Every coffee roasting company has at least one person in charge of buying green coffee. Generally speaking, this person is an experienced coffee cupper, and is responsible for sourcing coffee beans fit for a company’s roasting style and quality needs, contracting coffee that is within costs, managing green coffee inventory, and maintaining and building strong relationships with importers, exporters, coffee producers, and farmers. At Andytown, there isn’t just one person in charge of this. Instead, we have three people that come together and make decisions as the green buying team.
As the Director of Quality Control, I evaluate our production roasts on a daily basis and keep track of quality. I work with our roasters to make sure we’re reaching our goals in developing flavor in the coffees, and I also work with our barista trainers to keep track of how our coffees are performing in the cafe. As the person most calibrated to our coffees, I am the main person who receives and evaluates any green coffee samples that we receive from current partners or importers or producers who would like to work with us. Sometimes I will reach out to folks to learn more about projects they are working on and request green coffee samples.
If a coffee sample stands out, then it goes into another round of evaluation with me, Corey, Director of Coffee Production, and Michael, Co-Owner of Andytown. Sometimes, we have to decide between several samples of coffee that come from different importers and producers, and we can only choose one. I keep in contact with the folks who sent coffees that weren’t selected to see if there might be a possibility for us to work together in the future, and I also share our evaluation notes.
When we come across a coffee we like, we have to make sure it’s something we can afford to purchase. Corey keeps track of our green coffee inventory (on top of many other things!) and can evaluate how many bags of coffee we can afford, and at what price. Forecasting is an integral part of their job. If we buy too much coffee, we run the risk of having old green coffee. While it isn’t necessarily terrible to be roasting aged green coffee, quality starts to degrade over time, and we have to put more work into adjusting our roast recipes to make sure that the coffee is tasting its best. If we buy too little, we run the risk of running out of coffee. This can be especially problematic if we run out of coffee that is part of one of our blends. Coffees that go into blends can often be harder to source because it’s a coffee that most companies buy in larger volumes. We often need to pre-book coffee many months ahead of time to make sure that we can source what we need.
Sourcing green coffee, managing green inventory, and roasting was one of Michael’s priorities when he and Lauren opened Andytown’s doors. He has the original vision of what kind of coffee Andytown should serve and what to look out for. Michael wears dozens of hats these days, and while he’s not as deeply involved in quality checking our coffees or keeping track of how much coffee we have in house, he provides his insight, guidance, and also manages some of the longest standing relationships we have.
A very blurry photo of under-caffeinated Michael, Corey, and Corazon, taken around 6:00am on their way to meet with partners attending the SCA Global Coffee Expo in Boston, 2019. Expo is one of the largest coffee conferences in the world that happens annually. The 2020 conference has been cancelled as a result of the ongoing pandemic, and the next one will be in 2021.
While Corey, Michael, and I know a bit about what each person does, we see one another as experts in our departments and apply our unique perspectives to our decision making process. Each person leads different conversations with our partners, but we’re all in the room so that we’re able to pick up on any blind spots. In addition to working closely day-to-day to keep things moving, we meet on a weekly basis to discuss our current projects, make plans for the future, and most importantly, make sure our goals for green coffee buying are in line with our vision and values. Even though the three of us are the most involved in green coffee buying, we keep our process open within the company. If any Andytown staff, or other coffee professionals we know, want to introduce us to folks that are doing good work, we’re more than happy to meet with them and start a conversation over a cup of coffee!
