Looking For Distributors for Colombian Coffee

[Mariposas]

I hope I am posting this in the right section if not please let me know...

I am looking for distributors for my coffee (mariposa azul whole bean coffee in Amazon); the high price that you see is because Amazon fees are quite high in my opinion although I truly consider this EXCELLENT coffee.

I also can sell the green coffee that I am using for my own brand. It is Excelso UGQ, cultivated at 1750 meters above sea level in the region of Caldas, Colombia. Just for references the price today (6/17) for this coffee would be $ 249,15 usd (154 pounds) EXW Manizales, Caldas.
I can ship upwards of 1 bulto (154 pounds), anywhere....

If anyone is interested in trying this coffee, I can give discount coupons for Amazon.

Again, if this is not posted in the right section please let me know and I will move it to where it belongs.

I just discovered this forum and I am truly amazed....., congratulations to all !!!

 

[Mariposas]

although i decided that for the members of this amazing forum i will ship upwards of half a bulto; obviously for lower quantities shipping can be a killer....

 

[PinkRose]

Hello Mariposas,

I'm not totally sure what you're looking for.

Are you looking for distributors for your already packaged, roasted coffee? I see that you are selling it on the Amazon website.

Are you looking for someone (instead of Amazon) to distribute and sell the roasted coffee for you, or for someone to roast, package, and sell the coffee for you.

We have a lot of people on this Forum who roast coffee. Maybe a few of them will be interested in getting a sample of your green coffee. I doubt that they'd want to sample the already roasted coffee from Amazon.

Rose

 

[Mariposas]

Rose, thanks for your reply.

Yes, i am selling in Amazon but i am also looking for more traditional ways to distribute my coffee (brick and mortar stores, ethnic food stores, etc....).

I understand what You are saying about sampling the coffee that is already on Amazon but what i meant to say is that i can supply, to whoever is interested, the same coffee (green) that i use for my own brand; can send samples of this green coffee everywhere, as we speak i am sending to someone in New York and to someone in the UAE.

Cheers and again, thanks !

 

[Mariposas]

As you know, this is my coffee brand: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VPMM8I4 . The green coffee that i am offering here is the same coffee that i use for the Mariposa Azul brand.

On friday i received an interesting quote from a company (Champion Air Cargo - Home) that apparently has a lot of experience with coffee; the minimum that they will accept is 15 bultos (around 2310 pounds) and the price would be $2,38 usd per pound (as of 30/06/2015) DDP Miami.

Again, this is excellent coffee, if anyone requires samples or even want to come to Colombia to know a little bit more about the farms and people that produce this delicious coffee..., no problem; If you feel you can not handle such quantities i still can ship upwards of 1 bulto via Fedex; the price (as of today) using Fedex would be $4.27 per pound to anywhere in the USA.

Saludos desde Colombia !!!

 

[ensoluna]

hello Mariposas.
how are you?
this is Alex from Ensoluna. ENSOLUNA
Can you explain bit more about your company in Colombia?
Do you own coffee farm? or exporting company?
are you currently exporting your coffee to different customers around the world?
also, can you give us more info about your coffee?
is this from one farm? mix varietals or single origin with one type of varietal?
what would be the SCAA cupping point?...etc

with all these information, we can understand better about you and your organization and coffee, so it would be easier to buy or work with you in the future.
thanks

 

[CoffeeOholic]

If you contact a list of already established coffee sellers, and see which ones would gladly add you to their list. If you can supply them with a sample, as well as ready to use marketing images, you'll find very few will refuse.

 

[Mariposas]

Hey Alex, sorry but i was out in a remote area without access to internet.

First of all, i started this project (more than a company) last year when i was living in Canada, one day i felt like having a cup of good old Colombian coffee and, to my surprise, could't find easily any.... you get the idea, right ?

I don't own a coffee farm (hopefully in a not so distant future i will), what i do is buy from a small coffee growers cooperative that is near to where i am located (3 hours). The main idea was (and still is) to export coffee roasted here in Colombia but there is so much coffee that i also decided to try and sell green coffee.
As you probably know most coffee growers are really poor (at least here in Colombia) and even though much of their lives have revolved around coffee, to this day, they don't know what happens to their product after they sell it to the cooperatives (most of these cooperatives are run by the CCGF (Juan Valdez)); what i am trying to say is that, to my knowledge, i am the first customer paying a premium to get the best beans of this particular cooperative, otherwise they will have no other choice than to sell it to the Federation as commodity beans.

Right now i am only selling on Amazon but i am also negotiating with a couple of possible distributors (roasted coffee).

The varietals are Caturra and Colombia, sun dried and wet processed; i consider it single origin even though there are several families/growers that group together in this cooperative.

This coffee was recommended to me by a retired employee of the CCGF, he was the one who took me there the first time and introduced me around...., according to him the SCAA score for this coffee would be between 84 and 88 but i don't have an official document stating this.

Thanks for your interest Alex, wishing You a happy weekend !!!


