Coffee

Importing starts with green coffee that is completely processed and ready for export from the origin country. Typically, shipped in 20 foot containers of 275 to 320 bags (70kb or 60kg) or less. It could also be loaded bulk, therefore enabling more beans to be shipped, lowering the shipping costs on a per pound/kilo basis.

From the USA, specialty coffees are most often purchased by importers or individual roasters via an FOB Contract. FOB (Free On Board) means that the price paid by the buyer includes all of the costs in the exporting country, including processing, inland transport, warehousing, dock fees, export fees and loading the container onto the ship. Ownership passes from the seller to the buyer once the container passes over the rail of the ship. The ships captain prepares the Bill of Lading that you will present to your bank to prove the coffee is now on the ship.

The exporter will need a bank that can handle international interbank transactions. Preferably one that is experienced in export document requirements. If not well established at this type of transaction, the exporter will not want to extend credit to any buyer, but will require payment terms: CAD (Cash Against Documents).

A CAD transaction enables the exporter to have payment deposited into his bank account after presenting to the bank the required documents proving that the coffee purchased by the importer (buyer) meets the specifications in the coffee purchase contract/agreement. The exporter’s bank will determine exactly what documents are required.

These documents may include:

- Ocean Bill of Lading (from the freight liner after the coffee is loaded on the ship)
- Weight Notes to identify the exact content and weight of that content
- Certificate of Origin (issued by the government Customs authority in India)
- Certificate of Fumigation (if required by importing country)
- ICO Certificate of Origin (Approved by the ICO: International Coffee Organization)
- Invoice sent to buyer identify the details of the purchase and $Value.
- Packing List from seller as evidence of the product shipped.
- Other agricultural certificates as dictated in your country

Typically, the exporter will use an Export Broker in the origin country who is expert in these matters and can arrange all of the issues involved in preparing the coffee and the documents for export. If a broker is the seller/exporter, then he will handle all of the required export documentation. The buyer/importer arranges for payment, ocean freight and transport insurance. It’s also the importer’s responsibility for acquiring all import documentation and arrangement in his country.

Of course, finding buyers is the key when importing for resell. For information to identify coffee importers, office coffee service providers and specialty gourmet coffee roasters in the United States, you can purchase a membership list from the Specialty Coffee Association of America or from InfoUSA.com. You can use networking sites like, TradeKey as well.

Note: there are always risks associated with importing. Although the importer may have received samples representing the coffee purchased, in most cases the actual coffee received will match the quality grade, type and source, every coffee lot is different, even from the same region and farm.

There are a few ways to lower this risk. One is to be sure you have a “green coffee contract” modeled after the Green Coffee Association Contract Terms & Conditions. Second, be sure to get an export sample taken directly from the contain prior to its being loaded onto the ship, since once the container is on the ship ownership transfers to the importer (FOB contract terms). Finally, when you purchase is large enough, personally knowing who your buying from and even visiting the country to physically select and monitor the export process is an option.

Author, Steve Josephs is CEO of Intellidon Marketing Solutions, whose family office coffee service business, the Great American Coffee Company, http://www.GourmetOfficeCoffee.com, is a premier Specialty coffee roaster and office coffee service provider in the Denver, Colorado metropolitan business community.

Copyright 2009 The Great American Coffee Company and Intellidon Marketing Solutions, Inc.

All rights reserved. Reprints are permissible when this Copyright statement and website link are included.

Author: Steve Josephs
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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The truth is that coffee hits a lot of spots! For centuries, people all around the world have loved coffee, and its popularity is far from waning nowadays. In fact, coffee connoisseurs have more varieties of delicious choices than ever before, as coffee houses, shops, kiosks and specialty carts spring up all over the place.

No matter how you like your coffee, whether it be black, frothy cappuccino, latte, espresso, hot or on ice, the selections available to tempt your taste buds is enormous. The average annual coffee consumption of the American adult is 67 gallons, over 600 cups. In fact, specialty coffee sales are increasing by 20% per year and account for almost 8% of the 18 billion dollar U.S. coffee market. Statistics show that among coffee drinkers, the average consumption in the US is around 2.3 cups of coffee per day. Also, studies find that over one-half of the population, equivalent to approximately 150 million Americans, now drink specialty coffees on a daily basis.

There are currently around 35,000 coffee shops around the United States, with an average $30 billion a year in sales. Based on market research, there will be approximately 42,000 or more independently owned coffee shops in the US by the year 2011. An enterprising business person should look at the gourmet coffee business as a golden opportunity.

Based on research by the National Coffee Association and The Specialty Coffee Association of America, the average price for an espresso based drink is $2.85, while the average price for brewed coffee is $1.38. The average espresso drive-thru business sells approximately 200-300 cups of espresso and coffee based drinks per day. The studies show that men drink as much coffee as women; each consuming an average of 1.6 cups per day. Women tend to be more concerned about price than their male counterparts.

