Our Brazilian coffee has now arrived. Both containers reached the port of Hamburg safely and have been stored there. The first container contained eleven lots, while the second contained three slightly larger lots. The coffee will remain in the port until it is called up by the roasters and begins the next stage of its journey – to the roasters.

These coffees are imported under the ‘amarella’ label. A label that tells a complete story. All coffees must be of outstanding quality, and all background information such as producer, farm name, plot designation, variety, altitude, processing and total harvest quantity must be known and is already indicated on the bag.

Unlike normal Brazilian coffee sacks, which weigh 60 kg, the coffees selected for ‘amarella’ are shipped in specially made 30 kg sacks. Any expert can confirm that this is economic madness, because a 30 kg sack costs the same to produce as a 60 kg sack. From a business perspective, this approach simply doubles the cost of packaging the green coffee.

Nevertheless, it is the right thing to do and will find numerous imitators. This is because many major problems with coffee arise during storage and shipping. If the coffee has not been properly processed and dried homogeneously and then stored in a moisture-protected environment, it will quickly start to rot. This phenomenon occurs particularly frequently with bulk shipments in big bags or with loose transport in containers. The tarpaulins used to package this coffee do not allow air to circulate. If there is a pocket of moisture in the coffee, a rotting process begins that can affect the entire batch. The advantage of traditional coffee sacks is obvious – they can breathe.