I'm starting this thread to address a small group of green coffee buyers who fall between the two obvious buying niches. One group, the commercial roasters, generally buy coffee in full bags or even containers. Another group, home roasters, typically buy in small quantities of a few pounds of any given coffee.

If one has a commercial or other large roaster (which would include a BBQ drum), one might go through too much coffee yearly to be easily supplied by the home roaster suppliers, but not enough coffee to deal with typical wholesalers and importers.

I was given the name of an importer who sometimes splits coffee bags and sells those split bags for a modest "upcharge." There are probably also other importers/wholesales who will do that, and other wholesalers will sell in full bags that could weigh anywhere from 110 lbs to maybe 150 lbs.

If I found a coffee I really liked, I could see buying 30 or maybe even 50 lbs of it, but not several times that. I'd imagine there are some others of us out there who are in a similar situation.

One obvious issue is cupping, which I don't really feel qualified to do; in this sense it would be better to deal with high end importers/distributors who have a track record with their cupping and who can be relied upon. The wholesaler I just contacted does do their own cupping and they do make references to independent cuppings such as those by Ken Davids.

I am trying to get an idea whether there is interest among other home baristas in participating in an informal "buying club" or being on a list like this. I'm not talking about a formal organization with a structure, like the Green Bean Coop, rather getting together a list of interested people and what their tastes and purchasing habits are. Personally speaking, I am looking for coffees suitable for making SO espresso. Other people may have different tastes.

If we can get a critical mass of large volume home roasters who can make relationships with importers and distributors, there is the potential that we could get access to some really fine coffees at attractive prices. Personally speaking, I have no interest in buying a 132lb bag of coffee and splitting it into 5lb lots, mailing off 25 different 5lb packages at the post office. I could see buying a large bag of coffee and splitting it 2-4 ways, which would be a minimal nuisance. This is why I am soliciting interest from those among us home roasters who roast enough green coffee per year to fit in between the two major market niches I outlined above (home use and commercial).

For myself, I'd be happy putting together a list of other interested people that could be contacted when an opportunity to do a group buy on a good bag of coffee presented itself. Hopefully I would be on other peoples' lists also and we could then just contact those other people who are looking for similar coffees in a given case.

Please let me know your thoughts on this idea.

ken

Hey Ken, I'm sure you've run across it already, but sweet maria's has a sort of alter ego called coffee shrub http://www.coffeeshrub.com/shrub/content/about-shrub that sells 30 and 60 pound bags. It seems like their goal is to supply mid sized roasting operations like you mention. I'm not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for but maybe a start or a good place to call for importer contacts.

kmills wrote:Hey Ken, I'm sure you've run across it already, but sweet maria's has a sort of alter ego called coffee shrub http://www.coffeeshrub.com/shrub/content/about-shrub that sells 30 and 60 pound bags. It seems like their goal is to supply mid sized roasting operations like you mention. I'm not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for but maybe a start or a good place to call for importer contacts.

Thanks for the info, Kendall. I think that sourcing of good coffees in the quantities I've mentioned is going to require a multifaceted approach. Coffee Shrub might be a good addition to the options out there, but it still means basically being limited to the list of coffees that SMs sells. I'm looking for a lot more choices.

ken

Hi ken,
You can count me in as one of the list of potentially-interested people.

I sometimes end up buying 20-50 pounds of a SO if I really like it and it's available. for example, in the last 2 years I've been through over 100 pounds of the Brasil Morenheina Formosa coffee that I use for a nice SO and as the base for many of my home blends.

It seems that 4 people per bag ends up being roughly 35 pounds, 6 people would be roughly 25 pounds each. I wouldn't want to personally worry about quantities less than 15 pounds per person, so a big bag could possibly be split 10 ways (packing and shipping 10 boxes wouldn't be a problem for me personally).

Anyway - thanks for the thread. This is something you've mentioned in the past and I always thought it'd be a good idea.

