I.

General introduction:
Supply chain for coffee are often complex and intricate. Depending on the countries
involved, this process can include typically up to 8 different stakeholders before the
final product ever enters your hands, including growers, intermediaries, processors,
government agencies, exporters, dealers or brokers, roasters and retailers.
Different relationships exist between organizations involved in the separate stages of
the chain – whether it is in the structuring of product distribution, arrangements for
payment, for handing, or in storing the product.

The coffee’s supply chain consists of

four main stages:
1. Coffee Plantation
2. Roasting and Packaging
3. Global Delivery and
Distribution
4. In-store Preparation

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 II. Logistic Process:
1. Coffee Plantation:
It takes 3 or 5 years for the plants to begin producing and that is possible only with
the proper combination of climate, rain, sunshine and shade.
Firstly, coffee seedlings are grown in nursery beds or polybags until they reach
about 8-10 inches tall. Then, they are potted until they are ready to be planted in their
final destination. About two to four years after planting, the young coffee trees will
begin to produces small white flowers, which last only for a few days, leaving behind
dark leaves and soon after, mall green berries. It is from these small green berries that
the ripe coffee cherries are grown. During this intense growing period, they cans
consume 70% of the coffee trees’ nutrients.
Each coffee cherry contains two
seeds of beans as they are called.
Once the beans are formed, they will
be growing inside of an area called
integument, the coffee bean will
consume and replace the integument
with the exception of a final layer
that will be referred to as the silver
skin layer.
If left unattended, the coffee trees
would grow to be about fifteen feet
tall, but typically farmers always
keep them at six feet tall for easier harvesting. After the eighth year, these plants begins
to produce a full crop and can yield from one to twelve pounds of coffee each year.
After harvesting, the coffee beans will go through a process called “processing”. At
that process, they will be plucked, hulled, polished, graded and sorted. All their
registration details as well as crop information, such as variety, temperature and
humidity, will be recorded.
Finally, after getting stamped with the quality certification, coffee beans will be sent
off to the next phase.

2. Roasting and Packaging:

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 2.1. Roasting:
Coffee roasting is a complex process that involved the careful application of heat to
transform coffee beans from green to brown in an effort of achieving the best tasting
flavor. Before roasting, actually, they do not smell like coffee at all. That about 800 to
1000 different aroma compounds existing in coffee beans are developed with roast
profiling make the flavor of the coffee.
There are 3 mains stages in roasting:
 Drying: This step essentially lasts 4-8 minutes with traditional drum roaster.
The temperature in the end of drying reaches 160˚C. It is also important to
collect energy for the bean.
 Browning: Even though this stage is after drying, drying is continuing. At this
step, it starts the Maillard reaction that is responsible for browning. In the end,
the coffee starts to pop that called the first crack.
 Development: In the beginning of this stage, the reaction becomes exothermic
(heat producing) and the coffee cracks. It’s time when the wanted aroma
compounds are developing. The length of this stage is normally 15-25% of the
total time depending on the expected flavor.
2.2. Packaging:
Packaging coffee is an important course of enclosing roasted coffee, which tend to
be extremely sensitive, to protect it from sunlight, moisture and oxygen, with the aim of
not only preserving the coffee’s full-bodies taste and aromatic characteristics, but also
to contain the coffee in controlled portions for the other following stages. In addition,
packaging plays a crucial rule in consumption of every product in the commodity
industry all over the world.
Roughly said that there are three types of coffee beans packaging:
 Vacuum-sealed bags
 Packed in paper bags
 Packed in airtight packages with one-way valves

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 3. Global Delivery and Distribution:
The logistics continue as the coffee beans’ journey is not over. After having been
roasted and packaged, the finished products will be trucked to regional distribution
centers – the warehouses. The block-chain will ensure that the coffee will come to the
right address, all get paid in time and the importers get their delivery on time. Through
a web of transport, these coffee beans are delivered to thousands of cafes, restaurants,
grocery stores, large chains retailers, or even directly to the customers who desire. For
example, the five largest coffee shop chains on Earth are: McCafe, Tim Hortons, Costa
Coffee, Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks.
The amount of delivery is depended on each retailer’s request, primarily based on
replenishing their individual inventory stocks. Some of these orders are streamlined, but
other times they can fluctuate, as demand charges and alters a retailer’s inventory stock.
To no surprise, the demand for coffee is year-round as well as continuing to increase
more and more. Facing to this rising requirement, it must be strategically routed to
minimized delivery time and fuel costs, while maximizing production and productivity,
even the plans of delivery will be restructured in order to maintain maximum efficiency.

An example distribution coffee process of Starbucks

4. In-store preparation:

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 Coffee preparation is the process of converting coffee beans into a beverage. It’s
also the last stage of the
logistics process of coffee.
While each kind of coffee
and the different raw
materials have differently
particular steps, the
process includes “four
fundamentals”:
 Grinding: The
whole coffee
beans are
ground, also
known as
milling, to
simplify the
brewing process. Due to importance of a grind’s fineness, a uniform grind is
highly desirable.
 Brewing: Proper brewing of coffee requires using the correct amount of
coffee grounds, extracted to the correct degree and at the correct temperature.
A cup of coffee consists of 98% water. Therefore, the water to make coffee
should be absolutely clean, fresh and pure.
 Extraction: Using the right proportion of grind to water – it is important to
make the most flavorful cup of coffee.
 Freshness: Coffee is obviously a fresh produce, whose enemies are light,
heat, moisture and especially oxygen. To keep coffee fresh, store it in an
airtight container at room temperature. For the best result, it should be ground
just before brewing.

CONCUSION

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