By Robert Galbraith
SANTA CRUZ, CA— Having recently been promoted to green buyer at a mid-sized West Coast coffee roastery, Desmond James was nervous about his first trip to origin.
“After one of the importers we work with found out I had never been to origin, so they invited me to come on their next buying trip. Of course I was like, ‘hell yeah.’ Once we got there, I really didn’t know what to expect. They told me we’d go on a couple farm visits and I thought that my complete lack of Spanish would be a problem. Turns out it didn’t matter at all. We were only at the farm for about 15 minutes. After we had taken the ‘tour,’ I put my arm around—I think his name was Carlos—and took a selfie for our website.”
After that, the crew returned to the city to cup coffees, about which James was ‘super stoked.’ “Of the ten we tasted, my favorite happened to be from the farm we just visited. I was like, yeah I want that one!”
When asked how much of his purchase price went to the producer, James admitted, “I really don’t know, but I assume most of it. I mean, the importer we work with charged me for everything: hotel, meals, car ride, driver—even water! In the end, it’s all worth it though. This marks the first of many direct trade purchases I’ll be making.”
Robert Galbraith has worked in the specialty coffee industry for over ten years as a coffee roaster and green coffee buyer.
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