,” she says. “Get production cuppings out of the way early in the morning so there’s time to make adjustments and, if necessary, re-roast.”  

By cupping the previous days roast before production roasting starts, those in charge of roast profiles can form a plan to roast the coffee differently.

“Meanwhile, service QC – evaluating what the roast tastes like on a specific or intended brew method – can be done less frequently as part of your quality assurance program.”

For service quality control, keep an espresso machine and filter coffee brewer somewhere in the roastery to check how the coffees work on different methods.

“There’s simply no replacement for human sensory abilities,” Sandra says. “No machine or roast curve can tell you what the coffee tastes like with the absolute certainty of your palate.”

For most coffee professionals, quality control is an enjoyable and educational way to work directly with freshly roasted coffee on a regular basis. 

Getting the right equipment & processes

When setting up a QC programme in your roastery, having the right equipment & processes helps to keep everything streamlined and efficient. 

Sandra says she has a simple “checklist” for roasters and QC teams to run through before they get started:

• Your cupping setup
  • How many cups per batch?
  • Will you use a control sample?
  • Which cupping form are you using?
  • How many people will be involved?
• Feedback
  • Where do notes get logged?
  • Who has access to them?
  • What is that information then used for?
• What happens to coffees that fail?
  • Are they recapped?
  • Reroasted?
  • Repurposed?
  • Or ground and composted?

She also says that your head roaster or head of coffee should have the final say on whether or not a coffee meets your standards. 

Coffee roasters know that quality control is important, but establishing a formal, regular, and efficient QC routine is easier said than done.

By streamlining your quality control processes, minimising workload, and using professional roasting software where possible, you can track, log, and rectify problems with a roast before they become a major issue. 

Make sure your cupping team has the right sensory knowledge to identify defects or issues, and set out a clear process to follow when something goes wrong. In the end, you’ll find this makes everything much more efficient, saving your roastery time and money.

Enjoyed this? Then try our article on switching from home to production roasting.

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Photo credits: Evan Gilman

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Moving from a tried and tested setup arguably has its challenges. Adapting your workflow and making sure you stay consistently high-quality can be a challenge. However, with the right planning and equipment, you can seamlessly transition from old to new while maintaining that artisan, hand-crafted feel.

To learn more, I spoke to some of the team at Taf in Athens, Greece. They told me why they felt it was time to modernise their roastery and how they integrated their new machinery into the existing production line. Read on to learn more.

You might also like our article on what a production roaster’s day-to-day responsibilities are.

When & how should you modernise your roastery?

Yiannis Taloumis is the CEO & Head of Quality at Taf. He tells me more about when the team felt it was time to upgrade their roast space.

“Without exception, we’ve always aimed to improve and evolve at Taf,” he says. “As we saw demand grow, we naturally started roasting more coffee, but wanted to ensure we were maintaining our exceptional quality standards.”

However, Yiannis explains that there were a number of reasons behind their decision to upgrade.

“Our main goal was to upgrade the equipment and get our roastery meeting its full potential,” he says. “But this benefited us in a number of ways: increased efficiency, higher production capacity, better consistency and quality standards, and more assurances regarding health and safety.”

Efficiency & workflow

There has always been a certain romance attached to coffee roasting. However, the work is long and hard, and often requires a lot of manual labour. 

While many roasteries look to upgrade by simply buying a new roaster, it might not be necessary in every situation. Yiannis explains that in Taf’s case, modernisation meant bringing in equipment that streamlined workflow.

“We have improved our routine and modernised a number of key processes,” he tells me. “One in particular is the transport of both green and roasted coffee – this is now much more efficient.”

Not only does this increased efficiency translate to more time and higher profitability, it also takes away some of the physical stress from the process of roasting. 

Raising coffee quality by minimising human error

Thanks to modern equipment, quality control can now be improved at every step in the production line, starting as soon as the fresh coffee arrives at the roastery. 

This is largely achieved by the automation of existing processes, which can help reduce and ultimately minimise human error throughout the roastery. Doing so can help a roaster maximise quality across the board.

Ilias Taloumis, Taf’s Head Roaster, explains that their upgrades don’t just eliminate human error with roasted coffee – they can address any inconsistencies or issues with sorting and grading as soon as the green beans arrive at their site.

