How to import Colombian coffee

[quindio]

I have family members who live in Quindio, Colombia. They produce coffee and are looking to export directly to the USA. They can export green coffee or roasted beans.

Anyone with experience or information on how to help them find a market up in the states would be appreciated. I was just down to visit last month and I have some samples of roasted beans. The grow the coffee on a large finca in Buenavista and roast the coffee in Montenegro.

I look forward to your replies.

Pat P

 

[pdxmatt]

I'm a very small roaster but have begun importing coffee from small farms successfully. I'll send you a pm with some details, but I've found getting a good customs broker is priceless. This is what they do and can provide valuable advice on things like shipping and other details.

Matt

 

[eldub]

PDX: What is the size of shipments are you bringing in?

I'm guessing the customs broker is finding containers with enough space for your orders?

I'd be interested in learning more. Please pm me if possible.

Thanks.

Scott

 

[ciclo]

pdxmatt and quindio

our family also has fantastic coffee from their farm in antioquia, colombia. we also need help to contact brokers to import to buyers in the us.

we have done business with our coffee, roasted and packaged in colombia, and sold at farmers markets. everyone who tries it loves it. the biggest problems, quindio, are our costs from farm to whlesale or retail (about $5) and the question of roast freshness. the tastedoes hold for several weeks, but people want more recently roasted coffee. you can do some nice business bringing coffee here.

I would be grateful for any broker names and contacts, please.

 

[quindio]

Hi Ciclo,

I have not made any broker contacts yet. I think there might be one in the Boston area but I have not contacted them yet. From what I have researched seems like most importers want green coffee beans. It is harvest time now in Quindio, Colombia. So I am going to wait a bit until I research more. Good luck with your farm in Antioquia. We visited Medallin this past summer and loved the city and people!

 

[sweetsharon75]

My boyfriend and I are looking to start a business selling roasted coffee beans and are interested in coffee from central america. We are new to this business but would like any information on how we can get started. Quindio, I wouldnt mind getting more information about your family's coffees and if I can obtain enough information to get us started, I would love to possibly start up an import business with your family's plantation. Thank you!

 

[eldub]

Sharon: I don't know how to break this to you, but a person in your position (new to the business ) doesn't need to import beans, especially all ready roasted, when just starting out.

No offense, but I really doubt you know enough about grading, importing or marketing coffee beans to take that plunge at this point in time.

I suggest you look into learning more about roasting beans maybe consider getting into that end of the business. Trust me, you will be better off in the long run by adding value to a product and selling something freshly roasted. Plenty of importers (who know shat they are doing) will sell you green beans.

 

[EdMCGRATH]

I know this is an old post. I have an old high school friend who has a small Colombian farm with 5000 coffee plants. He sent five pounds of his beans and we roasted them, they are great! I want to purchase his crop and ship it to California. where do I start?

 

[ensoluna]

too much hassle for importing only 5,000 lbs of green bean coffee from Colombia.
FYI, 5000 plant will produce about 5000 lbs of exportable green coffee.

And since one container (20") will have about 41,250 lbs of green beans, you need to consolidate this bean with someone else to be exported out.
by yourself is too expensive.
you need to contact a freight forwarding company who specialize in coffee exportation and who has USA LA coffee storage certified warehouse on their own to export the coffees for you.
also, I believe that you might need to get some other permits in order to get this coffee imported since it is food.
for these regulations and applications, you need to contact "someone" in LA. that I do not know.

the easiest way would be contact LA based coffee importer who buys from Colombia and along with their normal goods, just pig-bag your shipment with them. of course, they will charge you some fee which you need to work it out with them.
this might be the most easy way of importing the small amount of coffee.

 

[dlhklh44]

Ideas on getting started

My fiance is an coffee enthusiast and a musician. He has an online store and because he loves coffee I suggested he think about creating his own brand and coupling the product with his music. Does anyone have any suggestions on how we should attempt to import coffee so that he could have product to brand and sell?

 

[austinbaines]

Colombian Coffees are commonly known to be big, rich, chocolaty coffees with exceptional fragrance and often great acidity. Colombia has many diverse growing regions, so the coffee varies mildly from region to region. I like Colombian coffee.

 

[PinkRose]

My fiance is an coffee enthusiast and a musician. He has an online store and because he loves coffee I suggested he think about creating his own brand and coupling the product with his music. Does anyone have any suggestions on how we should attempt to import coffee so that he could have product to brand and sell?

Are you looking to sell coffee along with the other items that are offered from his online store?

Have you thought about contacting a local roaster to see if you could make a deal to have a special blend of coffee roasted and packaged with your name and logo on it?

 

[ensoluna]

Colombian Coffees are commonly known to be big, rich, chocolaty coffees with exceptional fragrance and often great acidity. Colombia has many diverse growing regions, so the coffee varies mildly from region to region. I like Colombian coffee.

yes, I agree partially. "some good Colombia coffee" has the characteristics you have mentioned. however, not all 100% Colombia coffee are great, like any other coffee growing countries.
BTW, going back to quindio question, do you know how to import Colombia coffee into USA?

 

[wwcove]

Contact BODHI Leaf in LA area if you have great coffee. They might be interested in buying your coffee. We actually have a friend that flies to PNG and brings tons of coffee on his private plane and can sell it for as little as $2.70-3.20 lb. that may be a consideration. I have no idea of the export laws on that but I guess it's worth the trip to him and his partner...

 

[ensoluna]

Contact BODHI Leaf in LA area if you have great coffee. They might be interested in buying your coffee. .

As i have heard, Bodhi carries some nice coffee. Recently my friend, Justin from Van Dyke, bought some Geisha from Esmeralda from them. it was totally magnificent. (probably great roasting got something to do with it also).

however, to say honestly, I do not have good experience providing coffee samples to Steve at Bodhi.
He asked me for some SOC samples few month back which we had to go thru some good effort to provide, but after he cupped (supposedly he cupped), he just said " they are okay, but not needed" without giving me any cupping reports nor any other detailed cupping information. His excuse was that he was too busy to write down the report for me. that was it. it cost us a lot of time and money to send samples over from Guatemala, but that was his reply.

so, if you are trying to send him some samples, please somehow make it sure that he really cups them and give you the report.

PS: just for your info, the report and buyers honest & detailed information on samples are very important for our exporters because when we know the buyers tastes and his preferences in coffee, we can provide right samples next time. Basically, every buyers are different. they all have different tastes in coffee. As coffee exporter, we must know this, so that we can fully understand what he is looking for.

FYI, at that time, about 5 month ago, we sent out samples to 7 customers, and he was the only one who did not provide any cupping info.