Saludos.

 

[Mariposas]

CO, if you could elaborate a bit more on what you are saying, i would be forever in your debt.

Cheers man !!!

 

[ensoluna]

thank you for a good explanation about your business and operation.
it sounds quite interesting and exciting.
I am in similar business in Guatemala, but in my case, we have couple of our own farms (but do not produce enough for our customers) and we work with about 12 farms exclusively to supply green beans to our foreign customers.

After harvest season is over and when there are no coffee from the farms, we work with cooperatives, coyotes and other exporting companies to sell green coffees in off season.

it seems like we have bit more experience in this business, so if you have any other specific questions, please let me know.
I will try to answer you as much as I can.

that is what this forum is all about. helping others.
thanks and have a good day.

 

[ensoluna]

perhaps coffeeoholic will fill in with more details, but in case CO is busy, let me give you some idea.
in order to sell green coffees to USA or other country green bean buyers, you must send samples (300 grams min of cafe oro) to them with detailed info about the samples you are sending. here are the details.
a. sample reference #
b.farm name
c. type of coffee
d. process
e. sample size (300 grams)

above info is the basic info you must include.
to send samples out from colombia, you might need to get phytosanitary certificate from coffee organization.

to find potential customers, green bean buyers, you can easily research from internet. as example, in google, just type in GREEN BEAN IMPORTERS IN USA like this.
then, you will check each buyer's website to make it sure that they buy coffee from Colombia and send the offering emails out to them.

CO mentioned about marketing matter.
I believe this is about what makes your company different / better than other companies in Colombia.
your distinctive advantages over other companies which your buyers can use that information to do their own marketing to sell your coffee in their own countries.

anyway, Coffeeoholic, if you have any other ideas to help Mariposas, please post your comments.
Sorry for hijacking your posting :+)
thanks
alex

 

[Mariposas]

Hey Alex, do you have a template (i can borrow) of these offering emails that you speak of ??, i've emailed some companies but i have not been lucky, i am pretty sure i am doing something wrong....

So you'd say that having a website is imperative ??

Thanks a lot man, really !!!!

 

[ensoluna]

hello Mariposas,
okay. here is my email that I am sending out to potential customers at this time, our July 2015 offering. This is basic email, but it changes according to which customers I am emailing to. Some are really high grade specialty customers, some are only looking for espresso blends, some are only looking for CoE farm coffees...etc. So I have to find out what kind of customers they are and in a way, I have to custom-write these emails.

How are you?
My name is Alex from Ensoluna S.A. in Guatemala www.ensoluna.com

Our company specialize in Antigua green coffee along with other micro lots & commercial grade (SHB 82 to 84) from Huehuetenango & Acatenango.


Most of our customers are specialty customers such as ThinkTank/Veneziano in Australia, Haru International in Taiwan, Oxalis in Czech Republic, Latorre & Dutch in Australia...etc & most of them are the exclusive agent for ninetypluscoffee.com & Cup of Excellence auction buyers.

Currently we have Genuine Antigua Certificate coffees available.
FOB : $3.95 / per pound
Availability : Immediate (the coffees are in Servex warehouse in Guatemala city)
These coffees are from Finca Colombia in Antigua with full trace-ability and single varietal & single origin.
Cupping Score : 87.4 point SCAA standard
Wet processed

Yellow Caturra : 65 bags of 69 kgs
Red Bourbone : 33 bags of 69 kgs

Besides above Antigua APCA coffee, we have 3 more available at this time.
1. Farm La Joja (New Orient region) 50 bags (pergamino, 100 lbs) 85 point. FOB $3.15/lb (note: this is 28 placed 2015 Guatemala CoE lot) only one sample available. Single Origin Coffee / trace-ability

2. Huehuetenango. 300 bags (pergamino, 100lbs) 84 point. FOB $2.99/lb Mixed

3. La Asuncion, Huehuetenango 100 bags (pergamino, 100lbs) 84 point. FOB $2.99/lb Single Origin with trace-ability.


Also, if you are looking for some other coffees from Huehuetenango or any other specialty coffees, please let me know. I am certain that we will be able to service you.

​thank you and hope to hear from you.
Have a great day.​


for your information, for Antigua APCA coffee, we bought all of them in last February, so they are already in Servex (beneficio seco) company already.
but other 3 offers, they are with Cooperativas or with a coyote. When customers send initial deposit of these coffees, we will buy and then move to Beneficio Seco to process.

AND YES, HAVING WEBSITE IS ABSOLUTE MUST!!!!

I am here to help, so if you have more questions, please let me know.
thanks
alex

 

[Mariposas]

Alex, i am speechless......

Mil gracias Amigo !!!!

 

[ensoluna]

absolutely no problem.
I believe that is what this forum is all about.
helping others as much as we can.
so, if you have any other questions, just let me know.
as long as I have some answers to your questions, I will advise you as much as I know.
thank you and again good luck to you.