If the beans are not sorted, these inconsistencies can affect the quality of the final roasted batch. As well as potentially affecting the reputation of the roaster, this can also detract from the farm’s profile.

“Our coffees are checked at the farms with which we hold long and direct relationships,” Ilias explains. “They are often sorted by hand before they come to our roastery.”

However, no matter how meticulous the sorting is, there is always an element of human error to consider. Ilias says that with this in mind, their recent upgrades have helped to address any issues with sorting.

“In order to decrease the proportion of human error with green coffee, we added a Satake sorter in our green coffee room,” he explains. “That sorts the coffee again, before transferring the green beans to multiple silos.”

Using the SCA grading scale for coffee, green beans are evaluated closely and sorted based on size or defects. With a 350g sample of green beans, only a certain amount of the beans can have defective issues before the grade of the coffee is lowered. 

However, even some of the highest-scoring coffees you can source will have some defective beans in a bag. Even if it only affects a minuscule percentage of the lot, one or two customers may end up with undesirable flavours when they brew them. 

By using specialised equipment to filter out unwanted beans, Ilias tells me that quality standards can be 100% upheld, improving consistency across the board.

“We know that it is impossible to avoid unintended mistakes in every case – that is human error,” he says. “However, we do aim to reduce them to a minimum.” 

New equipment & blending

So, we know modern equipment can help to improve quality standards for roasting single origin coffees. But what about blends?

For more established roasters, signature blends can make up a significant part of the business. Roasting a well-balanced and repeatable coffee at a more affordable price can be a great way for specialty coffee roasters to appeal to larger markets.

However, to get the most out of the beans used in a blend, most roasters roast each constituent coffee separately and then mix them. 

Overall, this can be taxing, with plenty of extra steps compared to roasting single origins. 

In pursuit of a more efficient workflow and looking for ways to cut outdated procedures, Yiannis tells me that Taf has significantly improved its blending process. 

“We were, and still are, using a Probat P60 and an R120,” he says. “This equipment has not been replaced as it is not only fully functional, but it is also designed to roast high-quality coffees for an extended period of time.

“However, to improve our blending, we added another roaster, a Probat G120 Retro, which substantially increases our daily production capacity. We connected the existing P60 and R120 to the G120, and created a ‘chain’ between them with a system known as Cablevey.”

Yiannis explains that the Cablevey system actually automatically transports the roasted coffee across the roastery for blending, before moving the completed blend to the packaging area. 

Automatically moving large batches of roasted coffee from the individual roasters also removes the need for people to carry large quantities of beans around. Once they’re transported by Cablevey, all the production roasters need to do is fill and seal each bag.

Staying authentic

With automation becoming the name of the game across the coffee sector, there are concerns that new equipment can detract from the authenticity and craft that characterises specialty coffee culture.

Yiannis, however, disagrees. He says that the equipment they have added to their set up has, if anything, allowed Taf’s roasting team to focus more on the quality of their products. 

“Our artisan and craft has not been affected in any shape or form,” he explains. “The upgrade has only facilitated the steps we take on a daily basis. 

“We control the roasting process step by step, and the head roaster is always on top of everything.”

For instance, in a commercial coffee roastery, the head roaster has additional responsibilities, which are typically administrative or logistical in nature. Minimising these allows them to instead focus on the quality of the coffee they’re roasting. 

Yiannis also notes that the new workflow implemented will benefit the company by increasing production capacity without increasing labour in any way.

“The upgrade and expansion benefit us by increasing efficiency, consistency, quality, and safety, as well as improving flexibility and speed,” he says. “We are happy and proud to say that our roastery keeps growing, and we’ve found a way to use the advanced technology to our benefit.”

Around the world, specialty coffee roasters are rightly proud of the quality of their coffee as well as the authenticity and craft with which they roast it.

However, continuing to leverage this as you grow in both reputation and size is easier said than done. While many roasters will be able to accommodate a certain amount of growth, there is always a point at which additional workload becomes a problem.

By using modern equipment in the right way, roasters can maintain quality and drive up efficiency while still keeping that same artisan, hand-crafted ethos and holding the same values.

Enjoyed this? Then read this article on the role of a Head of Coffee in the roastery.

Photo credits: Taf

Please note: Taf is a sponsor of Perfect Daily Grind.

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