Write the brief
Origin or zone, process, grade, cup profile, volume, delivery port and timing. A specific brief gets a specific shortlist.
Importing coffee: the buyer's route.
How an importer or roaster gets green coffee from an origin to a warehouse, in the order the work happens. We write it from the buyer's side because that is where Kaffa Bridge sits. We act for the buyer, find the lot, vet the licensed exporter and stay with the shipment.
Six steps, in order.
Read the dossier
Each lot carries its station, harvest window, process, moisture, water activity, screen distribution and Q score with its scoresheet.
Cup a sample
Samples come from the actual lot. Two come from one draw: one to you, one held against the shipment.
Agree the terms
Price is on enquiry, FOB Djibouti or CFR your port. The minimum order is one full container load (1 FCL). Payment terms come with the offer.
Check the paperwork
The set is a phytosanitary certificate, a certificate of origin, an ECX grade certificate and a bill of lading. If you sell into the EU, ask the EUDR question now.
Ship and land
The container travels with its documents. Moisture and water activity are read again when it lands, against the sample you approved.
Where the money and the risk sit.
- FOB Djibouti
- The seller delivers the coffee on board at the port of Djibouti. The buyer pays and arranges the ocean freight from there.
- CFR your port
- The seller also pays the freight to the port you name. In both cases the risk passes to the buyer once the coffee is on board.
- Minimum order
- One full container load (1 FCL). Samples are separate and come before you commit.
- Price
- On enquiry. It depends on the lot, grade, volume and timing, so it is given with the offer. The pricing and FOB guide shows how to compare two quotes.
Before you commit, ask every supplier.
- Which process, which grade, and what is the Q score? Ask for the scoresheet, not the adjective.
- What are the moisture and water activity readings, and will they be read again on landing?
- Which documents travel with the container, and in what order will you receive them?
- If you sell into the EU: how will the supplier meet the deforestation regulation, and when? Plot-level geolocation for our lots is in build, and we do not describe it as running.
- Who is the exporter, who vetted them, and who acts for you if something does not match the sample?
What Kaffa Bridge does in this route.
We are the buyer's sourcing agent. We take the brief, shortlist lots from exporters we have vetted at origin, have each lot read at an independent lab before it ships and again on landing, and stay with the shipment. We are not the exporter and we do not own farms or washing stations.
Import rules differ by destination. We have verified the EU deforestation regulation and describe it on the regulation page. We do not describe other destination rules until they are checked against a primary source.
Send your brief.
Cup profile, process, volume and timing. The more specific the brief, the more specific the shortlist. If nothing fits, we say so.
Send your brief
Tell us the shape of it and we reply with something specific. No commitment.
Received.
We reply from coffee@kaffabridge.co.uk, in your timezone.
We could not send this just now. Send it by email instead.