Why Single-Origin Coffee Is So Expensive | So Expensive Food | Insider Business

to produce one pound of coffee beans Farmers need to harvest more than 1500 of these cherries each one contains two seeds that will be sorted processed and roasted before they reach your cup in 2022 the average U.S price for a pound of coffee was 5.89 but there's a specialty category called single origin coffee that can easily cost over 30 dollars per pound some exclusive harvests cost over 80 dollars per pound so what makes this coffee so special and why is it so expensive it's November in Erie County Kenya and the coffee Harvest is in full swing there are over 12.5 million coffee farms in the world almost 95 are owned by smallholders like Joseph he runs a one acre Farm part of which he inherited from his parents coffee is all about equality if you produce coffee with a higher quality the higher prices you get for your coffee coffee grows differently depending on the altitude climate soil and sun Farms here sit around 1700 meters above sea level in Rich volcanic soil the coffee grow very slow they take long time to mature coffee take time to mature the better the quality almost everywhere every farmer is growing coffee high altitude coffee produces fruity and floral flavors drinking coffee brewed from Beans exclusively from one region ensures that those distinct flavors come through it's what's called single origin coffee the quality and unique taste are the biggest reasons it can cost so much but achieving that quality isn't easy the terrain here is too uneven for machines so farmers pick the coffee by hand one Cherry at a time for coffee ripeness is key um foreign Mary has been growing coffee for over 25 years kutoka Guam bamboo economic 50 something each branch has ripe and unripe cherries so she has to pay close attention while picking the way coffee is harvested here in Kenya is very different from how it's done in Brazil the world's largest coffee producer on huge farms with flat terrain the Harvest is mechanized the trees are at a lower elevation and the yields are higher mechanized production is more efficient but this efficiency can hurt quality control when the whole tree is picked at once ripe and unripe cherries are lumps together this is commodity coffee destined for mass production and Industrial use its price is low and volatile the highest quality coffee is called specialty coffee this coffee has unique attributes that expert tasters called Q graders rate the highest single origin coffee is often rated at the highest end of specialty coffee because of its distinct flavors both specialty coffee and a lot of commodity coffee come from the same plant Cafe Arabica but not all arabica coffee is created equal this can of ground coffee is 100 Arabica it costs around eight dollars a pound in 2022 a single origin coffee grown in Panama sold for over six thousand dollars a pound at auction also 100 Arabica the better the flavor and the smaller the Harvest the more expensive the coffee back at Mary's Farm there's still work to be done after harvesting workers sort the cherries to weed out any defects these negatively impact the flavor and lower the price of the coffee but they need to work quickly processing coffee soon after harvest is key to maintaining its quality [Music] processing infrastructure is expensive so most farms in Kenya share centralized facilities over a thousand Farmers from the region bring their coffee here each processing method has a different impact on taste but they all have the same end goal separate the seed from the fruit these are the five stages of coffee processing the red cherry the wet parchment dry parchment green coffee and roasted coffee beans this is the washed process it's the most common way to process coffee in Kenya after weighing and inspecting the coffee workers remove the outer skin in a process called depulping then they place it in fermentation tanks where it rests for 12 to 14 hours fermentation breaks down the mucilage the sticky inner layer of the fruit so it can be washed away the next day workers push coffee through a series of channels cleaning off the seeds this is also where one of several grading processes takes place workers separate lower quality less dense beans which float to the surface even though these beans sell for Less they still provide important income to producers the denser coffee flows to soaking tanks to ensure any remaining mucilage is removed once the seed is free the coffee flows out of the tanks and onto drying tables Roasters sell coffee either as a blend of beans from different countries or a single origin but there's no officially agreed upon definition of the term it can refer to a form a Cooperative or a country consumers who buy this type of coffee are usually seeking a particular flavor or aroma the costs of processing transportation and running a roasting business are all bundled into the price customers pay for coffee it's so expensive to get coffee here everything from the barn to the port everything has gone up the boxes where we ship your coffee first subscriptions or at home consumption that packaging has gone up with single origin single producer when you have the producer's name it's an indicator that we paid more for that coffee because of the relationship if you're paying in the range of 21 to 26 dollars it's because we've invested in these areas that are important to us and we hope are important to them companies like metric play an important role in the coffee supply chain most coffee is consumed outside of the country it's produced in and how coffee is roasted has a big impact on its taste getting the best flavor out of single origin coffee requires careful roasting coffee is roasted in big machines like this Roasters take green coffee and heat it evenly to develop its flavor this is 20 pounds of Costa Rican honey processed coffee from solisi Cordero which is the husband and wife team in terrazoo horror uses sight smell and sensors to track how the roast is developing finding the ideal roast level for each coffee is a skill that takes years to master this drawer that I'm using is called the Trier and it allows us to see the color of the development as we go through the rose and also to smell how the coffee is smelling the green coffee will smell kind of like hay or grass you'll smell it gets sweeter and sweeter and sweeter you can smell some of that acidity come out it'll smell almost vinegary-ish as soon as that vinegar starts to fade just a little bit and there's a sweet fruitiness