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Posted on April 11 2019
Stephen Hurst discusses the current plummet in the C-Price and how specialty coffee should address volatility It is the early 1990’s. The International Coffee Agreement, a producer/consumer cartel of sorts, which for many years had regulated the commodity coffee price via an export/import quota system, had ceased to exist. Not only did this mean
Posted on January 12 2018
January 12 2018
For many years, Mercanta has been telling you the same, old Ethiopia story: In 2008 Ethiopia began the centralization of all coffee exports through the newly established Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX). This eliminated most roasters’ and importers’ ability to provide accurate information of the precise traceability of coffees. Until December of that same year, growers
Posted on September 6 2016
September 6 2016
Grant Rattray and Leah Warren visit Papua New Guinea and tell us about their search for quality green coffee in this unique origin.
Posted on September 1 2016
September 1 2016
Mercanta’s Stephen Cornford takes a journey to Peru: 11,265 km long and, 2,500m high.
Posted on August 4 2016
August 4 2016
From July 9 – 17, 2016, Mercanta was honoured to be invited to Rwanda by our good friends, RWASHOSCCO, to help them celebrate 10 years of producing specialty coffee. Mercanta’s Raphael Prime and Jamie Marler were joined by our guests, Andrew Tolley of Taylor St., Diana Palmer of Red Roaster, Jorge Alberto from Origin South Africa and Steve Leighton of Has Bean.
Posted on July 8 2016
July 8 2016
On May 16-20, Mercanta North America’s John Curry attended the 2016 Guatemala Cup of Excellence (COE) International Jury as an observer. He shares his experiences.
Posted on June 10 2016
June 10 2016
Mercanta Medellin's Juan Cano recounts his recent visit to the Antioquia's Best Cup prizewinning La Falda del Centro.
Posted on June 27 2014
June 27 2014
Arriving on the last flight Thursday the week before the international jury, I awoke to find myself sample roasting late harvest offer samples in our lab, before jet lag had time to set in we were off to Antigua visiting both long term partners and new that we work with in the area, Puerta Verde,
Posted on March 27 2014
March 27 2014
Well ladies and gentlemen, after much excitement at Mercanta HQ, the coffee from our newest origin, East Timor, has finally arrived. Lying almost equidistant between Indonesia and Australia, and cradled by the deep waters of the Banda and Timor seas, the country shares an island with Timor; a separate, and culturally distinct nation. The island
Posted on June 26 2013
June 26 2013
Funds raised from the sale of Finca El Retiro, El Talapo and Guachoca last year have continued to improve the lives of the communities involved in the Pacas Family Charity FUNPRES. After our last investment into the FUNPRES charity, we have received the first report about the programs, which highlights how more people will benefit
Posted on June 7 2013
June 7 2013
A recent visit revealed the variety of different ways Rwandan coffee makes its way to our cupping table. Back at the end of May, our lovely coffee huntress Jo, travelled to Rwanda with Melbourne Coffee Merchant’s equally delightful Fleur and Jenni to source wonderful coffees and strengthen the relationships we have built up there over
Posted on July 3 2012
July 3 2012
In February I was very lucky to visit one of the world’s oldest, biggest and – arguably – most fascinating coffee producing countries. Ethiopia is East Africa’s coffee giant, a huge country with the world’s third largest Arabica production and a coffee culture that stretches back centuries. After just a few days in Ethiopia I
Posted on March 14 2012
March 14 2012
At the beginning of March I travelled more than 2500km around Brazil’s coffee heartlands of South Minas and the Cerrado – an excellent reminder of how huge Brazil is! Many of the Brazilian states (such as Minas Gerais) are the size of entire European countrie. First, some facts and figures… Brazil anticipated crop 2012 harvest
Posted on March 8 2012
March 8 2012
Although Mercanta is not in the commodity business, we, and everyone involved in the green unroasted coffee business, are in some way affected by/connected to the ”commodity price” as quoted on the New York and London exchanges. The commodity price for coffee is a topic of endless debate, frequently misunderstood, and dare I say it,
Posted on October 28 2011
October 28 2011
We have just been sent some photos of the damage caused in Guatemala by weeks of heavy rain, as a series of tropical storms batter Central America. Meanwhile El Salvador is forecasting losses of between 7 and 20% of its national coffee production in 2011/12. According to the Red Cross, in Guatemala more than 470,000
Posted on October 25 2011
October 25 2011
More than a million people have been affected by devastating tropical storms in Central America and Mexico in recent weeks. Over twelve days of torrential rain have caused landslides and serious floods, with El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua hit particularly hard. Needless to say many coffee producers have been affected – damage caused by
Posted on August 4 2011
August 4 2011
Farmers in East Africa are enduring an extremely tough year. Michael Gehrken, who farms Blackburn Estate in Tanzania, recently sent us an update on the challenges he is facing as the new crop starts coming in. It’s a vivid reminder of how much hard graft goes into producing the fine coffees we source. The severe
Posted on August 10 2010
August 10 2010
Coffee leaf rust is spreading through farms in southern Colombia, according to local reports. This is worrying news. After frost and drought, leaf rust is Arabica’s greatest threat and can devastate crops if preventative steps are not taken. The situation may be exacerbated by heavy rains caused by the weather pattern known as ‘La Niña’.
Posted on April 27 2009
April 27 2009
Eleven of us gathered in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic for our 7th Coffee Hunter Field trip. Our host was José Ureña from Regiomontano. Mercanta has been working with José for more than 8 years. Our annual purchase of specialty Dominican Republic coffee has been stable at about one container per year. We feel that the
Posted on February 13 2009
February 13 2009
The London School of Coffee and Mercanta were very fortunate to be invited to Nicaragua by our good friend Claudia Castellón on behalf of the Jinotega Coffee Project, which supports small and medium-sized producers from the Apanas Lake in the Jinotega region. Claudia has been involved in the specialty coffee scene for many years, having
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