What are you paying for when you buy a bag of coffee?

A bag of coffee represents the work of many stages and many people. Understanding that chain helps you weigh the differences between products.

Production

Coffee has to be grown, tended and harvested before it can be processed. That is a year of work before a single sellable bean exists.

Processing

The fruit goes through processing, drying, storage and preparation as green coffee.

Selection and roasting

The raw material is checked and then transformed by roasting. This is where much of the profile that reaches the cup is decided.

Final presentation

Packaging, grinding on request, labelling, distribution and customer service complete the journey.

Beyond price

Final value can include raw material quality, traceability, freshness, consistency and service. Two bags of the same weight can represent very different amounts of work.