STORAGE,

SAMPLES AND
SHIPPING
The Crucial Role of the
Green Coffee Warehouse

By Levi Rogers

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STORAGE, SAMP LES AND SH I P P I NG

A B OV E BETWEEN THE TIME THAT GREEN mills and co-ops to the port of export. Generally, this
Green coffee warehouse coffee is imported to when it is released to the roaster, role belongs to an exporter, but it depends on the
in Colombia. there is a key player that is often overlooked when contract. Sometimes the broker will need to pay to
Photo by Jiyoon Han we discuss the coffee supply stream: the independent arrange transport to get the coffee from a truck (or
green coffee warehouse. The warehouse plays a crucial FOT), into a container and then onto a ship. Once
P R E C E D I N G PA G E role in ensuring the quality and transparency of the the coffee is loaded into a container and then onto
Warehouse at coffee it holds. a vessel—or “on board”—it becomes known as FOB
Continental Terminal. Let’s take a closer look at coffee’s journey from or free on board. FOB refers to the price paid to the
Photo by Ruth Ann Church the farm to the warehouse, examining the critical seller of the coffee, usually the exporter. This price is
stopping points and key terms to know along the way. different from the price the exporter paid for the coffee
(which could be for coffee in parchment or cherry), but
P R E - WA R E H O U S E J O U R N E Y sometimes the exporter is also the farmer or estate—it
just depends on the supply chain.
Coffee is shipped in containers on vessels from the The responsibility, ownership and title of the
location where it is grown and processed. Before this container is then passed on to the importer by notice
step, someone must transport the product from farms, of a delivery order (DO); when the coffee has been

