Be blessed! May the Lord bless your ministries that after your ministry will never be the same again amen.

Your brother and friend Pastor Shahzad Rasheed
The Royal Ambassadors Free Bible Ministries

Let me ‘weigh in’ here. Thanks to Tim and Peter for recognising that this is indeed exactly what Mercanta does.

Specialty roasters wish to roast a wide selection of the finest available specialty coffees

Containerised (250-300 bag shipments) are far and away the safest and most cost effective manner of movement (air transport of raw coffee is extremely expensive to say nothing of the environmental implications)

Specialty roasters wish to know exacting and intimate details of the source / provenance of their coffees

There is no absolute truth in the coffee business except that found on the cupping table

So, we employ a cross section of experienced, and I hope well respected cuppers, (4 of whom have Cup of Excellence experience), and spend 100% of our time sourcing, finding, selecting, and cupping a mind boggling array of single estate, co-op, and grower groups specialty coffees that would generally score 80 and above on any comparative cupping analysis. We then purchase and import these lots (sometimes very small lots combined to make up a larger cargo) from trusted established and new sources to retain a relatively large inventory (constantly rotated) of considerable variety of the world’s best coffees – ready to be delivered pretty much anywhere on the planet that a specialty roaster is based.

The ‘branding’ of specialty coffees – microlots or larger, estates or co-op produced is exactly what will continue to develop in the specialty coffee world in the coming years – just like (yawn – not that again; wine, micro brew beer, Scotch whisky, etc).

Someone mentioned the Man from Del Monte – perhaps, but we have often used the Intel Inside analogy. A crucial piece of contents of no particular value in itself but fundamental to a superior finished product. Our brand represents all that goes into bringing small quantities of high vaule, high quality coffees to the worlds most demanding audience.

Stephen

But anyway, I think this sort of thing is very interesting…and yes, I think Tim is right, that importers like Mercanta (and, say, Tim Castle) have the added bonus that their name adds value to a coffee once it is associated with it. This idea has been around for a long time, whether it is a business or not. Fact is, when any coffee is associated with a well-known person, whether that person be a cup of excellence winner or barista champion or chef or sports hero or whatever, it lends interest to the brand. I use the “sports hero” thing on purpose. The famous American baseball player Jackie Robinson had a son, David, who moved to Tanzania into a coffee community. David worked to organize his neighbors into a coffee cooperative. Now, many baseball stadiums in the United States serve the coffee grown in that community in Tanzania simply because of David’s connection with his father… it doesn’t really make any sense, there is no quality stamp, it’s just an association, but all this helps raise awareness that coffee relies on PEOPLE at every step in the chain, and these people have names…

Anyway, as for James’ original question, I do think there might be a place for a sort of independent quality assessor that small roasters use to learn about origin. As Tim says, this has been the role of the importer for a long time, but they have a specific and very particular interest in the coffee. I always thought that the Cup of Excellence would serve that role for small roasters, although few use it that way, but that might be a result of the “jury” nature of the COE.

Interesting thoughts, all.

Peter G

What i think we have here is a merely case of quality discovering by a killer duo, Peter and Aida… who are supporting other growers, probably smaller ones, to get out of the shadows by creating a brand with their product… and I bet they reward them properly… however there’s something with the wording: wine negociant that left me with some “off notes” here… probably because i’m on a beer phase now…anyway, maybe Aida or Peter can give us their view on this so i can shut up…

I have also met farmers who say they sell to Starbucks, Solberg & Hansen, Mercanta or similar, and by doing so trying to get more interest in their coffees.

BTW I just had a cup of Aida’s gran reserve, and it is a very delicate thing. Very well balanced and complex fruit notes. I just can’t seem to describe the exact fruits I am smelling… Frustrating.

ciao