Working with Primavera, explained.
Not only does purchase planning make your life easier, but it also gives you first access to the best coffees we offer.
Starting the conversation
Feel free to drop us an email so we can schedule a chat to understand your specific coffee needs. (info@primavera.coffee) We’re happy to do this in person, over the phone, or through video chat.
The goal of this conversation is for us to understand the approximate quantities, cup profiles, and price points of the coffees you are after. We would also like to know your desired warehouse, shipping times and delivery schedule. All this information will help us to choose samples that best meet your needs. We strongly recommend taking the time to carefully estimate your volume for the year and taking this into account when making your coffee purchases.
During this conversation, please let us know if you’d like to come visit us in Guatemala. We encourage you to come get to know us and our operations at origin. This is the best way to understand what we do and to taste new coffees as soon as they're offered to us. The best time to visit is from February to late March when we have most lots ready for cupping; see our origin trips page here for more details.
A common strategy is to decide on a coffee to use year over year, so that you develop a relationship with the farm and the producer. You can also choose one of our single estate coffees as your single origin espresso, seasonal coffee or as a component to your house espresso. We love being a part of the connection between roasters and producers in Guatemala, and we are happy to help as you consider the options that work best for you!
If you are in need of coffee now, please feel free to check out our Europe offer list or reach out to our sales team at info@primavera.coffee.
Making selections & reserving coffee
The coffees we select have all been carefully chosen for their characteristics. They all meet our high standards on quality, sustainability, and transparency. Whether you’re seeking a crowd pleasing blender for an espresso offering or a unique standout microlot, we have an array of coffees that will meet your needs. After our initial conversations, the next step is for us to send samples of coffees based on your desired profile, volume, and price needs.
If you have a strong purchasing inclination, we can send you pre-shipment samples. This way you can reserve the coffees before they are shipped. If you would rather choose from our spot coffee offerings, this generally becomes available in April/May.
Once you receive your package of samples, we encourage you to roast and cup the coffees as soon as possible. As you cup through your pre-shipment samples, take into consideration the freshness of the coffees. Because our value chain is short, many of our samples are sent when they are still quite fresh - meaning that they can be slightly papery or dry in the early weeks after processing. These characteristics will fade as the coffee “opens up” and reaches its full quality potential in the weeks after milling. If you’d like to read more about cupping fresh coffees, see our guide here.
Once you choose your coffees, we can guide you through a reservation contract, and dispatch once it arrives at the warehouse. We typically write reservations so you can order your coffee within six (or fewer) months following arrival at the warehouse.
You must sign the reservation contract and return it, acknowledging you agree to the conditions, so we can hold your preferred coffee for you. You must sign the reservation contract and return it, acknowledging you agree to the conditions, so we can hold your preferred coffee for you. Please note that if you take coffees beyond three months, we charge € 0.20/kg per month in order to cover our warehousing and financing costs.
Shipping
Guatemalan specialty coffees are typically harvested from January to April. We then allow for the coffees to “rest” for 4 – 6 weeks and start milling and shipping from March onwards.
Shipment timelines are constantly changing, and our expert logistics team is always working to find the best and fastest options to get coffee to our partner warehouses. Once the coffee is afloat a container ship, we are waiting on the ship to get to port, get unloaded, and for the coffee to arrive at a warehouse. We always do our best to provide accurate information about this voyage based on the data we receive from shipping companies, and we appreciate your patience during the shipping process.
Releasing Coffee & Delivering
We store coffee at Vollers Holland B.V. in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Our coffees arrive at the warehouse from March to the end of August, depending on what was previously agreed. If you have reserved coffees, we will notify you at all stages of the shipping process so that you are ready when the coffees arrive.
Once you have been notified that your coffee has arrived, contact your salesperson in order to request a release. At this point, we will release your coffee and issue an invoice for the coffee being released. Please note that it takes the warehouse 2 – 3 days to get the coffee ready for dispatch, and depending on your location, another 5 – 7 working days; please read the policies of your warehouse to plan your orders accordingly. We are able to release a coffee for you to coordinate delivery/pickup, or we can help organize shipping to your roastery if needed. Please advise if you would like for us to organize delivery or if you will be collecting the coffee with your preferred shipping company.
Please note that if we organize delivery for you with a shipping company, this will concern an external party. Therefore we cannot influence their pricing strategy or delivery times. The Ex Warehouse Incoterms still apply and responsibility for the product is handed over to the buyer once the coffee leaves the warehouse. Primavera Coffee works closely with a few several shipping partners to make sure that we can offer competitive prices and good service. For delivery quotes, please get in touch with us a couple of days before you need the coffee dispatched so that we can find you the best option.
If you are a new client, we require payment on release of your first order, thereafter we can offer you 30 days credit.
Releases of 3 bags or less of any single lot of coffee will be subject to a € 25 processing fee.
Directly from Guatemala
Roasters of all sizes can work with us to source Guatemalan lots and microlots through Primavera Coffee. Our coffees are grown by producers with a direct relationship to us, and delivered to our warehouse where we pay them a fair and transparent price based on coffee quality.
From there, La Central de Café mills the coffee and prepares it for export, while Primavera Coffee handles all our importing. Larger buyers / importers can source full container loads (that can be of one quality/type or a mixed container) of coffee FOB/CIF directly from La Central de Café, rather than buying through Primavera’s importing operations if the logistics and financing permit.
Please email us at hola@lacentraldecafe.com or nadine@primavera.coffee to inquire about buying directly from La Central for your large-scale coffee purchases.