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How long does it take for the green beans to go (noticeably) stale? Would an average consumer be able to tell the difference between a new crop and the previous year?
I suppose with the spread of coffee growing regions, you've got new harvests coming on stream throughout most of the year?
peter_h-
depends on a number of factors. But if the coffee has been dried and stored well, then 9-12 months from picking should be possible. old coffee exhibits what we call fade in the green coffee business (i work qc and logistics for a small import/exporter) and the characteristic taste is a lack of sweetness with a papery/wheaty flavout.
if the coffee is roasted dark, this will make no difference. you can also hide coffee in blends.
Matisse
Yeah that quote from Volcano sums it up pretty neatly. We’re in a more fortunate position where we haven’t expanded yet so don’t have large numbers of staff or overheads which require huge cash flow, but if we were 5 years further down the line when this hit then we’d be in a lot more trouble. The situation looks bleak for the supply chain, particularly farmers and cooperatives which have invested in specialty level infrastructure. Coffee traders too are in the shit with their contracts for the year fully booked and nowhere for all that coffee to go. It’s much like the oil situation where prices have plummeted because the logistics network is strangled. There’s going to be a huge amount of past-crop coffee from respected estates in the market next year, as a consumer it would be a good time to learn what coffee tastes like when it’s been roasted from stale greens as there’s going to be some less scrupulous operators needing to shift some old coffee.