Green coffee

Commercial Green Coffee

Commercial buying is a different discipline from specialty buying. The question is not "which lot" but "can this specification be delivered, repeatedly, at this price, on this schedule". This page is written for that question.

Contracted on: Grade · screen · defects
Typical volume: Container programmes
Packing: 60 kg jute · bulk liner

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Commercial Coffee from six East African origins

TanzaniaFully washed · NaturalAA · A · ABJune–October in the south; July–December in the north
UgandaNatural (Robusta) · Washed Arabica (WUGAR)Screen 18 · Screen 17 · Screen 15Robusta main crop November–February with a fly crop April–July; Elgon Arabica October–February
KenyaFully washed with soak · Mbuni (natural)E · AA · ABMain crop October–December; early (fly) crop May–July
EthiopiaFully washed · Natural (sun-dried)Grade 1 · Grade 2 · Grade 3October–January, varying by region and altitude
RwandaFully washed · Natural (growing)Grade 1 (fully washed) · Grade 2 · Screen 15+March–July, with the peak in April and May
BurundiFully washed with soak · Natural (limited)Grade A · Grade B · Screen 15+March–July

Quick answer

Commercial supply is contracted on specification and consistency rather than on lot identity: grade, screen with tolerance, defect basis, moisture ceiling, crop year and shipment pattern. It is usually bought as a programme across a season rather than as a single purchase.

The volume grades

Commercial grades by origin
Origin	Grade	Species	Screen	Notes
Uganda	Screen 15	Robusta	15+	The volume workhorse; two harvest cycles support near year-round supply
Uganda	Screen 18	Robusta	18+	Larger size class, bought where bean uniformity matters to the roast
Uganda	Screen 14, 12, FAQ	Robusta	12–14 / unsized	Price-led blending and soluble; FAQ needs the fullest specification
Tanzania	AB, C, TT, UG	Arabica	AB 16–17	AB is the largest single block in a typical outturn
Tanzania	Kagera screen 15+	Robusta	15+	Dry-processed, contracted on screen and defect terms
Kenya	AB, C, TT	Arabica	AB 15–16	AB often the best value on a cup-per-cost basis
Ethiopia	Grade 4, Grade 5	Arabica	—	Djimma naturals are the commercial backbone
Rwanda / Burundi	Grade 2 / Grade B	Arabica	15+	Smaller volumes; useful for adding structure

How a programme is contracted

A programme differs from a spot purchase in three ways, and each needs its own clause.

1Volume and cadence. Total volume across the season and the split by shipment — monthly, quarterly, or against call-offs.
2Price mechanism. Usually a differential to the futures reference with an agreed fixation window, rather than an outright price for the whole programme.
3A type or approved sample governing all shipments, with each shipment verified against it rather than approved individually.

Programme terms

Specification: Grade, screen with tolerance, defect basis, moisture ceiling with method, foreign matter limit
Volume: Total and per-shipment, with tolerance
Shipment pattern: Fixed schedule or call-off with notice period
Price basis: Differential, nominated months, fixation window
Quality governance: Type or approved sample; pre-shipment verification
Packaging: 60 kg jute, or bulk liner for single-grade volume
Certification: Where required — 4C is common on commercial volumes
Incoterm: FOB, CFR or CIF with named port

What matters most in commercial supply

Specify tightly and resist the temptation to accept upgrades that break the profile.
Verify every shipment against the governing sample rather than approving each individually.
Build the crop-year transition into the programme explicitly — new crop cups differently from the tail of the old one.
Agree in advance what happens when a specification cannot be filled: substitution, deferral or release.

Consistency beats peak quality

A shipment that arrives noticeably better than the last one is a problem in the same way a worse one is: the roast profile and the finished product were built around the specification, not around the best parcel.

Price basis. Arabica is usually priced as a differential to the ICE Arabica (“C”) futures contract and Robusta to the ICE London Robusta contract, with a nominated month and a fixation window. A differential without a month is not a price — see coffee trade terms. For container-scale presentation and bulk liners, see bulk and wholesale green coffee.

Programme enquiries

Tell us the annual volume, specification and shipment pattern. We will confirm what the origins support across the season, and what the crop-year transition means for your blend.

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Updated September 20262 min read

Current crop

Current Commercial Coffee

Availability is confirmed on enquiry

We do not publish a standing stock list for commercial coffee. What can be offered depends on the harvest in progress, what has been milled and what is already committed, so each offer is confirmed against the current crop when you ask — with the lot’s specification and the date its position was checked.

For when each origin typically ships, see the coffee crop calendar.

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Processing

Commercial Coffee by processing method

The largest lever available at origin, and the one a buyer can specify most directly.

Processing methods

Washed

Cleaner separation; the default across most of East Africa.

Natural

Whole-cherry drying; heavier body and fruit sweetness.

Coffee dried in its fruit, the mucilage set hard and amber around each bean.

Honey

Mucilage retained on the parchment. Limited East African availability.

Quality

How we evaluate commercial coffee

Every parcel is assessed on the same sequence before it is offered, and again before it is loaded. What is reported for a given lot depends on what the buyer specifies.

A cupping table in use: two hands breaking the crust with cupping spoons across coded sample bowls.

Green Coffee Quality Control

Export

Packaging and export

Packaging is specified at contract stage rather than requested afterwards, because it changes both the price and the container arithmetic. Four of our six origins are landlocked, which makes the inland leg the largest single source of schedule variance — shipment windows are built around port arrival, not mill readiness.

Jute coffee sacks stacked in bays on wooden dunnage in a brick warehouse, with ventilation blocks in the wall above.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between commercial and specialty green coffee?

Commercial coffee is bought on specification and consistency, usually in volume against a programme. Specialty is bought on separation and lot identity, usually in smaller parcels. They are different disciplines rather than different quality tiers, and the same origin supplies both.

Can I contract a full season of supply?

Yes. Programme contracts covering a season are standard for commercial volumes, typically on a differential basis with an agreed fixation window and a stated shipment pattern.

What happens at the crop-year transition?

New crop cups differently from the tail of the previous one. A well-written programme addresses this explicitly — either by re-approving the governing sample at the transition, or by agreeing a period in which both crops may be shipped against stated terms.

Do commercial lots come with a cupping?

They are cup-screened for faults as part of pre-shipment QC. What they are not is individually scored — commercial supply is governed by a type or approved sample and verified against it, rather than evaluated lot by lot.

Keep reading

Related technical guides

The reference material behind the specification fields on this page.

Request an offer

Tell us the commercial coffee you need

Origin, region, process, grade, screen, moisture, defect tolerance, crop year and packaging. Send what you know and we will confirm what each origin realistically supports for the current crop.

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