Resources
Green Coffee Knowledge for Roasters
Importer field knowledge, buyer decision frameworks, and evidence-based QC. Built from 34 years of direct sourcing and Q-grader expertise.
By Samuel Demisse — 3× U.S. Coffee Tasters Champion, Q-Grader, 34 years in specialty coffee
TL;DR for Roasters
New to buying green coffee?
Start with these three resources—they'll answer 80% of your questions about working with an importer.
How to Choose an Importer
What to look for in year one vs year five, and the risks most roasters miss.
Start here → 02How to Read a Spec Sheet
Moisture, water activity, density—what the numbers mean for your roast.
Read guide → 03MOQ Strategy for New Roasters
How to start buying green coffee without overcommitting.
Read guide →— Recommended by Samuel Demisse, 3× U.S. Coffee Tasters Champion
What's New
Mid-Year Spec Sheet Review
Understand what the numbers mean for your roast. Moisture, water activity, and density explained.
Your Coffee's Journey
From Ethiopian highlands to your roastery
Farm
Ethiopia
Mill
Addis Ababa
Export
Djibouti
Port
Oakland
Warehouse
Baltimore
Roastery
You
← Swipe to see full journey →
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22 guides, case studies, and buying frameworks. Search by topic or filter by pillar.
22 resources
Ethiopia Harvest Calendar & Shipping Windows
Month-by-month guide to Ethiopia's Oct–Feb harvest and when fresh-crop lots reach US warehouses—so you can plan roast launches around peak availability.
Read guide →Green Coffee Moisture Content Explained
Why moisture percentage matters for roast development, shelf life, and weight loss—and the ideal range for specialty-grade green beans.
Read guide →How to Choose a Green Coffee Importer
What to evaluate—transparency, logistics support, cupping access, MOQs—when picking an importer for your roastery.
Read guide →Washed Process Coffee: The Complete Buyer's Guide
How fully washed processing shapes cup clarity, why washed lots anchor most blends, and what to check on a spec sheet before buying.
Read guide →Ethiopia Export Logistics: From Cherry to Container
How green coffee moves from washing stations through Addis Ababa's ECX to the port of Djibouti—and what each stage means for your lead time.
Read guide →MOQ Strategy for New Roasters
How to plan your first green-coffee purchase—balancing variety, freshness, and cash flow when your volume is still growing.
Read guide →Water Activity in Green Coffee
Why water activity matters more than moisture for shelf life, and ideal ranges by process.
Read guide →Wet-Hulled Sumatra: A Buying Guide
What makes Sumatran wet-hulled coffee unique, how to evaluate quality, and key spec-sheet flags for body-forward blends.
Read guide →Decaf Green Coffee: Swiss Water & Beyond
How Swiss Water and other decaf methods work, what to look for on a spec sheet, and why Keffa's decaf lots cup above 84 points.
Read guide →Density & Screen Size: What They Tell You
How bean density and screen-size distribution predict roast behavior, cup sweetness, and lot uniformity.
Read guide →Why Processing Beats Region Every Time
Side-by-side cupping data showing why a Guji natural and a Guji washed taste more different than a Guji natural and a Sidama natural.
Read guide →Freight Options: LTL vs. Full Container
When to book LTL pallet shipments vs. full containers, transit times, and how each option affects your per-pound landed cost.
Read guide →Ethiopia Regions Buying Guide: Guji vs Sidama vs Yirgacheffe
Terroir profiles, cup expectations, and pricing bands for Ethiopia's four main specialty coffee regions.
Read guide →Green Coffee Defects & Grading Standards
SCA defect categories, how to interpret a grading report, and why zero-defect protocols matter for roast consistency.
Read guide →Green Coffee Shelf Life & Storage
How moisture, water activity, and storage conditions determine how long green coffee stays fresh—and when to pull the trigger on a purchase.
Read guide →Warehousing & Call-Off Programs
How warehouse programs let you lock in price and availability, then draw down bags as needed—no cold-storage headaches.
Read guide →ARDI Consistency: A 16-Year Case Study
What makes our flagship ARDI natural so consistent year after year—blending strategy, QC workflow, and the data behind 16 harvests.
Read guide →How to Read a Green Coffee Spec Sheet
A field-by-field guide to the spec sheets we send with every offer—moisture, water activity, screen size, defect count, and cupping score.
Read guide →Pricing Stability in Volatile Markets
How forward contracting, relationship pricing, and inventory strategy help roasters manage cost swings in the C-market.
Read guide →Keffa's QC Workflow: From Cherry to Container
Step-by-step look at how we sample, cup, grade, and re-cup every lot before it ships—from cherry intake through export.
Read guide →YirgZ Zero-Defect Standard
How our YirgZ washed lot achieves near-zero-defect counts through station-level protocols and multi-stage hand-sorting.
Read guide →Wush Wush Variety: Buying Notes
Tasting benchmarks, ideal roast approach, and what to look for when evaluating Wush Wush samples from Keffa's forest gardens.
Read guide →Shop by Category
Coffee Collections
Curated groups of coffees by origin, processing, or flavor profile. See what's in stock and request samples.
Ready to taste?
Free samples—green or roasted. See the quality for yourself.