# Roasters selling unroasted



## HandsOnRoaster

Hello,

We receive occasional requests to supply customers with green beans, which we've done informally up to now. I've always felt a bit uneasy about selling unroasted beans - I'm not sure why, but think it is because in my mind it doesn't quite sit with what we do (i.e. roast!). On the other hand, if 'home roasters' are keen for small supplies of quality beans then perhaps it makes sense.

Are there any opinions out there on the issue in general?

Cheers,

Paul


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## jimrobo

I'm a recent home roaster and I've made batches better (IMHO) than I got previously pre roasted so id rather have the option of buying the greens and roasted


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## vintagecigarman

I'm a keen home roaster and I would just love to have an artisan roaster close to me. I'd love to be able to buy small quantities of greens, but also to be able to buy roasted to compare to my own results.

I can understand that you can see an enigma in a roaster selling greens - bit like a chef selling raw food - but I'd see it as an opportunity to increase customer base for both greens and your finished product.

Sent via Tapatalk from my HTC Desire HD.


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## CoffeeMagic

My own preference will be to sell green beans to the home roaster. It's one thing I appreciated when I started roasting.


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## DavidBondy

I'm a very keen home roaster / blender so I too would welcome the opportunity to buy quality beans.

DB


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## MikeHag

Every 1 customer buying green will have 20 connections who might become interested and buy roasted, from you


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## chipbutty

I've been roasting on my Gene for three years. The more places to buy greens the better.

Sent from my ZTE-BLADE using Tapatalk


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## vagabond

With good value machines like the Behmor and Gene available the growth in home roasting will mirror the growth in demand for good coffee so what may seem a small project now may grow to be quite substantial part of your business in the future. Plus offering product to home roasters will give you new customers you previously couldn't attract. As somebody mentioned above we all talk coffee and good word of mouth amongst coffee lovers is incredibly valuable so offering good beans, good price and good service to a new customer base should increase your sales all-round.

A suggestion, if I may, if you do start offering green beans some will find it handy if you give your thoughts on that bean and how you would treat it during roasting and what roast outcome you would expect. This will help show off your expertise and help newbies like me have a target to aim for.


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## Glenn

Roasters are not always right

Let me start off by saying that - but most of the time they are pretty damn close to roasting and presenting a coffee that really draws the best from the beans they are working with

Many roasters have developed palates and I'm yet to find a roaster whose tastes are so far out that I think I could do better

I think that the more green sellers there are the better, and the ability to test yourself against some of the roasters buy buying their roasted beans gives you a good baseline to work from

If roasters provided a recipe sheet as well as tasting notes I think that the home roasting market could grow considerably, and not at the expense of the existing commercial scene.


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## HandsOnRoaster

Hello,

Thank you for all the feedback. Based on these views I feel a bit more comfortable offering green beans. We concentrate so much on 'roasting' as defining what we are about, I think I felt a bit strange with the idea of selling greens. Vintagecigarman describes it well with the comparison of a chef selling raw food. But then, a lot of people like to buy quality raw food ingredients to cook at home, so the comparison isn't too different. I think we'll add greens as an option for some of our coffees including the single estate and micro-lots we've recently purchased. I'm sure I'll get over my hang-ups if the result is more interest in quality coffee!

Roasting notes included with the greens makes me feel more comfortable by adding value, so this does make good sense.

Um, I'll confess that I'm going to be a bit jealous though if the home roasters here get better results than me!!

Cheers,

Paul


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## vagabond

Big thumbs up!

Let us know when they are available on line - you will have at least one new customer.


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## JohnnieWalker

Well if you continue to provide great customer service, as you did with me, then I really don't think it matters.

Give customers the option and see what happens would be my advice!


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## MikeHag

I think the roasting notes are essential to encouraging home roasters to buy from you rather than from other green bean suppliers. Sure, most home roasters are probably confident enough to roast new beans without any help, but I'd imagine I'd rather have your roasting notes as a starting point than being completely blind with a new bag of beans and risking wasting a batch. IMO, Has Bean have got this spot on, as have TwoDay.

OK - here's a free bit of business consultant that I used to use a lot back when I wore ironed shirts. There's this thing called The Change Formula that I would use to encourage clients to let go of their old systems/processes, and adopt new ones. Bear with me here...



> D x V x F > R


D = Dissatisfaction with how things are now

V = Vision of what is possible

F = First, concrete steps that can be taken towards the vision

R = Resistance to change

You can help people adopt new things if you tweak D, V and F.

If the change one wants is that people buy their green beans from them, then providing roasting Notes is F.

With regards to D... anyone interested in home roasting coffee will already have some sort of dissatisfaction with buying them roasted, whether it's price, quality, lack of control, or whatever.

As for V... my vision (for good or bad) is that more people will home roast. This puts pressure on commercial roasters because more people will want green, not roasted. Where can they get them? Importers will start considering creating a B2C revenue stream, cutting out the middle-man (the roaster). Hence, if a roaster wants to maintain market share in this visionary future they will have to start (well... they would benefit from) bypassing the importers and start their own Direct Trade sourcing. Maybe this is why folks like Tim Wendelboe seem to be increasingly spending time on their DT program. I think more people home roast in the Nordics.

But I'm getting slightly off topic now!!

[/sTREAMOFCONSCIOUSNESS]


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