Green Coffee Trader Jobs – Almost all Juniors and Trainees begin their careers as Lab Interns or Assistants, whether they work for one of the world’s largest coffee trading firms or a small regional coffee importer
The same may be said for green coffee sales and purchasing positions.
This emphasizes how crucial it is for a coffee specialist to understand “coffee quality.”
If you want to work in the sector, expect to spend a few months interning at a coffee quality lab.
Green Coffee Jobs for People Who Have Worked as a Barista
In some fashion, many baristas have been taught about coffee quality. Some will excel at latte painting, while others will excel at knowing coffee profiles and origins.
If you’re a barista, we recommend contacting your roaster or the green coffee importers in your area to volunteer and intern in their coffee lab.
It is feasible to work as a barista in the green coffee trading industry, but you will need to spend some time in the lab.
As a graduate, you can work in the green coffee industry.
If you’ve recently graduated from college and have little to no experience working in cafes or as a barista, you’ll have a difficult time dealing with local importers and traders.
We believe that approaching larger traders who may require “graduates without experience” is your best option. Alternatively, gain some experience in an origin operation first, even if it’s as a volunteer.
For example, go to the country of origin on your own (for example, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Kenya…) and find someone who can assist you (bigger farmers, millers, or exporters who need some foreign help in the lab).
Being at the start of your profession will come in helpful later on.
Green Coffee Jobs As A Professional
Your appeal as a possible employee as a professional will be very subjective to your history.
If you come from a traditional IB (Investment Banking) or trading background, you’ll likely find it difficult to establish a solid relationship with the smaller trading houses.
Whatever your background, the most important thing is that you adore coffee.
To fit in this profession, you’ll need a passion for the product, whether you come from a logistics or operations background or even a front office function in a trading house.
Green vs. Roasted Coffee
Coffee is traded as a commodity before being purchased and roasted by companies like Starbucks, Nestle, and Illy.
As a result, green coffee is exchanged in the context of trading.
The fact that we’re discussing the basic substance, green coffee, is crucial.
Overview of the Green Coffee Industry
Dry mills, importers, and exporters
Whether in Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, or Papua New Guinea, a number of traders and exporters are in charge of locating local coffee and preparing it for export. The majority of these traders and exporters will deal with parchment, with a few exporting green coffees as well.
Traders of Green Coffee from Around the World
This is the traditional trade house location, where the big boys battle it out in the markets. Whether you work for NKG, Olam, Volcafe, or Sucafina, you should expect to be focused on the PNL, which includes things like position size, risk management, M2M, and AR Risk. The quality department, not the traders, is normally in charge of quality.
Importers
Coffee is consumed all across the world, hence coffee importers can be found almost anywhere. Coffee importers are often net buyers who resell to local accounts after taking on the logistics and quality risk from the point of export to import (maritime shipment).
Buyers from the Industrial Sector (Roasters)
Mondelez, Nestle, and Starbucks, for example, operate in a mixed manner. They are similar to importers in that they sell to their subsidiaries and occasionally “trade” to square-off positions and possibly modest speculative positions.
Roasters with a smaller footprint
Smaller/medium roasters typically have one or more specialist green coffee buyers on staff, as well as a high-quality crew. They are net purchasers, thus they will be primarily interested in acquiring green beans that will complement their coffee inventory.
Importers and Roasters of Specialty Foods
Specialty importers are a unique breed in the world of the coffee business. Quality and profile are more important in specialty buying than anywhere else. A second, less essential factor is the emphasis on price, position, and risk. In most cases, the main buyer is also the main cupper, or at the very least a very good cupper.
The Most Important Green Coffee Trading Hubs
Green coffee trading takes place almost everywhere except in the sense of commodity trading.
Green coffee trading employment can be found in three different sorts of countries.
Countries of Origin/Producers
Kenya, Colombia, Guatemala, Brazil, and Vietnam, for example.
Switzerland, London, Hamburg, and New York City are commodity trading hubs.
EU (Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy), USA, Canada, Japan, the Nordics, and Australia…