Coffee
Every parameter is measurable except the one that decides the sale.
Green Arabica and Robusta by origin, screen size and defect count. All of it certifiable — and none of it a substitute for the cup, which is why a coffee contract has an approval step that no other commodity on our book needs.
The desk
Coffee is the one commodity where the contract is agreed against a physical sample.
You can specify a coffee completely — origin, altitude, variety, process, screen size, defect count, moisture, density — and still have said nothing decisive about whether a roaster will buy it. Two lots identical on paper can cup differently, and the roaster is buying the cup.
So the trade works differently. A sample is drawn and sent; the buyer cups it; and the contract is concluded subject to approval of sample, with a shipment sample and often a pre-shipment sample checked against the approved one. That approval step is the real specification, and the numbers are the framework that makes the sample meaningful rather than a substitute for it.
Which changes what a trading desk is for. On grain we agree a determination clause; on coffee we manage a sample chain — type sample, offer sample, pre-shipment sample, arrival sample — each one sealed, identified and traceable to a lot. Where that chain is loose, the paperwork can be perfect and the cargo still wrong, and no arbitration recovers a roaster's production week.
The species
Two plants, and the difference is not quality.
Arabica is not simply better Robusta. They are different species with different chemistry, different agronomy, different buyers and separate futures markets — and treating one as a cheap version of the other is how blends go wrong.
| Arabica | Robusta | |
|---|---|---|
| Character | More acidity and aromatic complexity, lower body. | Fuller body, more bitterness, and the crema that espresso blends are often built around. |
| Caffeine | Roughly half that of Robusta. | Roughly double. Which is part of why it is more disease-resistant in the field — and part of why it behaves differently in a blend. |
| Where it grows | Higher altitude, cooler, more demanding. Altitude is a specification term because it correlates with bean density and cup. | Lower altitude, hotter, hardier and higher yielding. Cheaper to produce, and structurally so. |
| Bean shape | Oval with a curved centre cut. | Rounder with a straight centre cut — visually distinguishable in a sample tray, which matters when verifying a blend claim. |
| Where it goes | Single origin, specialty, and the quality end of blends. | Espresso blends, soluble and instant manufacture, and the volume end of the market. A large and entirely legitimate trade, not a residual one. |
| Futures | The ICE Arabica contract, in US cents per pound. | The ICE Robusta contract, in US dollars per tonne. Two markets, two units, and a spread that is its own indicator. |
Grading
Four systems in one market, and the origin decides which.
There is no single global coffee grade. Each producing country runs its own classification, and a specification has to name the system it is written in or it means nothing.
Screen size
Bean size by sieve, in 64ths of an inch — screen 18 is 18/64ths. Larger beans generally roast more evenly, which is why size is a grade term and not a curiosity. A stated screen with a minimum retention percentage is a specification; a screen number alone is not.
Defect count
Defects counted in a 300 g sample and converted to full defect equivalents — a black bean, a sour bean, an insect-damaged bean and a stone each count differently. The grade name in most origins is a defect count with a label on it.
Altitude and hardness
Central American origins grade by altitude — strictly hard bean, hard bean and so on. Higher and cooler means slower maturation, denser bean and, usually, more acidity in the cup.
Process
Washed, natural or honey. It shapes the cup more than most single variables and it is a contract term, not a description. A washed and a natural from the same farm are different products.
Moisture and water activity
Moisture is contracted with a range, not just a maximum — too dry is a defect as well, because the coffee stales and loses in the roast. Water activity predicts storage life better than moisture alone and specialty buyers increasingly ask for it.
Crop year
Current crop, past crop or old crop. It is a price term and a cup term, and an unstated crop year on an offer is a question worth asking early.
Deforestation
Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 — coffee is in scope, from 30 December 2026.
Coffee is one of the seven commodities covered by the EU Deforestation Regulation, and of all of them it is the one where the supply base makes compliance hardest — because a very large share of world coffee comes from smallholdings measured in single hectares.
