There are two common methods for transporting both green (unroasted) coffee beans and roasted coffee between borders: sea freight and air freight. In both cases, it takes proper packaging and environmental control to ensure coffee doesn’t start degrading while being transported.
Is coffee hard to transport?
Not so much hard, but intricate. There are many little logistical details to account for and if any of the steps are messed up, the product being transported may quickly become unsalvagable.
As coffee is a delicate product and the quality of the beans, both green and roasted, can easily be influenced by surroundings and time, being aware of all the guidelines, being diligent, and keeping a strict account of packaging, volume, environment, and transportation timetable is important.
How is coffee packaged for transportation?
The most important objective producers and roasters have when it comes to transporting coffee, is to protect it from environmental influences as best as possible since light, temperature, moisture, and even oxygen can influence the coffee quality and ruin its quality.
Green beans are usually packed in natural fiber bags (burlap and jute being the most common materials), and then placed in ventilated containers with good moisture control. Hermetic GrainPro bags are becoming a popular option for more high-grade, expensive coffee beans these days, as they’re specifically designed for organic good transportation and offer better protection against mold and insects.
Roasters’ primary aim is to keep the taste of their coffee fresh as long as possible, so they usually opt for airtight and durable containers that are able to keep moisture levels stable.
How does coffee get from Point A to Point B?
There are two common ways of transporting coffee – both roasted and green (unroasted) – from one point to another: sea freight and air freight, with sea freight being the more common method when it comes to both types of coffee.
What are the upsides of transporting coffee via sea?
Sea freight is more popular for some very good reasons: it’s much cheaper compared to air freight, allows for large quantities of product to be shipped in one go, and, frankly speaking, it’s older – which means the logistics have been hammered out well over the years, so finding a reliable transporter is easier.
What are the downsides of transporting coffee via sea?
Transporting cargo via sea takes a lot of time. The ships may experience delays for a variety of reasons, both while departing and while making a journey from one country to another. These delays can happen for a variety of unanticipated reasons from extreme weather conditions, damage to the ship itself, or even sudden political upheavals.
All of it can result in coffee cargo laying around in ports or on ships for weeks or even months longer than anticipated. And for a product that’s sensitive to time and environment, it can be a serious peril. Green coffee has higher chances of surviving the sudden delays with grace, but even its taste will start breaking down after a certain point.
How long does it take to transport coffee by sea?
It can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, depending on a variety of factors. The professionals usually advise producers and roasters to account for possible delays by distributing the freshest coffee possible, as the biggest enemy they cannot fight against is time.
If moisture, heat, and oxygen can be accounted for by decent packaging, no such thing can save coffee from starting to degrade and lose its taste, aroma, and quality after a certain point.
What are the upsides of transporting coffee via air?
Air freight, by comparison, experiences almost no delays and is seen as a much quicker, more efficient, and overall reliable way to transport coffee.
It’s more popular among roasters than among green been producers, as roasted coffee is more delicate and at greater risk of degrading and losing taste and aroma if stuck in transportation limbo longer than anticipated.
What are the downsides of transporting coffee via air?
The one big downside of air freight is cost. Compared to sea freight it may even seem unreasonably expensive – one small shipment can easily cost $2,000 or even more.
Shipment size can be another problem. Planes’ cargo holds have very limited capacity compared to ships, and they wouldn’t be available for large bulk shipments even if the producer or roaster was willing to pay the exorbitant price it would cost.
Another problem that needs to be accounted for and doesn’t arise with sea freight is the pressure in the cargo hold. If the product is sealed, but there’s still some air inside the bag, the pressure in the cabin changing may cause it to expand and rapture the bag.
To protect their product from such risk, the roasters turn to vacuum sealing (to ensure there’s no extra air in the bags), which is an additional cost.
How long does it take to transport coffee by air?
Despite the prices, many roasters still turn to air freight over sea freight, especially when it comes to more delicate and valuable blends, for the sole reason of just how fast air freight is.
Coffee transported via air can be at its final destination in mere hours at best, and will take only a few days at worst.
When dealing with an expensive time-sensitive product (like high-grade coffee that can notably decrease in value if it gets stranded and starts degrading in quality), the cost of transportation is still worth it to some roasters to accelerate the delivery.
How long can coffee be stored?
Coffee, any kind of it, is a time-sensitive product. If coffee isn’t used in a certain timeframe, its quality will start degrading even if you follow all the rules and store the coffee in perfect conditions.
This means it will start losing the flavor and aroma, and the profile will become much more flat, shedding most of its complexity.
The difference, of course, is between how long green beans can stay fresh versus how long roasted coffee can stay fresh.
If green beans are properly stored in a controlled environment, they can stay fresh for up to 12 months – even though many argue it, too, benefits from being used as fresh as possible.
Comparatively, roasted coffee starts degrading after a couple of months, even when kept in airtight containers. It degrades even faster outside of a controlled environment, lasting only around a week or two.
Hi, I’m Jen Williams, chief editor and writer for ThirstPerk.com.
I’ve been drinking coffee and tea for most of my life, but it wasn’t until I started working at Thirstperk.com that I became an expert on the subject. I’m a total caffeine addict who has spent hours upon hours reading about and experimenting with the different types of coffees out there in my search to find the perfect cup of joe.
I’ve been a tea lover for as long as I can remember as well. I grew up in a house with a mom who loved to drink herbal tea, and I think that’s where my love for tea first began. These days, I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting teas to try, and I love experimenting with different brewing methods and flavoring combinations.