Origination

Our business is centered on our origin operations, where we have made large investments in procurement, processing and logistics. In each of the origins we operate in, our large buying teams are spread across the growing regions and focus on selecting the best coffees. At the same time, our processing teams ensure that our coffees are well customised to the specific requirements of our customers, while our logistics infrastructure ensures the smooth flow of coffee from farm to factory gate. This is the heart of our coffee business.

 

Starting out with a focus on Africa and Asia, we have become a leading processor and shipper of Robusta coffee, and today rank among among the top exporters in Vietnam, Indonesia, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon and India.


 

Africa

We have built up a dominant presence in Africa, with our coffee operations extending from Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon and Togo, to Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi. The vast spread and depth of these operations have allowed us to maintain very good control over the flow and quality of the coffee we procure. We are also actively involved in sustainability programmes that aid in the development of the local coffee communities.

 

Asia

Our operations in India span its entire coffee belt. Within this landscape, we leverage both our network of intermediaries and our privileged planter relationships, to purchase the best quality coffees and process them in our mills in Hassan, Chikmagalur, Coorg and Wyanad.

 

In Indonesia, we buy coffee from all the major growing regions in Sumatra, processing them in our production facility in Lampung. At our specialty Arabica coffee operations in Medan, we carefully select and handpick premium quality “Lintong” and “Mandheling” coffees.

 

In Vietnam, we maintain a wide procurement spread across the country’s three largest coffee growing provinces, namely Dak Lak, Lam Dong and Gia Lai. We also operate a large wet-processing facility in Lam Dong through which we purchase fresh Arabica cherries and process these into high quality “fully-washed” and “semi-washed” Arabica coffee beans.

 

Central America and Andean Region

In Colombia, we maintain three coffee mills supported by a network of zonal buying offices across most of the key growing areas. Our offerings cover most coffee varieties and qualities, including regional specialties like Medellin, Huila, Popayan and Bucaramanga.

 

Our presence in Peru comprises two mills in Lima and Jaen, processing all coffee varieties and types. Apart from supplying regular Peruvian MCM and MC coffees, we also offer customised coffee grades and blends to cater to the specific requirements of our clients.

 

In Honduras, we operate two mills and a large upstream buying network spread across all the country’s main coffee areas. In addition to offering the regular HG / SHG coffee varieties, we are also large exporters of special cupping coffees from specific areas like Marcala and San Marcos.

 

We have further enhanced our origination capabilities in the region for both mainstream and specialty coffees by establishing facilities and offices in Mexico and Guatemala.

 

Brazil

We are among the largest coffee exporters in Brazil, with a large network of buying offices spread across all the key coffee growing regions. We have invested significantly in building up comprehensive coffee processing infrastructure and preferred partnerships in the country, servicing them well through our large and competent team of experienced professionals.

 

Specialty Coffees

Our green coffee presence in various origins enables us to offer procurement and marketing expertise for specialty coffees. As a result of our solid upstream origination infrastructure, processing network, and the presence of strong cupping teams across all origins, we are able to offer customers a greater choice of specialty coffees. Our trained cupping professionals come with a wealth of experience in coffee processing, several of whom are also Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) Q-grader-certified. This enables us to understand buyer requirements better, and procure suitable coffees accordingly.