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Blog: The Source

Your gateway to all things green coffee buying, selling, and coffee markets. Education, real stories, and market updates to help roasters and producers build true direct trade relationships.

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Want to dive into direct trade?  Get across green buying and selling? You’re in the right place.

Origin news

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Will there be enough rain in Brazil to put out the fire in the C-market?

The next few months are going to be key in figuring out if coffee prices stay high and just how tight supply will be. For now, green buyers might need to prepare for more price swings. Waiting it out is getting riskier, so a lot of roasters are already raising their own prices.

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Are there crop failures hiding in Brazil? The 2024 harvest update

Brazil is producing and exporting a lot of coffee but things are far from smooth. While volumes are good, producers need more cherries to build exportable coffee lots. With crop failures lurking in the forecasts, here’s what green buyers need to know to talk coffee with suppliers.

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Peruvian coffee is in demand and might sell out faster than you think

Exporters and cooperatives from Peru are seeing a surge in contracts despite high parchment prices. Leaf rust has led to a short supply of clean cup lots—just when Peruvian coffee became the go-to option to cover shipping delays from Ethiopia. Get the full picture here.

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How the end of the zoning law is affecting Rwanda's  coffee harvest

Fresh samples from Rwanda are on the way. They will be available between the end of May and early June, as the country’s harvest moves to its final stage.

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Green buying and roastery

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Build your direct sourcing program

Discover the behind-the-scenes of coffee export and import, learn the lingo of contracts, nail quality protocols, and hear directly from producers about direct trade — all in our two-day workshop in Zurich.

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Sourcing Brazil for blends & espresso? Up your skills with this green grading guide

Sourcing Brazil for blends & espresso? Up your skills with this green grading guide

Struggling to find a volume coffee from Brazil that fits your budget? You’re not the only one. Learn about how coffee is graded in this origin and discover what options you have to source a good lot at a price that works for you and the producer.

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Coffee prices are high. Should I contract now or wait?

Coffee prices are high. Should I contract now or wait?

Arabica futures have risen since November 2023, hitting lockdown levels and leaving buyers at a standstill. But origins like Brazil and Peru are in season and waiting might be a bad call. Let’s explore what’s happening in the market and the solutions to help you secure supply.

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How to make sense of FOB prices for better buying decisions

How to make sense of FOB prices for better buying decisions

FOB is the standard for coffee contracts but it doesn’t tell you how much farmers get paid. Yet, farm gate prices are not always available to begin with. Yes, it’s tricky. We explain why FOB is the norm and how you can use it to make the right sourcing choices.   

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Featured resources

Direct sourcing 2024-25 calendar for green buyers

Your 18-month guide to shipments and arrivals, helping you plan ahead and enjoy the unique benefits of working directly with producers.

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Algrano Market Trends Report 2023

Discover how roasters in Europe and the USA are buying green coffee and how industry leaders are tackling today’s economic challenges. Available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

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Bell Lane and Fazenda Canta Galo

The roastery used Algrano’s services to build a key producer relationship. Why? So they have the right tools for value-based sales and can keep customers loyal without fighting price wars.
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The Big Short: inside today’s coffee trading crisis

In 2008, the world awakened in a financial crisis. Big banks got bigger. Not safer, but bigger. There was consolidation in the financial industry. But consolidation was just the result of a worldwide crisis in which we ended up because of unchecked speculation.

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New Ethiopian coffee harvest: price, quality & what to expect in 2024

This year, the Minimum Registration Prices were announced in November, before any new crop coffee was ready to export. The measure is an attempt to reassure unhappy green buyers after a season of high prices and subpar quality.

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How to make good coffee accessible & increase the roastery's reach

When operational costs go up and consumers have less money to spend, specialty coffee roasters have to be creative. In this blog, we’ll share the takeaways of the Ready to Rumble webinar series with four industry experts in Europe and the USA.

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Algrano Market Trends Report 2023

Discover how roasters in Europe and the USA are buying green coffee and how industry leaders are tackling today’s economic challenges. Available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

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Roasting colombian coffee with Crankhouse and April Coffee

Specialty coffee roasters Dave Stanton of Crankhouse and Joseph Fisher of April Coffee share their approach to roasting and profiles for Colombian coffees. Read about the country's processing history and the versatility of the coffees produced here.

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How to roast Ethiopian coffee with Horsham and Pikola - part 2

How to choose a roast profile for Ethiopian coffee, adapt the same lot for filter or espresso, and get an even roast with beans of different sizes.

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How to roast Ethiopian coffee with Horsham and Pikola - part 1

Learn how to roast Ethiopian coffee for filter or espresso, modulate the profile of dense beans and get an even roast with beans of different screen sizes.

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How We Calibrate With Sellers & our IKAWA Profile for Ethiopian Coffee

The role of Algrano’s quality lab is to represent coffee well on behalf of sellers without inflating scores or writing sales-y flavour descriptions. To get the balance right, QC Manager Jessica Giacetti keeps the evaluation simple and explains her cupping notes in detail to both buyers and sellers.

In this blog, she explains why she likes to exchange profiles with farmers and shares her roast profile for Ethiopian coffee.

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European Green Deal: what the EU deforestation ban means for coffee

Last week, a friend sent me a link on Instagram. An angry person shared an article from a Kenyan web Apparently, the EU had banned Kenyan coffee, pulling the carpet from under producers’ feet once again.

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Two Jaén cooperatives addressing deforestation in coffee production

Deforestation has become a common ground for Peruvian coffee. By promoting the planting of timber trees, cooperatives promote reforestation and facilitate access to smallholder financing in Peru.

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Why source organic coffee from Brazil?

Only 0.3% of Brazil's coffee is organic. It's hard to get and considered expensive by many roasters. But Brazil has the scale and technology to lead organic  production. Learn about the country's history and why a Swiss roaster chose this origin for their main organic espresso.

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Coffee Procurement 101: What Information Producers Need From Roasters?

If you can’t find the coffee you want on the marketplace, you can ask producers for more samples. You just need to give them the right information. Learn how to communicate about quality, price, and preparation to find the right coffee for your roastery.

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