Cheers,
Jon

JonR10 wrote:Hi ken,
You can count me in as one of the list of potentially-interested people.

I sometimes end up buying 20-50 pounds of a SO if I really like it and it's available. for example, in the last 2 years I've been through over 100 pounds of the Brasil Morenheina Formosa coffee that I use for a nice SO and as the base for many of my home blends.

It seems that 4 people per bag ends up being roughly 35 pounds, 6 people would be roughly 25 pounds each. I wouldn't want to personally worry about quantities less than 15 pounds per person, so a big bag could possibly be split 10 ways (packing and shipping 10 boxes wouldn't be a problem for me personally).

Anyway - thanks for the thread. This is something you've mentioned in the past and I always thought it'd be a good idea.

Cheers,
Jon

Hi Jon,

The way that this idea could make sense logistically and cost-wise would be for whatever group we can put together to have individuals contact coffee importers and distributors that are in the same region, for example, the West Coast would probably be in "my region." As an example, It is not going to make sense for me to buy coffee from an importer on the East Coast, pay the shipping to Idaho, then reship the coffee in smaller boxes back east, although having someone on the East Coast take delivery might work for shipping from there.

Doing this ourselves as a small group would enable us to eliminate setting up an organizational structure with its necessary costs. If I found a bag of some promising sounding DP Ethiopian, I could either post it and ask people to contact me (Dan allowing) or I could simply contact people directly who have previously indicated interest in that type of coffee. I would then charge my exact costs to whomever I sent the coffee to. If there is no structure to it, then Jon could decide to sell in 10 or 15lb lots, and I might decide to only do it in larger lots. If I couldn't sell a given coffee in the larger lots, then I could change my mind and then drop down to smaller quantities in order to unload it. Once we start dropping down into smaller lot sizes, however, the more we would start to resemble one of the buying options already available (SM, Klatch, Coop, et. al.)

Depending on the coffee, I'd probably be willing to risk getting stuck with 30 or 50lbs extra of something if I couldn't sell it, but I'd imagine this would not be a likely outcome.

ken

Ken Fox wrote:Hi Jon,

The way that this idea could make sense logistically and cost-wise would be for whatever group we can put together to have individuals contact coffee importers and distributors that are in the same region....

I agree with you entirely and am totally on board with the "no structure" concept. And I have already made (indirect) contact with a local distributor and am arranging to get some samples to try out.

I would be interested in high quality green coffee, for espresso, in the 10-20 lb size lots... I'm on West Coast (I roast in a Behmor about 60-65 lbs a year) but, I usually use a blend, rather than SO... 10 - 15 lbs each of 3 different beans that could be blended would be most desirable.

Howard

I may be interested. I tried selling coffee but was quickly overwhelmed doing 2lb batches and now keep it down to a very few friends. Some weeks I had the time but other weeks were a nightmare. Folks can become easily addicted to your coffee and telling them you're out for a few days doesn't go over well. Just not ready to get into a bigger roaster. Shipping is a big issue. Before I stopped I was about to connect with a local roaster friend to see if I could add a bag or 2 to his shipment from the importer to save on costs. Would be best to have someone close enough to the quality importers to be able to pick them up. Many of the better lots are now direct trade with group buys which might also work ok if a connection with one of these groups could happen. Timing is an issue also, some of the best lots at importers sell out very fast.

The first five months I started roasting I bought a lot of small batches of coffee because I really didn't know what I was buying and had to sample to understand. In the past couple months I have focused on the ones that I really like and ended up buying as much as 30 pounds of one of them. Several I have bought 15-20 pounds. I think I am at the point that I could participate in the purchase of high quality selective beans. Also, I think I may be able to work with the local coffee service that buys large quantities of beans from the larger importers and share it as well. Just a thought.

As for Coffee Shrub I think if you check their coffees you will find very few duplicated at Sweet Maria's.

Please count me in.

Bob

You can count me in, I'll split a 60K Bag 2, 3 or 4 ways. Please include me in on the ongoing developments.