How to Buy Green Coffee from Origin: A Roaster's Guide

Buying green coffee from origin is one of the highest-leverage decisions a roaster can make. Done well, it means a more interesting cup, better margins, and a supply chain you can actually explain to your customers. Done badly, it means tied-up cash, a container of coffee that doesn't suit your roast, and no one to call when something's off.

This guide walks through how the process really works — from your first sample to a signed contract — written from the other side of the table, as a family-run Colombian exporter that ships everything from a single 24 kg box to a full container.

Why buy closer to origin

Most roasters start by buying spot lots from a local importer's warehouse — fast, low-risk, no minimums. That's a fine place to begin. But the closer you get to origin, the more you gain:

1. Traceability — you know the farm, region, variety and process, not just "Colombia, Supremo".
2. Quality — separated lots, picked ripe and processed with care, simply taste better than commodity blends.
3. Margin — every link in the chain takes a cut; buying direct removes layers.
4. Relationship — a lot can be reserved for you, repeated next harvest, and explained when something changes.

The trade-off is that you take on a little more of the process yourself: evaluating samples, agreeing terms, and arranging the logistics. None of it is hard once you've seen it once.

Step 1 — Always start with samples

No reputable seller expects you to buy a lot you haven't tasted. You'll come across a few types of sample:

1. Offer samples — representative of a lot that's available now, sent so you can evaluate before committing.
2. Pre-shipment samples (PSS) — drawn from the actual lot just before it ships, so you can approve what you're getting.
3. Type samples — show a typical quality level rather than one specific lot.

A sample is usually 100–350 g of green coffee — enough for a small sample roast and a cupping. Roast it light-to-medium, rest it, and cup it the way you'd cup anything else. For a structured, standards-based score, you can run the numbers in a free SCA scoring calculator instead of doing the maths by hand. Cup blind, cup more than once, and cup against something you already buy. The question isn't "is this a 90?" — it's "does this fit my roast, my customers and my price?"

Step 2 — Learn to read an offer

A green coffee offer is a spec sheet. Once you can read one, comparing lots becomes easy. Look for:

1. Origin & farm/region — the more specific, the better.
2. Variety — Caturra, Castillo, Pink Bourbon, Geisha and others each bring a different cup.
3. Process — washed, natural, honey or anaerobic. New to this? See our guide to coffee processing methods.
4. Altitude — higher-grown coffee is usually denser and more acidic.
5. Cupping score — 80+ on the 100-point SCA scale is "specialty". Here's what a 90-point score really means.
6. Screen size, moisture & harvest — moisture around 10–12% and a recent harvest are good signs.

A trustworthy score comes from a trained cupper. Ours are cupped and graded by our own CQI-licensed Q-grader, so the number on the offer is ours — not a reseller's guess.

Step 3 — Volumes, minimums and price

You don't need to buy a container to buy from origin. Minimums vary widely; ours start at just 24 kg, so you can take a single micro-lot to test the market and scale up to a full container when it sells. Specialty green coffee is usually priced per kilo, FOB, with the price reflecting quality and scarcity — not the commodity "C" market alone.

Step 4 — Incoterms & logistics (simpler than they sound)

Incoterms are the international rules (Incoterms 2020, from the ICC) that define exactly where the seller's job ends and yours begins:

1. FOB (Free On Board) — the seller loads the coffee at the origin port; you handle freight and import from there.
2. FCA (Free Carrier) — the seller hands over to your carrier at an agreed point.
3. CIF / CIP — the seller pays freight (and insurance) to the destination port or place.
4. DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) — the seller delivers to your door with duties paid; the most all-inclusive price.

Smaller orders usually move by courier or air freight; larger ones by sea. Agree the Incoterm, lead time and insurance before you sign — a good exporter will quote all of it together.

Your quick buying checklist

1. Request samples of a few lots that fit your profile.
2. Sample-roast and cup them blind, against your current coffee.
3. Read each offer: variety, process, altitude, score, moisture, harvest.
4. Confirm the volume, price, Incoterm and lead time in writing.
5. Order, approve the pre-shipment sample, and book your logistics.

How we make it easy

La Familia is a family-run Colombian exporter. We cup and score every lot ourselves, work directly with partner farmers in Nariño and Risaralda, and ship from 24 kg to a full container on FOB, CIF, CIP or DDP terms. New to the country? See our buyer's guide to Colombian coffee. When you're ready, browse our current Colombian lots and request a sample of anything that looks right — we'll confirm price, availability and shipping with it.