Relationships are what the coffee industry is built on. The quality of those relationships determines the strength of the supply chain and the success of all involved. One of the most important relationships that is not talked about very often is that between green buyer and the broker.
Today we on the Rate of Rise series from Roast Magazine we will be diving into this subject with the author of the October 2020 Roast Magazine article “What your Broker Wishes you Knew”, Scott Merle!
Scott has worked in specialty coffee since 1988 and has experience in every aspect of the value chain from Barista to Roastmaster. He has extensive knowledge of green coffee sourcing, purchasing, roasting, and blend development, and is proficient in various types of coffee evaluation. Scott has participated in multiple international cupping panels, was a founding member of the Executive Council of the SCAA’s Roaster’s Guild, serves on the Editorial Board for Roast magazine, and has served on multiple committees and councils within the SCAA, including eight years on the SCAA Sustainability Council where he spent a three year term as chair. Scott has dedicated his career to furthering coffee quality throughout the value chain, and has emphasized and exemplified fair pricing practices to hard-working producers every step of the way.
In this conversation we cover:
- Communication
- Honesty and follow through
- Game planning and
- Capacity as parallel parking
- Setting parameter for your size
- Brokers and quality control decisions
- Reasonable differences in QC/Assessment
- Getting better at cupping
- How and why to Pay your bills
- Collaboration and problem solving
- Complexity at origin
- Impact of our decisions on farmers
- Defaulting to generosity and relationship
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Related Episodes:
RoR #1: A Conversation w/ Anne Cooper of Equilibrium Master Roasters
RoR #2: Exploring Quality Control w/ Spencer Turer of Coffee Enterprises
RoR #3: Making Contingency Planning a Reality w/ Andi Trindle Mersch of Philz Coffee
RoR #4: Practical Thermal Dynamics w/ Candice Madison of Royal Coffee / The Crown Oak
RoR #5: Time and Color in Roasting w/ Morten Munchow of Coffee Mind”
RoR #6: Buying Less and Doing More w/ Ever Meister
RoR #7 Illustrative Sample Roasting w/ Mike Ebert of Firedancer Coffee Consultants
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