Hello everyone! It has been awhile since we’ve posted information about a coffee origin, as it’s been awhile since we’ve had new information to present to you. Recently we’ve been in talks with a trader from China, who has presented us with an offer to sell specialty Yunnan-grown coffee to North America. 

Below are the notes we got our contact in China. In regards to the price, these are still estimates, as the freight rate used in our calculation can be confirmed only if/when the order gets shipped.  This should help you to get a ballpark figure as to what the final price would be. 

Chinese Coffee Details

Name

Variety

Processing

Flavor Notes

Price List (USD/pound)

Dongka (14-16)

Catimor P3/P4

 Washed 

Nutty, Caramel, Rooibos Tea Like

$    3.534

Dongka (17+)

Catimor P3/P4

 Washed 

Yellow Apricot, Dark Chocolate, Nutty, Caramel

$    3.757

Laga

Catimor

 ASD Natural 

Tropical Fruit Jam, Jackfruit, Rose, Raspberry

$    4.739

Banka (17+)

T8667

 Natural 

Orange, Berries, Brown Sugar

$    4.739

Kagu

T8667

 Washed 

Jasmine Tea, Lemon, Honey, Sugar Cane

$    4.427

Banka

T8667

 Washed 

Orange, Berries, Brown Sugar, Nuts, White Tea

$    3.802

TianKeng

Sarchimor

 Honey 

Purple Flower, Dry Kumquat, Grapefruit, Brown Sugar

$    8.666

QingSong

Catimor 

 Fermented Washed 

White Flower, Brown Sugar, Nutty, Green Tea

$    9.113

 

Our Ask

Please let me know if there were any varieties from this list that you want. As you can imagine, it puts us in a tough position if we get told you’re interested and then when we bring in the coffee, you back out. Since it is our first order of Chinese coffee, we will be placing the order if we get enough interest from customers like you.

If you are interested in placing an order, or curious to learn more, please contact us either using our Contact Us form, or by calling 905-415-0778 x 213 (Muhammed Abbas’s extension). 

If we can get the order set up in the next few weeks, then we can forecast that the shipment to be in our warehouse around the end of November. Of course, this depends on if/when we put an order in for this coffee, and how quick it is to get the container and the coffee on board.

Green Coffee Market Prices
The ICO Composite Indicator Price (I-CIP) averaged 176.41 US cents/lb in January, a 0.4% increase from December 2023.

The I-CIP posted a median value of 173.90 US cents/lb, having fluctuated between 171.08 and 185.54 US cents/lb.

The January 2024 I-CIP is above the January 2023 I-CIP by 12.4%, with the 12-month rolling average at 166.85 US cents/lb.

The I-CIP grew steadily in January 2024, reaching a ten-month high.

Importantly, the Robustas have reached their highest level since November 1994 when they averaged 153.33 US cents/lb.
Read more: https://www.icocoffee.org/documents/cy2023-24/cmr-0124-e.pdf?mc_cid=3acfbd4b69

Green Coffee Price
Robustas reach 25-year high, averaging 135.47 US cents/lb in December 2023. The ICO Composite Indicator Price (I-CIP) averaged 175.73 US cents/lb in December, an 8.8% increase from November 2023. The I-CIP posted a median value of 177.64 US cents/lb, having fluctuated between 163.92 and 186.04 US cents/lb. The December 2023 I-CIP is above the December 2022 I-CIP by 11.8%, with the 12-month rolling average at 165.23 US cents/lb. The I-CIP grew steadily in December 2023, reaching a nine-month high. The rise in tensions in the Red Sea has prompted some shipping lines to re-route their coffee-carrying vessels. Thus, for South-East Asian and East African coffee en route to Europe, unintended consequences include a rise in freight costs as some shipping companies have introduced surcharges to account for the now-extended transit times.
Read more: https://www.icocoffee.org/documents/cy2023-24/cmr-1223-e.pdf?mc_cid=94006c239a

A recent paper published in Matter magazine on December 6, 2023 has caught our and the coffee world’s attention. It describes that adding some water, just a few spritzes for personal use, to your beans before grinding can lead to less coffee grinds being wasted and a more consistent and even flow when pulling espresso shots. The paper is linked here and is not behind a paywall at the time of this blog post.

The paper details how static builds up inside your grinder. One type of static is due to the coffee’s contact with the burrs, and the other type of static is due to the coffee’s contact to the grinder and other beans. The authors argue that the static would lead to some coffee grinds flying away, as well as creating “boulders”. The paper proposes adding some water, which would reduce the amount of charge built up inside the grinder, allowing the coffee grinds to not become charged.

James Hoffmann, a coffee expert and a World Barista Champion, goes through the main highlights in his video. He discusses some of his concerns and questions relating to the paper.

Have you noticed any differences in terms of taste when adding water to your coffee before grinding? We’d love to hear your experiences.  Please let us know what you thought on our Contact Us Form.

July 13, 2016

Colombia Truck Strike ~ Update

Colombia TruckThe Colombian Coffee Federation issued a statement on the latest situation on the Truck Strike in Colombia:
“The negotiations between the government and the truckers have broken off. Unfortunately the FNC has decided that we need to get out of the market until there is a clearer picture on where negotiations are going and how quickly we can deliver the backlog.

As you have heard and seen during the past weeks, the strike situation has worsened. A strike of this magnitude creates huge disruptions across the board.  FNC has been actively taking measures to try to move as much coffee as it is possible, but as the strike worsens, the supply of truckers willing to move cargo has thinned out. There are several contingency actions by our logistics team including massive reallocation’s and reprogramming but these have all been dependent on the truckers delivering their commitments. As a result, these reallocation’s have multiplied the logistic burden dramatically. An example of a contingency action taken is organizing caravans with security escorts (from the purchasing stations to the mills as well as from the mills to the ports). Depending on road blockages as well as security concerns, these caravans are increasingly being cancelled. A cancellation forces our logistics team to reprogram the trucking (if they can get it) as well as re-book shipments among other operational activities. Most of this is not automated and it is labor consuming. Unfortunately, this has been a daily issue for an important volume of containers. As time has passed, there are fewer guarantees for the truck drivers’ safety, worsening the disruption and flow.

The government is working hard to solve the situation but as in any negotiation like this, it is complex.
Please note though that the bottleneck transcends coffee business as all goods are being affected.

If the strike ends soon (before the end of July), it will take about a month simply to recover the backlog (shipments prior to July). In this sense, by the end of August, all the shipments prior to June should be shipped out, with July partially shipped. This would leave a recovery time for the balance of July, most of August and part of September.

Please understand that this is out of our hands and we are doing our best to cope with the situation. Although we are aware of the bottlenecks that will come, we are planning to be ready for the settlement of the strike. However, given the aforementioned restrictions, we will have to work very hard to get up to speed once the strike ends as many variables are out of our control.”

July 13, 2016
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