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imported and clears customs and required inspections, a logistics
company or the warehouse will collect the container and deliver
it to the warehouse. Port security requires that only registered
authorized logistics companies are allowed on the docks to collect
cargo.
These global destination warehouses are typically located
along the coast at well-established seaports (such as the ports of
New Jersey, Oakland or Tacoma for the United States; Vancouver
or Toronto for Canada; and Grays or Liverpool for the United
Kingdom).
The necessary documentation at this point is the bill of lading
(BOL). The BOL is a legal and negotiable document, and an original
BOL is required to collect cargo from the port as it establishes
ownership. The BOL holds all the important information about
the coffee, such as the destination warehouse or roasting
company, shipping weight, shipping line and International Coffee
Organization (ICO) mark. Unique to each parcel of coffee, the ICO
mark includes the country code, parcel number, and the code for
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the exporter or grower. It is extremely important for the owner
of the coffee, be it an importer or roaster, to double check all the
marks on DOs and invoices to ensure correct information.
A typical “full” coffee container holds 275 (69-kilo) bags
of coffee from Central America or approximately 320 (60-kilo)
bags of coffee from origins like Brazil and Africa. Interesting
fact: Containers often hold more weight than coffee typically
ships. Green coffee is usually half the available space. These are
the standard lot sizes that the coffee industry considers a full
container load because additional net weight over 45,000 pounds
would require special equipment for over-the-road trucking and
additional weight fees.
S T E P 1 . D E VA N N I N G  The warehouse team will then make sure all marks and bags
Once the coffee container has arrived in-country and passed
through customs, the container is then unloaded for further
inspections by an importing country’s quarantine agency
roastmagazine.com
(generally the primary concern in this step is checking for the
presence of bugs or other “restricted” animals that may have
hitched a ride in transit and pose a biosecurity threat if introduced
to a specific country’s environment).
Arianna Hartstrom, owner and founder of Costa Oro
International, which operates warehouses in both Portland,
Oregon, and Seattle, says this container unloading process can
take “anywhere from 50 minutes to two hours depending on how
many micro or specialty lots are included in the load.” Bags of
coffee are then floor loaded (when a shipping container is stacked
with freight that has been loaded from the floor up without using
a shipping pallet) and “lumpers” (laborers who handle freight)
devan (unload) the cargo and stack it on pallets.
and quantities are the same. The warehouse will also be the first to
notice any damage, be it moisture damage or insect infestations.
This process is fairly straightforward if the container consists of
the same coffee and comes in undamaged, but if the container Devanning at Continental Terminal. Photo by Ruth Ann Church
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Green coffee warehouse is made up of a handful of different micro-lots, the
in Colombia. crew must re-sort every bag to verify that count and
Photo by Jiyoon Han marks are correct—an occurrence that the team at The
Annex warehouse in Oakland, California, refers to as
“micro-lot madness.” It is crucial that importers work
closely with the exporter and producers to ensure that
the bags that arrive are what were agreed upon in the
BOL, and there are no mix-ups.
After the coffee is unloaded, it is then weighed as
the importer will often require a weight certificate to
verify that it received the correct cargo and number of
kilos/pounds. Any discrepancy will be disputed with
the exporter.
After this, the inbound warehouse contact sends
a “devanning” or “stripping” report to the importer,
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who then verifies the sample for quality control. Once
approved for quality, the importer or owner of the
coffee will send an arrival sample of the coffee to the
roasters/clients who have contracted the coffee.
Reconditioning
Sometimes damage occurs in transit. Some bags
may become wet or moldy. The warehouse will then
coordinate with the owner of the coffee on whether to
“recondition” the coffee, destroy the coffee or file an
insurance claim. Reconditioning involves discarding
any wet or damaged coffee and re-bagging the rest of
the green into new bags and GrainPro (if applicable).
Coffee is then re-sampled for approval from the
reconditioned bag to ensure consistency and quality.
S T E P 2 . S TO R A G E cost of storage and financing—into their On the other hand, the benefit for
price per pound to a roaster, if they have roasters is that while storing the coffee, a
Conditions agreed on that price. In that case, those roasting business is not required to pay all
Coffee is stored while waiting to be released. costs are absorbed and won’t be a line at once for the product that is being held
If the environment is too humid, dry, hot item. in a warehouse. Roasters pay only for each
or cold, temperature control precautions
should be in place. However, typical
green coffee warehouses are ambient, and
temperature controls for storage facilities
are expensive. While coffee warehouses
ideally are located in climates where there
is not too much heat or humidity, or hot
temperatures, sometimes conditions are
less than ideal.
As home roasting purveyor and green
importer Sweet Maria’s says on its website,
“If it’s comfortable for you, then your
coffee is happy too.” This temperature
range falls somewhere between 60–70
degrees F with 40–60 percent relative
humidity.
It is the responsibility of the importer
or roaster to manage the time each coffee
lot spends in storage before roasting—as
storage time will affect coffee quality.
Storage fees
Roasters may see a line item on the
invoice from their importer for “storage
fees,” among some other potentially
unanticipated costs such as weighing,
strapping or reconditioning. Until the
coffee is released to the roaster, the
importer still has the responsibility for a
coffee and must pay to store the coffee in
the warehouse. The importing company
has taken on the financial risk of importing
the coffee, holding it in its inventory and
paying to store it. Charges are calculated by
cargo weight in U.S. cents per pound, but
these few cents can add up over time if a
roaster is storing a large amount of coffee
for a long duration of time. However, many
brokers may include “carry” costs—the
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coffee they do release from the warehouse. Thus, the roaster could
pay a few extra cents per pound to avoid having to release all the
coffee at once, which is especially beneficial for roasters who may
be roasting only a few bags per month. Larger companies that
roast 50 bags per month or more and can release all 50 bags at
once will certainly benefit from saving on storage fees.
STEP 3. SAMPLING
Once a sample has arrived or “landed” at the green coffee
warehouse, the broker will verify the quality of the sample via its
internal quality control system. There is also a warehouse charge
for each sample drawn, another cost for brokers to consider. If
