Thanks Lee, this is honestly a gold mine of insight from someone actually buying, roasting and selling coffee. Really appreciate you taking the time to explain it from the practitioner side.
It also helps clarify the gap between the reality of coffee pricing and how we perceive value as home buyers.
The risk roasters take between pre-shipment samples and landed coffee is something I hadn’t fully appreciated. If quality can shift that much in transit or storage, then I can see why pricing and margins are not as simple as greens + expenses + markup.
The point about some lots ending up close to break-even is also useful context. It does make a higher price on genuinely good coffee easier to understand, especially when the roaster is absorbing risk elsewhere.
Also, the idea that 80-point coffee is probably a low quality in this context is a bit of an eye-opener at least for me.
Pleased to hear you think quality is generally improving too, especially if higher prices are becoming the new normal. Haha.
Washed first, then naturals for me. Kenyans are my favourites. I can enjoy some yeast or thermal shock lots, but I generally try to steer away from anaerobics as much as possible.
Really useful answers, thanks again. This has definitely helped me think about coffee prices with a bit more balance. Hopefully, it helps like wise for others.