At Nordic Approach HQ in Oslo we regularly hold sensory training events for our staff. This month we ran a workshop to help the team detect mouth feel. I learned this exercise from Ida at CoffeeMind. It’s great for training yourself to discern body and mouthfeel when cupping coffee, and best of all, it’s easy to set up and do yourself. Here’s how: Objective: Range and sort four different liquids from low to high in mouthfeel. Read more…
In summer of 2018 I first visited producers that have been part of long-standing Nordic Approach quality-based premium programs – some for nearly a decade. The premium program Morten built years ago still benefits a growing number of producers and roasters (and other importers), so this year, 2019, I went to investigate how we could develop this project to serve the North American market, and apply what we’ve learned about developing specialty coffee supply chains Read more…
David is a young producer in Antioquia, part of an informal group of innovative young farmers who are determined to prove the potential of their region goes beyond chocolate and caramel cups. His father thinks David’s ideas are too radical and their pair argued about the best way to manage the family farm. To solve the conflict, David’s father decided to lease the property to David to manage as he chooses. David and his brother Read more…
Busy but beautiful times! … wait wait wait, it’s 2019 and August already? Are you sure?But… the summer of 2018 just ended?That pretty much sums up the feeling I had going into this summer, and I think all the staff over here in Oslo are with me. A bummer for me this year was that I’ve had to cancel my trip to Rwanda & Burundi the day before actually flying out, due to problems that popped Read more…
Seeing their name on a bag of roasted coffee is a privilege few farmers experience, and not always because their coffee isn’t good quality. In many parts of the coffee growing world there simply isn’t the infrastructure to maintain lot separation all the way to the port. In Honduras, the producers suffer a lack of service providers for small scale production. Smallholder farmers must combine their coffee with that of other producers in the region Read more…
Beyond simply publishing numbers, price transparency is important for understanding the supply chain, for valuing the different parts of that supply chain and most importantly for stimulating a greater responsibility to pay producers a price that not only makes their production sustainable but profitable and enriching.
Nordic Approach intern Timna Eckschmidt charts her journey from consumer to coffee professional, and what she learned about the supply chain along the way.
Honduras presents as an exception in Central American coffee production, being the only country to increase volume, and at a rapid rate. Steadily holding its place within the top ten producing countries of arabica coffee, Honduras went from the fifth largest producer of arabica in the world, to the third in 2018, overtaking Ethiopia. Yet Honduran coffees are not well known or established in the market. Coffee professionals are far more likely to know the Read more…
In this final post in the series “What does a green buyer do?” Alex explains the risks and benefits of buying on FOB terms.
We’re at booths V2 and V3 and Tables 1 & 3 in the Roasters’ Village. Drop by our stand for a chat, we’d love to see you. We’ll have beers from 4pm at our booth every day… 🙂 Plus, every day there will be a chance to meet some of the producers we work with: Schedule: Thursday June 6th:11.00-11.30 – Meet the Producers Augusto Borges Ferreira and Natalia Brito from Jaguara (Brazil)13.00-13.30 – Meet the Producers with Read more…
Someone once told me, you have to babysit your coffee. Follow it everywhere it goes and make sure that it has what it needs to get out the door, so that is my main goal in this part of the season. Of course, every other buyer is doing the same, so Ethiopia is absolutely buzzing with anxious coffee professionals trying to be at the front of the line at each point in the process.
There are many steps to making a purchase decision and flavour is just the beginning. The value chain has many checkpoints and several things can happen along the way. We’re dealing with a fresh moving product after all. It is crucial I understand what a sample represents, and how much of a commitment I must make to secure the lot.
If you’re coming to World of Coffee in Berlin next week, you can meet Marysabel Caballero and Moises Herrera at our booth on Thursday 1pm to 1.30 pm (we’re at at booths V2 and V3 in the Roasters’ Village). Not in Berlin? London folks will get a chance to meet them at our cupping at Ikawa on June 12th. Their coffees arrive TODAY at our warehouse in Belgium. “If you don’t love coffee, you cannot produce Read more…
It has been 25 years since the Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi. We don’t pretend to understand the devastation of this event on the lives of people living in Rwanda or those who fled, but we can report on how coffee is helping people rebuild their lives.
Going on your first origin trip and wondering what to pack? No worries, our seasoned Nordic Approach staff have you covered! 1) First of all, being able to fit everything into a hand-luggage sized bag is a big bonus. This means no lost luggage for starters. It’s handy to sort your packing into smaller bags by category, so it’s not just one big mess inside your luggage. And a bag is much better than a Read more…
Ethiopian coffees are renowned for needing some time to open up. One of the key skills a coffee buyer must hone is cupping fresh coffees. Buyers need to be able to taste beyond the astringency and muted flavours, to the coffee it will become.
Part 3 in a series first published on our Tropiq blog: What does a green coffee buyer do?
Reporting from origin means taking copious notes to capture both the technical details, and the emotions that run high when meeting the people who produce these coffees.
Part 2 in a series first published on our Tropiq blog: What does a green coffee buyer do?
Many coffee professionals hear a coffee buyer talk about travel to exotic countries, and dream of doing the same one day. It is a fantastic job and I feel so privileged to be able to do this work, but there are many misconceptions about the life of a green coffee buyer.
Part 1 in a series first published on our Tropiq blog: What does a green coffee buyer do?
I have been asked several times why the prices of Kenyan coffees differ so much even though the lots might come from the same station. More specifically, I have been asked to explain why Karimikui AB #170 can be more expensive than Karimikui AA #062 seeing that AA is a higher grade and of supposedly “better” quality. The out-turn numberThe Kenya coffee regulations define the coffee year to be 12 months starting from 1st October. Read more…
Is your roastery buying volumes of 100 bags or more? Are you in a position to take on some additional financial risk? If you answered yes to these two questions you could save your business money by buying direct from origin. Our sister company, Tropiq, offers sourcing services for companies seeking high quality, traceable and ethically sourced coffees. Tropiq began as the sourcing department of Nordic Approach and was established as its own company in Read more…
If you want to create a direct relationship with a washing station or producer in Africa, you should consider Rwanda. “The country is so organised,” said Clay Parker of Rwanda Trading Company (RTC), “there is so much you can do if you want to work directly.” The organisation of the coffee sector in recent years is impressive. In 2009 specialty coffee (SCA graded 80+) was only 18.2% of all Arabica exports, in 2018 it was Read more…