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Posted on July 11 2019
July 11 2019
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
Posted on July 5 2019
July 5 2019
Using Comparators when assessing coffee quality is best practice; however, it it also has issues. Stephen Cornford discusses how to improve Quality Control in Specialty coffee.
Posted on June 21 2019
June 21 2019
Mercanta UK’s Joe Fisher weighs in. Alongside providing expert product knowledge, a web of strong contacts at origin, and relief from administrative burden, one of the central roles of the coffee importer is to move the risk of green coffee buying away from roasters and onto their own shoulders. A significant chunk of this risk
Posted on June 14 2019
June 14 2019
This year's World of Coffee show was epic. Great Coffee, Great People, Great Times had by all! What's not to love? Ben Palmer re-caps.
Posted on May 29 2019
May 29 2019
Friday the 17th May marked a new stage in Mercanta’s relationship with the Scottish coffee scene. Joined from London HQ by a few good women and men from the lab – plus the boss for good measure – we set about cupping three tables of coffee and welcomed clients and friends to our brand-new digs.
Posted on May 17 2019
May 17 2019
Adryll, as Customer Account Manager, brings an extensive skill-set to Mercanta’s global team of Coffee Hunters. Starting May 1, Adryll Lin joins Aster Lam in staffing Mercanta’s Singapore office. Adryll brings a wealth of experience from various coffee industry sectors to his new role as Customer Account Manager. He possesses a deep understanding of the
Posted on May 10 2019
May 10 2019
Mercanta has participated in the Cup of Excellence programme from the very beginning, 20 years ago. We ask: is the competition still relevant? Juan Cano reports.
Posted on April 11 2019
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 22 2019
January 22 2019
Our beloved friend and colleague, Grant Rattray, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on Monday 21st January in Singapore, where he was regional sales manager for Mercanta in Asia In 2004, a principled and enthusiastic young man contacted Mercanta, seeking to get into the nascent European specialty coffee industry. I signed him up. Grant worked for
Posted on January 18 2019
January 18 2019
When highlighting the social aspects of coffees, we sometimes have a tendency to understate the contributions of our exporting partners. We focus, quite rightly, on the hard work and commitment of the the producer and her/his family. However, often, without a strong, sustainable and supporting relationship with an exporter, these producers would never have been
Posted on December 10 2018
December 10 2018
This year Mercanta will be matching the gifts you make to Food 4 Farmers instead of sending holiday cards between now and January 1, 2019.
Posted on November 6 2018
November 6 2018
Portugal Roasters Camp Ben’s first trip abroad representing Mercanta (we were one of the green coffee sponsors) without a doubt, caused mild apprehension, considering the roasting prowess of the attendees. Wet behind the ears with little to no specialty roasting experience, there was much to learn over the course of the four days. Here’s a
Posted on September 5 2018
September 5 2018
Craft: Connecting Coffee+Bread+Wine+Chocolate was held at London School of Coffee’s new Fulham location on 31 August. The afternoon was an opportunity for professionals and aficionados from a variety of overlapping industries to meet and discuss questions of quality, craft and value. To commence proceedings, Stephen Hurst introduced Mercanta and the London School of Coffee, both
Posted on June 7 2018
June 7 2018
We are quite late getting this up this year, so we thought we’d save this lovely account of this year’s trip to Kenya by our own Leah Warren for when the coffees land! Shout at your Account Manager on all sides of the ponds to hear more about our newly landed blackcurrant bombs! And read
Posted on May 30 2018
May 30 2018
It is with heavy hearts this week that we bid goodbye, adieu, farewell and Guidbye for noo to Joseph Walker – Mercanta’s voice of reason, resident wit, and the only one amongst us who managed to regularly cycle to work. He’s off to sunnier climes – Glasgow to be exact. His last day with Mercanta is
Posted on April 5 2018
April 5 2018
Guatemala & El Salvador Buying Trip – March 2018 Grant Rattray Reports There are many good reasons to get together at the start of the new crops from Guatemala and El Salvador. Guatemala is one of the acknowledged powerhouses of specialty coffee production and the diversity of microclimates, production models, varietals and processes has kept
Posted on March 26 2018
March 26 2018
The 2018 Mercanta Roasting Competition Winner is ANNOUNCED!!! Congratulations to the winner: Beth Williams from Colonna Coffee! The first Mercanta Roasting Competition final took place on Friday, 23rd of March. 21 roasters from 7 nations entered. Each paid £200 for the entry and received a 30kg carton of a top Colombian coffee for their entry fee.
Posted on February 14 2018
February 14 2018
Here’s to year 20!! Mercanta has been participating in Alliance for Coffee Excellence’s Cup of Excellence program from the beginning and are ‘Lifetime Members’. Stephen Hurst explains why. Mercanta celebrated our twentieth anniversary in 2016, and it occurred to me that Cup of Excellence would celebrate their twentieth anniversary next year in 2019. Which got
Posted on February 6 2018
February 6 2018
Clients from four countries joined us on our annual Colombia residency this year. Since Mercanta set up our office in Medellin in 2012, we have sought to highlight the wonders of the marvellous Colombian Department of Antioquia to a wider audience: in a coffee sense, a city tour sense, and a social sense. The networking opportunity for
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
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