The United States imports over $5 billion worth of coffee every year. Juan Valdez and his little donkey must be keeping very busy! Americans drink 460 million cups of coffee every day, which makes the United States the leading consumer of coffee in the entire world.

A scientific report from the University of California found that the steam rising from a cup of coffee contains the same amounts of antioxidants as three oranges. The antioxidants are heterocyclic compounds which prevents cancer and heart disease. Guess what! Coffee is good for you!

More than half of all Americans, 18 or older, drink coffee every day. This equates to approximately 150 million daily java drinkers. 30 million American adults drink specialty coffee beverages daily; such as mocha, latte, espresso, cafe mocha, cappuccino, frozen/iced coffee beverages, and so on.

Coffee sales are continually rising year after year. And so are the pricing modules! Coffee is the second largest commodity traded, next to oil. If you are looking for a business to get into, coffee is probably the best business for you to consider. Can you think of any other product that has such universal appeal, is easy to get into, and is relatively simple to operate?

Michael Stadneck grew up in Palermo Italy, where he enjoyed the finest gourmet coffee for the first 35 years of his life. As luck would have it, his first job in America was with Nescafe Coffee Company. After five years of hard work he was promoted to take over the specialty coffee franchise department.

Author: Michael Stadneck
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Guest blogger

Have you ever wondered, as you’re sitting in your favorite coffee shop or perhaps at your own kitchen table, sipping your morning cup of gourmet coffee, where that wonderful drink originated at? If you live in the United States, you can thank a man by the name of Alfred Peet. In 1955, Alfred Peet moved to California from Amsterdam, Holland. To his despair, he couldn’t find a decent cup of coffee anywhere. As the son of an Amsterdam coffee trader, he knew good coffee when he drank it.

In 1966, Peet opened a small coffee store in Berkley, California, and began to sell his dark roasted beans. At the time there was one other North American store selling quality coffee, but they were in Vancouver, Canada. From that time until now, Peet’s has served the gourmet coffee needs in Southern California.

While gourmet coffee didn’t come to the States until 1966, coffee has been around since the 9th century, when Ethiopian shepherds notice that their goats would “dance” and had more energy after eating wild coffee beans. Since Islam prohibits the use of alcohol, coffee provided an alternative to wine. From there it spread to Egypt and Yemen. It wasn’t until it reached Arabia that coffee beans were roasted and brewed to make a drink.

At first, this drink was not well received by the Islamic people. In 1511, it was forbidden by the court at Mecca. The drink was so popular, though, that this was overturned in 1524 by the Ottoman Turkish Sultan Selim. It was also banned for a time in Egypt and Ethiopia, before being accepted as an acceptable Muslim drink. This was largely due to the rulers at the time liking the taste of the beverage, therefore decreeing it acceptable.

By the 15th century, coffee was common throughout the Middle East, Persia, Turkey and North Africa. The word “coffee” came from “caffé” in Italy in the 16th century. Before that it was called, in Arabic, “qahwa”. In Venice traders started buying coffee from Africa and the Middle East, and in 1645 the first European coffee house opened.

The Dutch defied the Saudi Arabians prohibition on exportation of coffee by smuggling seedlings from Aden into Europe in 1616. They were also the first country to import coffee on a large scale. They took plants to Java and Ceylon, where they started exporting to the Netherlands in 1711.

Coffee arrived in the United States during the colonial period. When it was first imported, it was not widely drunk in the United States. It wasn’t until the revolutionary war and the shortage of tea, that Americans began drinking it on a regular basis. After the War of 1812, America’s taste for coffee grew and it became a common drink.

As the consumption of coffee grew, so did the companies cultivating, roasting and grinding. The larger companies used (and still do) a blend of Arabica and Robusta beans for a commercial blend, while gourmet coffee is roasted from the Arabica bean alone. Arabica beans are considered the tastiest of the three types of bean and also the most expensive.

Today, coffee is the life-blood of the third world countries that produce it. Over a hundred million people depend on the growth, production and exportation of this flavorful bean.

The next time you pour yourself a wonderful cup of your favorite gourmet blend, consider the origins and history of the coffee bean and how it came to be in your favorite store. The rich history of gourmet coffee is almost as rich and full-bodied as the drink itself which will surely give you even more of that warm and cozy feeling that only a nice cup of coffee can give!

Katya Coen provides information on gourmet coffee for Coffee Online – the site for coffee lovers.

Author: Katya Coen
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Not all coffee beans are grown in environments that consist of huge commercial coffee plantations that are located in remote places in far off southern Latin American countries and it is also another common assumption that growing coffee requires plenty of sunshine as well.