quality is approved, a copy sample is then shipped to a roaster
or other clients for their approval. This green sampling service
done at the warehouse is performed by an in-house or third-
party sampling service. Sometimes importers will order a larger
Sampling at a green coffee warehouse. Photo courtesy of Costa Oro sample from which to ship smaller samples out of their office.
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Both clients must verify this landed sample against the “pre-
shipment” sample for quality assurance.
How does one take a sample?
Typically, a 350- to 500-gram sample is pulled from multiple,
representative bags that account for 15-20 percent of the overall
lot from different sections—top, middle, bottom, front and back.
A minimum sample of 350 grams is needed for green grading.
“For conventional jute bags, beans are extracted with a coffee
trier, which is a tool that allows removal of beans with little to
no damage to the jute,” says Hartstrom. “For GrainPro, each bag
must be staged and carefully opened to remove the requested
amount of beans from a particular quantity of bags that would
represent an allowed sample size for quality verification.” This is
often done by a third-party sampling service.
It is important that all warehouse services act as third parties
so that roasters can feel confident the product they are getting
has not been altered in any way by the importer or broker
(i.e., the warehouse is not beholden to the importer or forced to
give preference to one customer over another).
Slack Bags
A slack bag is any bag of coffee with less than the expected net
weight. This can be caused by reconditioning bags or damage
from the warehouse. Occasionally, if an importer has a spot coffee
sitting in the warehouse for a long time that has had multiple
samples pulled, this bag will lose a few pounds. If a roaster ever
receives a bag that is slack—and this was not mentioned on the
DO—be sure to weigh it and contact the importer or warehouse
if there is a discrepancy.
Re-sampling
An additional measure of quality is re-sampling. This could occur
if a quality control team finds a defect, such as potato, phenol or
ferment, after the landed samples are sent out. The owner of the
coffee will then contact the warehouse to re-sample the coffee
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for a more “representative amount,” such as an order for
3 kilos instead of 350 grams, or might even sample 100
percent of the lot, pulling representative samples from
every bag.
S T E P 4. R E L E A S E S
Once coffee is approved by the roaster, the importer or
roaster will request a “release” or DO from the warehouse.
Sheila Muchmore, account representative at The
Annex warehouse, believes that attention to detail is
the most important concern for roasters and importers
who are releasing coffee. “As a warehouse working
with hundreds of imports, we can only work from the
Moving bags at a green coffee warehouse. Photo courtesy of Costa Oro
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information (paperwork) we are provided,” she
says. “If any part of that paperwork is inaccurate or
missing, we aren’t going to know. We are not part
of the sales/purchase process and we don’t have a
lot of conversations with buyers/exporters directly,
so it really behooves all parties to review anything
written for them and have changes made right away
so things go as they prefer. Lack of detail literally can
stop the whole show. For example, we might get a
release but no shipping/carrier information, so we
can’t do anything with the release—then a truck will
show up to pick up a coffee and we won’t know they
were assigned or authorized.”
All releases have a cutoff time, usually by noon on
the day prior to the desired shipping or pick-up date.
This is to give proper time for the warehouse to pull
the coffee and get everything lined up.
STEP 5. FREIGHT
There are many different options to ship the coffee
from the warehouse to roastery. Depending upon
the contract, the importer can arrange shipping for
the roaster and bill for the service, or the roaster can
handle the process, using another shipping company.
The roaster can also use a shipping or forwarding
company to schedule the move. In any case, for
whomever is in charge of this service, a BOL will
be needed to ship the coffee, a DO will be needed to
release the coffee, and a pick-up time will need to be
scheduled at the warehouse.
Most warehouses have specific windows of time
for freight to be picked up, so it’s always smart to
check. Appointments are required. Another thing the
roaster will need to determine is whether they will
need a “liftgate” for unloading the pallet (usually for
residential or small roasteries) and if they are willing
to unload the pallet themselves or arrange to have a
forklift on hand. The pickup and delivery truck must
have suitable equipment for loading docks at the
warehouse and to deliver safely to the roaster. Use
the “special instructions” part of your BOL to indicate
correct hours, special entrances, phone number and
more.
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Samples at a green Many green coffee traders will do their best to
coffee warehouse. make green coffee accessible, whether through one
Photo courtesy of bag will-call pick-ups for micro roasters or delivery in
Costa Oro the local area. This is helpful for smaller roasters, as
the base rate for shipping one bag weighing 69-kilos
(150 pounds) by freight via a pallet can be more than
$150!
One additional note to remember about freight
is that a truck with a pallet of coffee could arrive at
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any time. Sometimes these public carrier LTL freight
companies will even charge a $50 re-delivery fee or
other fees if no one is at the facility to receive the
coffee (even if your hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., but they
show up at 7:45 a.m. or 5:15 p.m.). There is no real-
time “tracking” as with freight carriers like FedEx, the
United States Postal Service or UPS (unless perhaps
the roaster is using UPS or FedEx Freight). Find a local
trucking service or public LTL carrier that you trust.
THE FUTURE
Coffee warehouses are much more than a simple
“U-Store” warehouse for importers and roasters.
They also play a critical role in the traceability of
coffee to verify both certifications and USDA safety
requirements. They also help ensure that the supply
stream is even-handed for everyone involved.
“Often, the green coffee warehouse is an
anonymous participant in the supply chain,” says
Hartstrom of Costa Oro. “We want all of our partners
in the specialty coffee industry to feel comfortable
contacting the green warehouse in their region when
they have a need.”
The green coffee warehouse also plays an
essential role in keeping the supply stream flowing,
especially in a time of crisis like covid-19, where a
global pandemic can cause delays all along the supply
stream. Warehouses can act as third-party mediators
between roasters, producers and importers—and the
same is true for green coffee warehouses at origin. It
is important to recognize this and understand how to
use these facilities and services effectively.
L E V I R O G E R S is a writer and coffee roaster based in
Portland, Oregon. He is the co-founder of La Barba Coffee in
Salt Lake City, Utah, and currently works in quality control
at Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers.
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