Coffee Importing Basics

In this episode, Kenneth sits down with Juan Carlos Arango, owner of Arango Specialty Coffee, a family-focused Columbian specialty green coffee importer. They discuss how coffee is imported. Juan Carlos explains the ins and outs of the process, highlighting some of the challenges that are faced by importers by sharing interesting stories about what has happened to him while importing coffee.   KEY TAKEAWAYS Dealing with bureaucracy and paperwork is very time-consuming. In certain parts of Columbia local political unrest creates additional challenges, for example, dealing with guerilla groups. A lack of shipping capacity is becoming an increasingly common issue. If customs decides to do a bag-by-bag search, it costs the importer a lot of money, regardless of whether customs find any issues. Customers (roasters) may want to taste the coffee again once it has arrived in the warehouse, so samples are usually sent out. Juan Carlos explains why they match farmers with customers and encourage long-term business relationships between them.   BEST MOMENTS ‘I think one of the biggest challenges we have is logistics.' ´ ‘We work a lot with pre-shipping samples.’ ‘We want to understand the business model of our customer so that we can offer them the best coffee lots that we have.’ ‘The biggest mistake you can make is not learning from your mistakes.’   GUEST RESOURCES Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/arangospecialtycoffee  www.arangospecialtycoffee.com   VALUABLE RESOURCES Award-winning single-origin specialty coffee: https://umblecoffee.com/   You’re disciplined and high achieving. You never settle. Shouldn’t the fuel that helps you reach your goals be held to those same standards? Instead of a crash-inducing cup of jo, you need coffee with optimal antioxidants and anti-inflammatories. A coffee so good that you can drink it black. At Umble Coffee, we only roast specialty-grade arabica coffee from around the world with cupping scores 84 and above. Don’t sabotage yourself in pursuing your goals - drink coffee that tastes better and is better for you. No crash, great taste, and better long-term health benefits. That’s Umble Coffee.   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/umblecoffee/   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/umblecoffee/   Twitter:  https://mobile.twitter.com/umblecoffee   ABOUT THE HOST As a coffee lover, physician, chemical engineer, serial entrepreneur, competitive runner, writer, and family man, Kenneth knows what it’s like to push yourself to achieve goals very few accomplish. He’s one of the best specialty coffee roasters in the United States as he’s a multi-year US Coffee Roasters’ Competition Finalist. He created Umble Coffee Co with the belief that, if sourced and roasted right, coffee can taste phenomenal and be good for you. “Life’s too short to drink bad coffee.” CONTACT METHOD Want to reach Kenneth? Have questions, show ideas, or want to just let us know you’re enjoying the show? The best way is to leave us a great review and put your thoughts in the comment section - Kenneth reads all of them! The second-best way is through DM on social media.   Podcast Description Coffee 101 is an educational show on all things coffee. The host, Kenneth Thomas, starts with the most basic questions about coffee and builds your knowledge from there. If you love coffee, are curious about coffee, or you’re a business just looking for a resource to train your team, Coffee 101 is without question the show for you!  Season 1 is all about coffee's journey from see to shelf.       BUY COFFEE!: https://umblecoffee.com/