There are however different kinds of coffee crops that grow under different conditions and which use different procedures of harvesting. Thus one can think of two different types of coffee that include the shade grown or organic coffee and the traditional coffee that is grown in direct sunlight.

Two Types Of Coffee

These two types of coffees are diametrically opposite as far as their production is concerned. There was a time when coffee was only grown in the shade and it was much like the present day organic coffee that we drink today. It is not usual for most kinds of coffee to grow properly under direct sunlight and grow at their best when under shade.

Thus shade grown coffee or organic coffee are used to benefiting from the falling of leaves that are instrumental in mulching the soil and helping in retaining moisture. Also, such type of coffee, when grown beneath trees means that the trees provide a home to birds and thus are a way of controlling pests.

Till about thirty years ago there was not much fertilizer or pesticides used and thus organic coffee was synonymous with healthy production. Then, in the seventies a number of new varieties of coffee began to appear and new methods of producing coffee became known which meant production of more Coffee beans, slower rate of harvesting and also use of direct sunlight to grow the crops.

Thus, the coming of non-organic coffee meant that farmers began to cut down on trees so that they could make plantation rows and in the United States alone it meant almost two million acres of land being dedicated to both organic as well as non-organic coffee growth. Only those farmers that were too poor to use fertilizers as well as pesticides continued producing organic coffee.

There is little doubt that organic coffee does cost a bit more, but the transition from organic to the sun coffee has also meant that the environment is being sacrificed. With erosion of soil and the depletion of nutrients, more chemical fertilizers are being sprayed into the ground and there has also been the removal of rainforest land just so that non-organic coffee can be grown.

This has led to just a few countries remaining that are still producing organic coffee and these countries include Ethiopia, Panama, El Salvador and Mexico. The bigger producers of coffee such as Costa Rica and Brazil are now producing sun coffee.

In the end, organic coffee does mean a better and cleaner environment that does produce a better coffee as far as health and a clean environment are concerned.

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Author: John Hilaire
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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The flavor of the coffee bean starts with the plant and the climate where it is grown. But what happens to the bean from picking until it is poured into your cup also has a lot to do with the flavor and the extent that you enjoy the end result or experience disappointment.

Roasting – What it Does

Roasting the coffee beans brings out the vibrant flavor of the beans. The heat from the process causes the coffee bean’s carbohydrates and fats to transform into aromatic oils. Roasting changes the flavor of the beans from something that is unpleasant into the wonderful coffee flavor that millions of people around the world enjoy every day.

There are also different roasting times that coffee beans experience. Each produces a different type of coffee. Light roast produces a light flavor, medium roast is sweeter and more full-bodied, and dark roast produces a deep taste that is fairly spicy and sweet.

The longest roasting time produces the really dark coffee. In those beans the natural sugar content of the beans will start to carbonize and caramelize, resulting in a smoky and full flavor.

Buying the Best Coffee Beans

Most coffee plants rely on the climate of the region where they are planted, and this produces the distinctive flavor found in the coffee cherries. For the very best beans, buy arabica coffee that is considered gourmet. Robusta beans have more caffeine, less flavor and are cheaper to make.

Your Own Coffee Grinder – A Must

People who want the best flavor in their coffee use coffee grinders. If you’d like to get the most flavor and nutritional benefit you can, buy whole coffee beans and grind your own as you use them. In order to enjoy the full flavor of the coffee, you should grind only the amount you intend to use just before brewing.

Keeping the Coffee Beans Fresh

For the best flavor you should purchase whole coffee beans from specialty shops only. After making your purchase, the whole beans should be used within a week of purchase in order to enjoy the full flavor of the coffee. Coffee beans are like sponges, soaking up the flavor of anything in their environment, which is why you want to make sure they are sealed in a air-tight container and used up within seven to ten days.

Coffee drinkers also advise against buying pre-ground coffee since pre-grinding diminishes the coffee flavor and aroma. By purchasing whole beans, grinding the fresh coffee beans and making only enough that you will drink immediately you are preparing a beautiful, intense flavor and aroma.

It wasn’t long ago that people had to depend on percolators and ground coffee. Hardly anyone had their own grinder, and few people had their own percolator. Percolators were for the church potluck or the local coffee shop.

Today we are spoiled to have available the best coffee beans for a reasonable price. In many kitchens there is a roaster, or at least a grinder and coffee maker, and often an espresso machine. This is a great time in history for coffee lovers everywhere.

Carol Stack has written numerous articles about coffee and coffee-related topics. She lives in the United States with her husband, three children, and various dogs and cats. Carol and her sister Barbara have a coffee site devoted to coffee lovers who are searching for a better cup of coffee. You can visit it at: http://www.coffeeloversportal.com

Author: Carol Stack
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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