Before joining Omwani, I roasted Coffee, experiencing both sides of the coffee buying business has seen me go on somewhat of a journey over the last few years and my newer experiences of buying coffee for a small importer, have taught me a few lessons I’d like to share.
To be totally honest, I didn’t realise just how easy my transactions were before. Purchasing coffee from spot positions in the UK isn’t really buying coffee in the true sense of the word and this has taken me a long time to figure out. Cupping and evaluating coffee that is available to purchase and drawdown immediately was a luxury as I would soon find out.
It certainly didn’t take me long to figure out that importers are taking on a huge amount of risk buying coffee with no home. Especially importers who are buying from one of the most challenging continents to source from - but the idea is to work with partners who understand why it’s worth joining us on this journey is the thing that really excites me.
We pride ourselves on working with smaller, passionate producers and farmers who are focused on quality, and we truly believe it shows in the results. More importantly, we believe these relationships are an investment in the future of the coffee industry. Without supporting producers on the ground and ensuring they are part of a fair and trustworthy relationship, they simply won't be able to continue in the future. Your commitment now is someone's future investment.
But inevitably, these investments can come with risks. We choose to work with younger, less-experienced producers, some of which are only just producing their first lots of coffee. There may also be delays due to low or in some cases non - existent infrastructure and limited finances. Without cash there are no cherries.
I was offered a quote recently after I grumbled about a larger than expected amount of defects from one of our producer partners which has become a bit of a mantra: “Dave, If you want to start a revolution, you have to be brave”. I needed to hear this.
Risks must be taken in order to achieve long-term quality improvements and, I believe, better quality coffee will arrive in the future but, this will take time and to get there we need to support these small imperfections in order to see this quality.
From a coffee roasters’ point of view, it’s pretty easy to reject coffee, I have been there myself. You get used to a certain level of quality, I know. You get used to coffee arriving on time clean and defect free, however if we want to break down the current structures in place we need to accept a few more broken beans.
The whole purpose of Omwani is to work with smaller producers who are doing something outside of the current systems – right from the very start. It’s then about making sure everyone understands the risks from all areas so we can get behind the smaller producers early, while they develop and hone their skills.
You’ve got to accept that things will get a little worse before they get better when you’re working with an agricultural product.
We need to start from the very beginning again and remember that smaller producers are working outside of the established system, with limited infrastructure and finances. There may be a slight dip in quality initially, but I truly believe it will rise again in the future.
If we stick to our principles and this model, we will be ahead of the curve and by building in some long-term commitment in the supply chain, I believe everyone will benefit in the longer term.
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