- The dates as they now stand
- Following the revision agreed at the end of 2025, the regulation applies to all operators from 30 December 2026, with micro and small enterprises given until 30 June 2027. A Commission simplification review is due by 30 April 2026, so detail may still move — the application date is settled.
- What has to exist
- Evidence that the coffee is deforestation-free against a 31 December 2020 cut-off, that it was produced lawfully in the country of production, and a due diligence statement covering it — underpinned by geolocation of the plots where the coffee was grown.
- Why coffee is the hard case
- A single container can aggregate the output of hundreds of smallholders. Plot coordinates therefore have to be collected at the farm, held by the cooperative or the exporter, and carried through every bulking step without being lost. That is a data infrastructure problem, not a certificate purchase.
- The risk nobody names
- Chains that cannot produce plot data will not simply pay more; they will be excluded from the EU market and will redirect to destinations that do not require it. That is a real and predictable shift in trade flows, and buyers who have not begun mapping their origins are exposed to it whichever side of the trade they sit on.
- What we do
- Build the geolocation and legality file with the origin ahead of the date, and tell you at enquiry stage where an origin cannot supply it. The due diligence statement remains the obligation of the EU operator placing the goods on the market — we supply the data that makes it possible and we will not pretend to carry it.
Contaminants
Ochratoxin A, and what it tells you about a chain.
Ochratoxin A is a storage mould toxin, and in coffee it is the contaminant that matters. The EU maximum for roasted coffee is 3.0 µg/kg, with separate levels for soluble coffee and for green.
- Where it comes from
- Not the field. It develops when coffee is dried too slowly, stored damp, or rewetted — during drying on the patio, in a humid warehouse, or in a container that sweats on the voyage. So an OTA result is a statement about how a chain is run rather than about a crop year.
- Roasting does not remove it
- It is reduced somewhat by roasting and not eliminated. A green coffee close to the limit is not a problem that the roaster's process will fix.
- The sampling problem
- OTA is very unevenly distributed — a few affected beans in a lot carry almost all of it. A composite of many increments, properly drawn and reduced, is the difference between a meaningful figure and a coin toss. This is the parameter where a cheap sampling plan costs the most.
- What prevents it
- Drying to the right moisture, storing dry, and shipping with a liner and a ventilation regime that keeps container sweat off the bags. All of which are chain decisions taken long before the cargo is offered.
Pricing
The differential is the trade.
Physical coffee prices as a futures price plus or minus a differential for origin, grade and quality. The futures leg is public and volatile; the differential is negotiated and is where a desk actually earns its place.
- The two contracts
- ICE Arabica, in US cents per pound, and ICE Robusta, in US dollars per tonne. Name the contract and the delivery month in the formula, not just the species.
- The differential
- Quoted per pound over or under the relevant month, by origin and grade. It reflects local supply, quality of the crop, currency in the producing country and freight — and it can move sharply while the screen is still.
- Price fixation
- Many physical contracts are agreed on the differential first and the futures leg fixed later, within a stated window and by a stated party. Who may fix, by when, and what happens if they do not, are contract terms that decide real money and are regularly left vague.
- Certification premiums
- Organic, Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance and similar carry their own differentials and their own chain-of-custody requirements. They are separate from EUDR and do not satisfy it — a point worth being explicit about, because the assumption that they do is widespread.
- What to fix
- Contract and month, differential, the fixation mechanism and deadline, the sample approval process, the grade with its system named, and the shipment window.
Scope
Where our obligation ends.
- What we supply
- Green Arabica and Robusta by origin and grade, in jute or in bulk-lined containers, against an approved sample, with independent determination at the contractual point.
- What we do not do
- We do not grow, mill, roast or blend, we do not operate warehouses, and we hold no equity in production. We do not offer hedging or fix the futures leg on your behalf.