and a sweet baked goodness that's our finished development metric roasts coffee for an average of 11 minutes before horror releases it into the cooling tray to stop the roasting process by comparison commodity Coffee Roasters favor a darker roast which can cover up defects and make a blend of beans from different countries taste more uniform while dark roasts are generally bitter medium and light roasts offer more sweetness and bright acidity you can blast it for a minute and a lot of commodity coffee is just blasted as quick as possible but it really rushes through all of those phases that develop over the flavors going through those steps to get exactly the best qualities out of that cup we don't add anything to Coffee everything was intrinsically there as the raw product from the farmer from the growing conditions light roasts also highlight the unique flavors of a region allowing two single origin coffees to taste very different the tricky part about single origin versus blend is that you can achieve Stellar results with Blends and sometimes really subpar with single origin and the same thing can be the other way around how a coffee is processed can have a have an impact on its flavor and price the washed process produces delicious coffee but it's expensive and can be wasteful we use a lot of water and there is a many challenges how to dispose that waste water but we are trying to work our net by recycling the water we are using after spreading out the coffee workers move it to a clean set of tables where they continuously turn it by hand this coffee takes around 14 days to reach a desired moisture content over 11 to 12 percent the goal is uniform beans free of defects coffee at this stage is called parchment coffee because of the paper-like layer of material that surrounds the seed before producers ship the coffee they Mill it to remove the parchment this is a small machine used for local consumption when Milling large quantities the coffee goes through another round of grading each country has its own methods of grading in Kenya each Bean is classified by size the shape and color of the bean also impact the grade but often the larger denser beans are the most expensive after months of work producers are left with what's called green coffee this is the product that will be exported and roasted in consuming countries but this is also when the process becomes more opaque Farmers don't always know how much a buyer pays an exporter so they don't know if they're being cut out of potential profit The Benchmark for the price of arabica coffee follows What's called the Sea Market it's an exchange like the stock market where traders buy and sell contracts based on the expected future value of coffee but it doesn't consider the quality of the coffee and the price is volatile which makes it hard for Farmers to operate sustainably in 2019 the average closing price was one dollar and two cents per pound its lowest point that year 87 cents despite inflation and increased cost of production the Sea Market is almost the same as it was in 1980. Joseph is able to operate profitably but that isn't the case for many farmers around the world a 2019 study found that 44 of smallholder coffee farmers were living in poverty specialty coffee is bought at a premium above the commodity price Joseph makes around three dollars and eighteen cents a pound due to the high quality of our coffee there is a lot of demand but our expectation is that the demand should go with higher prices he says 4.55 cents a pound would be more sustainable but his prices have actually decreased over the past few years I don't know the reason why mostly reacted World Market has flooded their coffee but we still need more explanation on why the coffee is going down when we are still trying our best to maintain our quality coffee for those who are producing less than 5 kilos from One Tree they are not even breaking even the effort we make to produce latic quality coffee I can say we are not well compensated by those prices growing coffee requires steep Investments which don't always pay off for farmers many Roasters in the industry are working towards direct trade Partnerships that benefit the coffee producer I'm looking to do two things Source high quality coffees but also establish year-over-year relationships some Roasters also publish the prices they pay for green coffee but the level of transparency varies Wheels Roasters need to do our job to educate consumers as to the difference between a product from Colombia that's Source barely the source with full transparency in a product of Colombia that has no traceability and is cheap if it's cheap coffee that means that somebody in the supply chain is not making it and it's chances are it's going to be the producer they're the ones that lost at retail coffee from this region of Kenya has sold for 22.50 for a 12 ounce bag that's over nine times what the farmers are paid but just comparing those two numbers doesn't tell the whole story even when producers are paid a premium there will always be a markup between coffee cherries and roasted coffee Roasters typically pay more for single origin coffee but there's no definitive premium the real truth of it is that you can buy copied at commodity pricing that actually meets specialty standards for so long the market has been so low and then the quality has been so high that producers need to sell their coffee they need to earn a living because if they're not earning enough to cover the cost of production not earning enough to just meet the minimum requirements to have a decent way of life they're going to be edged out that is what's happening all over the world many throughout the specialty coffee are working towards more transparency better pay for producers and more access to research and best practices ultimately when coffee prices are low the producers are the ones hurt the most foreign

Channel: Business Insider

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Keywords: Business Insider, Business News, Insider, Single Origin, Coffee, Coffee Makers, Coffee Making, Harvest, Harvesting, Educational, Beverage, Culture, Luxury, Coffee Beans, Cherries, Seeds, Farmers, Farming, Roasted, Coffee Production, Coffee Farming, Specialty Coffee, Kenya, East Africa, African Coffee, Coffee Farm, Quality Coffee, Environment, Agriculture, Soil, Production, Fruity Coffee, Coffee Benefits, East African Coffee, High Quality Coffee

Id: Dmpnrtey3YU

Length: 16min 14sec (974 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 28 2023