Challenge

I have not posted here for a long time. We are struggling to grow from a small niche market of churches and sports teams to a national distribution. I can't say we are winning, but indeed, the Eco-coffee market is growing. The buyer's recognition of and access to good coffee, however, is still not what it ought to be. There is not an industry wide grading system. Without an industry wide certification of quality, there is no way for the customer to identify good taste or good quality. The importer of the quality stuff too finds him or herself at a cost disadvantage and is motivated to cut corners.Environmental and social justice coffee is not necessarily good coffee; it should be because the good stuff comes from the most remote, inaccessible, high mountain rain forests, and that is where fair trade coffee usually - but not always - comes from. The high mountain coffee matures more slowly, more disease free to a more mellow taste. The best, when properly screened, is graded SHB, for strictly hard bean, the highest quality grade. The big labels, big names, usually blend small amounts of the good stuff with the much less expensive commodity coffee to achieve what the roaster thinks is a good taste. It does not take the second cup to tell the difference.Then, there is the issue of stale coffee. The bigger the coffee company the greater the inventory and thus the probable age of the coffee. Let me tell you from a logistics standpoint - and that's what I do - the greatest challenge is achieving sufficient turnover to insure freshness and -- financial sustainability for the company.It is hard to be all things to all people: quality, organic, chemical free, shade grown, carbon-offset, rain-forest and fair trade, never mind good taste. --- How do you know when advertising has little to do with reality?