Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
Issue link: http://freshcup.epubxp.com/i/43236
ROASTERS REALM Assessing the direct approach BY POUL MARK A F 54 s specialty coffee continues to grow its market share and consumers show higher demand for better quality, more and more small roasters are considering a direct-trade model to source their coffee. This trend is relatively new within the specialty market, and while it may seem like a good idea on the surface, roasters need to think long and hard about the costs associated with a direct-trade model before getting on a plane to visit a farm. irst let's examine what direct trade actually means. One of the basic—and most interesting—issues facing this new category is the fact that there's no clear-cut defini- tion of the concept. However, some roasters have taken the initiative of establishing their own standards, and in the process they're creating a de facto list of direct-trade expectations, both for consumers and other roasters looking to get in the game. By looking at the language on Web sites of leading roasters such as Counter Culture, Intelligentsia and Stumptown, one can start to identify some key elements where there appears to be agreement within the industry. A direct-trade business model requires a real and tangible rela- Fresh Cup Magazine freshcup.com tionship between the roaster and the coffee producer. This rela- tionship needs to go beyond a purchasing relationship established through an importer. In other words, direct-trade relationships require a tangible connection where someone from the roasting company has actually been to the producer's farm (on an ongoing basis) and established meaningful contact. I would argue from personal experience that this relationship must be more than a one-year affair. It's hard for me to deem it a meaningful relation- ship when a company makes a brief visit to a farm, buys 20 bags and then never deals with that producer again. Real relationships imply mutual benefits, which further imply intentional long-term interaction. This then gets into how a roaster's interaction with a producer creates value that goes beyond finances. The idea of quality is another common element in attempt- ing to define direct trade. Quality within the specialty market is a moving target—and a grand subject that could make for its own article. For me and many other roasters, however, pursuit of quality on some level is what led to the direct-trade business model. Here's what happened in my case: I began to understand what leads to great tasting coffee, and I started demanding a level of quality that many importers had difficulty delivering. As COURTESY OF TRANSCEND COFFEE/POUL MARK