- The sample chain
- We manage it and document it — sealed, identified and traceable to a lot at every step. We will not ship against a description where the trade expects an approved sample.
- EUDR
- We build the geolocation and legality file. The due diligence statement is the EU operator's obligation and we will not represent in a contract that we discharge it. We will also say plainly that a sustainability certification is not EUDR compliance.
- Ochratoxin A
- Tested against the destination's limit before shipment, with the sampling plan documented. Where a lot is close to the limit we say so rather than relying on the roast to solve it.
How to specify
Seven lines, and then a sample.
On coffee the specification opens the conversation; the cup closes it.
Species and origin
Arabica or Robusta, country and region, and altitude where the origin grades on it.
Grade, in a named system
The grade and the classification system it belongs to. A grade name without its origin's system is ambiguous.
Screen and defects
Screen size with the minimum retention, and the maximum full defect count per 300 g.
Process, crop year, moisture
Washed, natural or honey; current or past crop; and moisture as a range with water activity if you use it.
Cup requirement
Your cup profile or score, and the sample approval process you want — type, offer, pre-shipment, arrival.
Compliance
OTA and pesticide residue limits, any certification you require, and your EUDR position and timing.
Quantity, packing and pricing
Bags or tonnes, jute or lined bulk container, shipment window, and the futures contract, month, differential and fixation mechanism.
Inspection
Two determinations: the analysis, and the cup.
Independent determination by a superintendent appointed for the cargo — SGS, Bureau Veritas or Intertek — instructed jointly. The physical grading is conventional; the part that makes coffee different is that a sensory assessment sits alongside it and has to be as carefully controlled.
- Sampling
- Increment sampling across the lot with a trier, reduced by an agreed method, and sealed samples retained by all parties. Every sample identified to a lot and a seal number, so that an arrival sample can be compared with the approved one and the comparison means something.
- Physical grading
- Screen analysis with retention percentages, full defect count per 300 g with the defect table named, moisture and water activity, bean density, and colour and uniformity of the green.
- Cupping
- Roast profile, grind, brew ratio and water standardised, cupped blind against the approved sample by an assessor both parties accept. An unstandardised cupping is an opinion, not a determination.
- Contaminants
- Ochratoxin A against the destination limit with the sampling plan documented, plus pesticide residues and, where required, glyphosate.
- Condition
- Container inspected and lined; desiccant where the route warrants it; bags photographed at loading and at devanning; moisture re-checked on arrival where the voyage was long or humid. Container sweat is the main enemy and it is preventable.
- Documentation per lot
- Certificate of quality with the grading system named, cupping report against the approved sample, OTA and residue certificates, moisture certificate, ICO certificate of origin where applicable, phytosanitary certificate, EUDR data pack where applicable, weight certificate, bill of lading and the superintendent's report with photographs.
Straight answer
What we will tell you before you ask.
- That the numbers frame the trade and the cup decides it
- Two lots identical on paper can cup differently. If you are buying coffee without a sample approval step, you are buying something other than what your roaster needs.
- That a grade name needs its system
- Every origin grades differently. A grade without the origin's classification named is ambiguous, and the ambiguity is always resolved against the buyer.
- That a sustainability certification is not EUDR compliance
- Organic, Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance are separate schemes with separate purposes. None of them delivers plot geolocation, and the assumption that they do is the most common EUDR misconception we hear.
- That ochratoxin A is a chain problem, not a crop problem
- It develops in drying and storage, roasting does not remove it, and it is distributed so unevenly that the sampling plan matters more than the laboratory.
- That the fixation clause decides real money
- Who may fix the futures leg, by when, and what happens if they do not. It is left vague more often than any other term in a coffee contract.
Enquiries
Every enquiry is answered by the desk that handles it.
Send the product, quantity, delivery basis, destination and timing. We revert with availability, an indication and the documentation that accompanies it. Specifications are released once we know who we are speaking with.