Why not? Roasting at origin vs. roasting in the end market
The vast majority of specialty coffee companies don’t roast their beans in the country of origin. Instead, they roast them closer to home, in the markets where the coffee is sold. We do the same. But why? Wouldn’t it be better to give cooperatives and roasters in the country of origin the opportunity to take on this part of the process?
Roasted coffee beans are significantly more sensitive than green coffee. During roasting, numerous chemical processes take place that fundamentally change the beans. For example, the darker a coffee is roasted, the more lipids rise to the surface, where they oxidize through direct contact with oxygen. When these lipids deteriorate, the coffee is still safe to consume, but it is no longer enjoyable.
This is where it becomes clear that roasted coffee requires careful handling. The longer roasted beans are stored, the more gases they release. Every coffee has a “sweet spot” — a point at which it tastes its best. Once the coffee has degassed, meaning it has been stored for too long, it starts to taste flat. Lightly roasted coffees release fewer lipids than darker roasts and therefore take longer to degas. This sensitivity is one of the main reasons why coffee is almost exclusively roasted in the end market.
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In most cases, the beans are transported to the end market by sea — from Ethiopia to Berlin, for example. The journey often takes three months. If there are delays due to the coronavirus pandemic or technical issues, it can take as long as six months for the shipment to reach the buyer’s port.
For green coffee, this long transport time is not a problem as long as it is stored in dry, airtight conditions. For roasted coffee, however, it is a different story. It quickly loses its aroma.
Our roaster Hannes Fendrich has some additional concerns:
Stephan Eicke: Did we ever consider having the coffee roasted at origin?
Hannes Fendrich: [Managing Director] Martin Elwert briefly considered it. We were also explicitly approached by customers and investors who asked whether it might be even better to have the coffee roasted at origin. But there are too many challenges involved. For example, how would we handle blends? It has been proven that coffee starts to deteriorate after two weeks — that’s not a myth.
The freshest roasted coffee from Ethiopia that we could offer for sale would already be three months old. And that’s assuming everything goes according to plan. By the time the coffee reached us, it would be three months past its roast date. I would also need to keep more stock on hand to make sure my roasted beans lasted until the next shipment arrived. You end up selling very old coffee, and roasted coffee is much more sensitive to humidity and heat after roasting. It is exposed to both during transport in containers. The product deteriorates.
Are there roasters who roast at origin?
There is a company called Solino that follows this model in Ethiopia.
What about the equipment needed for roasting at origin?
The Ethiopian cooperatives don’t have roasting machines at all. In the larger cities, there are coffee shops and a few chains. In Colombia and Brazil, some producers have small coffee shops at their farms that you can visit and where you can watch the roasting process. But it is more common for producers to supply roasteries and establish partnerships with them.
Have you ever been there and watched coffee being roasted?
There is a wonderful coffee shop in Addis where an elderly gentleman works who would be well past retirement age here. But these coffee shops take a different approach. Their job is to roast for the local market. The local market prefers very dark coffee — as dark as possible. It would not have been easy to develop a roast profile that suited us. In Colombia, there is a larger audience for lighter roasts. In Ethiopia, the beans are roasted over an open fire until they are almost charcoal. They still taste good because they have a certain natural acidity, but if they then spend several months at sea, they become undrinkable.
After weighing the pros and cons, it quickly became clear to us that roasting at origin was not a viable option. Ultimately, it comes down to a simple calculation: if the coffee doesn’t taste good after the long journey, no one will buy it — which means roasters at origin wouldn’t benefit either.
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