Viability of exporting Aussie bean blends?

System

Hi All,

I'm new to this forum. I'm an Aussie living in Barcelona and miss Sydney coffee. Nice to meet you all

Long story short: I have decided to open my own little hole-in-the-wall coffee shop. I have no experience, but I am lucky enough to have a very supportive partner and a good premises to use in a great location.

I would prefer to use some of the yummy beans I used to drink back home, e.g. grinders, tobys estate, campos, bills beans, etc.

Does anyone here know if these guys export, how long it takes to get the beans, how well the beans survive shipping, what the quality of the beans is after shipping, etc?

I'm sure I'll have more questions when it's time for fit-out, but that's it for now!

Cheers,

Luce

blanyon

Well they send it from Italy to Australia so the reverse can't be impossible. Surely however there should be something over there that is worth drinking?

askthecoffeeguy

I too would be looking for something local as beans dont travel well and you also have only a limited window of opportunity with the age of the beans post roast - say 7 to 14 days post roast - in which case you would be better off going with a local roaster probably at considerably less cost a google search for god coffee in your area should generate some results and with a bit of luck you may be able to work with a local roaster to produce a result that you are both happy with - also its remarkably affordable to roast your own coffee and maybe now is a god time to begin experimenting with all the variables to get a feel for how it all comes together do a google search for a 'coretto' roaster - you can set up your own home roasting device for as little as $5 - sure you wont be able to produce large quantities with this kind of setup but its the best way to get a feel for the complexities of the coffee product cheers, ACg

Unknown

Cool. Thanks coffeeman! Our premises is small and even if we could fit a roasting operation, it would mean we would require different licences and a special exhaust system. But maybe I could look into roasting at a different premises and bringing the fresh roast beans to the cafe daily. There are local roasters but Spanish bean blends seem to be is darker and less sweet than back home and I really want to replicate the taste of coffee back home (hence the reason I was wondering about shipping Aussie beans over here). If I took a few examples of bends that I like into a local roaster, could they try to make me something similar? Is this common practice?

admin

Hi Luce - I agree with acg - while we have many great boutique brands, it's all about freshness and that's where you'd struggle. In fact that's the thing that many of the big imported brands struggle with coming the other way [ie into Australia]. Would be best to work with one of the smaller local roasters to see if you can get them to emulate some of the samples you've taken with you - you may even teach them something! A

askthecoffeeguy

yeah grab some beans from oz and maybe even talk to some roasters over here about roast profiles then look to what's happening at your end to see what can be done - I guess a lot will come done to what type of equipment the beans are roasted on and adequate ventilation / cooling systems etc roasting your own is by no means a straight forward process but it is possible and many of melbourne's finest have started out with litlte or no direct experience then built themselves up over time I guess the key thing about roast profiles when getting started is not to take the beans over second crack: first crack is when the outer husk breaks and a few minutes later second crack occurs when the internal oils begin to combust - and whilst its possible to play with this once you have more experience its best not to push the roast profile past this point initially if you want to create sweetness and crisp acidity as opposed to charred or burnt flavours I suggest you do as much research as possible about the flavours that you want to create and then find someone who can create them for you - and if that means importing initially then do so until you can establish a local relationship Cheers, Acg

Koffee_Kosmo

Hi & welcome Roasting is an art You need to know about the 3 threes Green beans last up to 3 years Roasted Beans last up to 3 weeks (peak freshness) Ground Beans last up to  3 minutes A good roasting resource link http://www.coffeeresearch.org/coffee/roasting.htm KK

askthecoffeeguy

nice link kk - I'll have to mine that one myself!  ;D