What Is "Seasonality" As It Pertains to Coffee?

We've talked quite a bit here recently about coffee having "a season" like any other crop.  But what does that really mean?  

Each country in the coffee belt has a specific time of year when the main harvest occurs  This time (and length of the harvest) differ for each country.  Also, the harvest can be earlier or later depending on when the coffee trees flower, which can be affected by drought or heavier than normal rainfall. 

The end-of-year issue of Roast Magazine offers some general guidelines for when flowering and harvest occurs in each coffee growing country.  We've mashed together a chart showing the harvest period and the shipping period for those countries from which we offer coffee (or plan to).

As you can see, with few exceptions, most countries have fairly long harvest periods.  Some countries ship all year long.

Within these periods there may be some ideal times to harvest and ship.  And it's up to coffee buyers to know when these periods are. 

Which brings us to SweetMaria's chart.  There are few people in coffee with as much encyclopaedic knowledge as Thompson (Tom) Owen.  In Tom's chart, he notes not only the length of the harvest and shipping seasons, but also the ideal months for both.

And in many cases Tom's info does not agree with Roast magazine (just look at Bolivia).  So who to believe?

This is when trust comes into play.  And it's why the relationship(s) in "Relationship Coffee" are so important.  Knowing whom you're doing business with is vital in making the best decisions possible.  You need a good sense of the philosophy of the green coffee buyer from whom you'll be purchasing.  This buyer may be from your roaster (e.g. Intelligentsia) or it may be an importer who sells to numerous roasteries (e.g. Atlas Coffee). 

And you need a good sense of how the roastery or importer operates.  How good are their relationships at the farm level?  How thorough are their quality control mechanisms at origin?  What steps do they take to expedite shipping? How do they help maintain quality and integrity of the green coffee once it leaves the farm?

Any given roaster may have different answers to each of these questions depending on the country and the estate or coop.  Some farms do their own processing.  Many don't.  Some importers/exporters have climate controlled storage at the source country.  Some don't.  It's easier/faster to get coffee out of a country with a port than one that's landlocked. All these factors play a role in how well the coffee maintains its "freshness" during the journey to the US.

In Intelligentsia's case, the "In Season" label means there will be no more than 10 months between the time the coffee was picked and the last date it'll be for sale.  Other roasters we use aim to use up their existing stocks before the next harvest ships.

How does this work in reality?  Let's take Costa Rica for an example. Intelligentsia's Flecha Roja came to us in early June and was out of stock by August.  The beans that went into the Flecha Roja we sold were harvested from November 2008 to February 2009.  After picking, they were processed, bagged in jute, loaded onto trucks and put into containers for shipping.  The coffees arrived in the US at the end of April and at Intelligentsia shortly thereafter.  The coffee was cupped on arrival.  Several sample roasts were done and finally the coffee went into production roast at the end of May.  Enough coffee was purchased to last about ten weeks and was sold out by August.  We won't see Flecha Roja here again until May 2010.

At the same time, both Stumptown and Barismo are releasing new Costa Rica coffees in the next few days.  How is that possible?  Different processing, different shipping.  Stumptown's Costa Rica is a limited release "honey" coffee (some mucilage was left on the fruit adding to sweetness).  The stock of that coffee should be long gone by the time 10 months post-harvest rolls around. 

Barismo's release is another Helsar that is packaged in "GrainPro" bags which keep the beans fresher and do not allow for contact with the jute bag (long term contact with jute leads to what cuppers call a "baggy" or "grassy" smell and taste).  Because of the packaging, these beans will retain their "freshness" well beyond beans that have been shipped in standard jute bags.  So a strict 10 month guideline doesn't apply here.

There are numerous other roasters out there who pay attention to such things and generally move their stocks within one season.  They are to be commended.

However, there remain a large number of roasters who rely on stocks of indeterminate age that have been sitting in jute in humid dockside warehouses at origin and/or ship holds, take much longer to arrive to the US and then sit around some more, still in jute.  These coffees might be anywhere from 8 to 20 months old (or sadly, older).  If you're drinking a coffee from Peru right now, odds are extremely high it's more than a year off harvest and well into decline.

As much as we, the retailers, have to pay attention to our sources and know how our roasters and importers are buying, it's up to you the consumer to know your retailer and how they choose their coffees.

Much like the work we put into understanding our supply chain in order to build trust, we look to develop customers who understand how we buy coffee and earn their (your) trust that we're providing higher quality, fresher coffees than what you'll find elsewhere.

Comments

[Roger]

Awesome article, for those of us who follow coffee and supply chains, this is a perfect marriage of topics.