* Joe wrote, On 3/6/2007 8:35 PM:
On Mar 6, 7:12 pm, Jeff wrote:
You're quoting retail "street price" for the commodity you're shipping
in bulk. That makes no sense at all.

It makes sence if you are also the roaster, retailer. That what makes
it work.

Lipton was able to create a vertically integrated tea business, but it
doesn't work very well for coffee, especially on a small scale. The
goal of the small specialty shops is to always have the highest
quality, which means constantly shifting suppliers.


Notice I alloted 75K for the facility and a couple workers a year,
that may be low, maybe not.

We have a burger joint here at my dock that has failed as a resturant
5-6 times.
It would make a perfect processing pkg facility, dock the boat right
next to it.
Coffee that sells for $10 a pound roasted up here goes for $2 a pound
unroasted, in 1320 lb pallets delivered here in New England. In
Central/South America that would be $1 a pound or less. Essentially,
the price doubles every time it passes through a hand or is processed.

I just looked at the commodies market an Coffee sells bulk for around
1.00 a pound.

That would be in container loads. Most high quality farmers don't
come close to that amount in a year, so you're limiting yourself to
low quality beans, suitable for Maxwell House and Starbucks.


BTW, I posted the following 5 years ago; I guess its time again:

In the old days, of course, coffee was transported by sailing ship.
The long voyage from the Dutch East Indies would have a natural
sweating" affect on the coffee in the hold. As a result, the coffee
turned a rare shade of brown that brought a premium at auction. It
was believed that it greatly improved the flavor and body. Captains
that brought in "extra brown" were given a bonus. Coffee brought by
sail was termed "ex-sailing ships."

Unlike tea, where there was a premium for fast voyages, coffee usually
traveled on slow ships. The Dutch style was favored - they were
described by one writer as "a hundred feet long, a hundred feet wide,
and a hundred feet high. Sometimes she sailed forwards, sometimes
backwards, and sometimes sideways. After dark, the lights were put
out, all sail was taken in, and all hands turned in for the night."
Towards the end of this era the Dutch ships were largely replaced by
Norwegian vessels.

After the turn of the century, there were attempts to duplicate the
browning process by steam heating coffee brought in by steamships.
The Pure Food authorities got involved, and the demand for brown
coffee fell off. The last coffee-carrying sailing ship to dock in New
York was on Christmas Day, 1914.

reference - "All About Coffee" by William H. Ukers 2nd ed. 1935