European Orders & Mercanta Berlin!

The 2020 Specialty Coffee Transaction Guide is now Live! Designed by Professor Peter W Roberts and his team at Emory University, the guide aims to help separate the specialty market from C-market commodity pricing; highlighting market trends in the speciality coffee sector. We’re proud to be one of this years 81 supporters, as well as

2020 will never be forgotten for the challenges that society faced, also individuals and the specialty coffee business that provides a living for so many. I suppose people had become accustomed to hearing of challenges, natural disasters, and humanitarian problems in coffee-producing countries. But without doubt, every corner of the globe has been affected by

Have you ever used bottled water for brewing your morning cuppa? Although often underestimated, you could argue that water for coffee is at least as important, if not more important, then regularly debated brewing factors such as grind size or brew ratios. Without going into too much detail for the science aspect, coffee tastes best

There are not any naturally caffeine-free coffee trees that are currently being grown commercially, so a number of methods have been established to achieve this. We have discussed some of the more well-known methods, explaining in detail how the processes work.

Last year in 2019, we found something special. A nano-lot from the beautiful Finca Guadalupe Zaju… The ‘secret ingredient’; wood!

The Coffee Berry Borer or Coffee Borer Beetle (CBB) is an insect found around the world and prevalent in most coffee producing countries. It is among the most harmful pests to commercial coffee plantations and can attack 50-100% of berries on a farm if no control measures are applied. Description The CBB belongs to the

Extraction is one of the most important aspects to creating the perfect cup, but still under research in the world of coffee. Without extraction, we would not have the morning cup of coffee that we all know and love, we would end up with a cup of water, with ground beans floating around it.   This

The Outbreak of COVID-19 Over the past few weeks, the Conservative Government has enforced unforeseen measures comparable to those imposed during World War II. Boris in place of Winston, and COVID-19 in place of Fascism. Admirable and amiable leaders in their own special way, both of whom were, and are, faced with diseases that threaten

We’ve all been affected by current global events in some way or another, and we have seen it have an unprecedented affect on our industry as a whole.

In light of the current situation, we would like to share some words of assurance and information as to how COVID-19 will affect our business, and in turn yours.

In general, Origin trips are instigated and organized with the aim of selecting lots from the current harvest. Although this was most certainly on the cards for Mercanta’s tour of Costa Rica, it was prominently an educational experience for both I (being my first Origin trip) and for the team at Cartel Coffee Lab based

We arrived in Kenya like previous years anticipating not only the amazing coffees we would cup, the farmers we would meet some old friends, new ones and of course the animals we would encounter. Exotic beautiful Kenya did not disappoint.

2019 marks Mercanta’s first foray into sourcing coffee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Here we were lucky enough to meet Eba & Wally from Societe Matea! Using coffee production to forge a path for economic success and social stability, Eba & Wally, founders of Société Maitea, hope to make a difference to the local community, as well as to demonstrate the quality of DRC (and in particular Kivu province) coffee, to the outside world.

Stephen Cornford has just returned from his brief but insightful week long trip to East Africa; specifically Tanzania and Uganda, where he visited some of our export partners in the region. Read all about Stephen’s experience here.

I am sitting at Sao Paulo Guarulhos, almost exactly a month since I left the UK on this Brazil Trip. So now is as good a time as any to get this trip report written.

In preparation for his trip to the famous Aquiares Estate in Costa Rica, Ben talks to Diego, the estate’s manager, about the current on-going improvements at the farm.

Last week, coffee roasters from all around the world traveled to Buford, Georgia to meet at Lake Lanier for the 19th Annual Coffee Roasters Guild Retreat. The air was heavy but that didn’t stop us from roasting coffee!

Juan, our Colombia Coffee Hunter, traveled for the first time to Planadas to support in the selection of the lots that entered the auction held during the fair. Follow him as he gets from Medellin, where we have our sourcing office, to the last town in the south of Tolima and read about his vicissitudes getting there and about Planadas and Gaitania troubled past and bright present and future.

by Stephen Hurst The weekend of 6th / 7th July was long forecast to have very low temperatures in some Brazil coffee growing regions. Predicted temperatures were amongst the lowest expected in the country for many years. Why does this matter? Brazil is well-known as the world’s largest producer of coffee beans, by a considerable