Discounts.

by Lennart

In the last weeks we’ve been struggling with two issues. We are forced to try to sell our Colombian and Ugandan coffees more quickly than usual, so we set out to think of some kind of promotion, some kind of discount.

We want to put forward the problems we face honestly and fully, but when thinking of promotion “deals” and campaigns I was brought back to my university years when I studied marketing. I remember how smug our professors talked about using psychological tricks to make products seem more valuable and to make people buy stuff they don’t need. Perhaps this makes me oversensitive to the sales tactics commonly found all around us; ones many of us tend to take for granted as a regular part of doing business. But deep down we all feel that discounts are not to be trusted, that there is something underneath this price reduction “they” are not telling us. 

We are not out to trick anyone. We believe in our farmers’ missions and know that at this time, a discount is warranted to support them. So what if the discount is decided on together, judged as a value chain, as a network based on all the facts? Our question to you, roasters, farmers, coffee professionals is: what do you think is fair as a discount in the two cases below? And given the facts, will you help us, Argote and Zombo, sell these coffees so we can keep our and their dreams alive?

Discount case 1 :
High moisture in 5 lots
from Argote

Coffee farming is hard. Even when prices are sufficiently high, there is stable demand from buyers and a loyal group of farmers like in Génova, there are human and climatic variables that are hard to predict. For the last three years, the rains in Northern Nariño have lasted way longer than they ever have. As anyone knows who has lived close to nature, this moisture creeps in everywhere. Including the storage space for the parchment at night, in between drying sessions, or for storing after the drying is done. In recent years, Argote Specialty Coffee has grown as well. Juan Pablo has taken on recruited and trained five new farmer partners, all while setting up his regenerative training center and without the help of his father who lamentably passed away last year and whose experience is hard to replace - although JP’s sister has moved back to the family farm to help out and Jesús Cerón has become JP’s right hand in the business. 

When the farmers’ parchment comes in for hulling at the Argote family estate, JP and his team take random moisture measurements to make sure the coffee is hulled at a percentage below 13%, but because of the higher overall moisture and JP’s lapse of oversight in his growing business, 5 preshipment samples and the cascara showed a moisture level of over 13% and water activity of over 0.70. We gave this feedback to JP but he assured us that the Federation export samples showed reasonable levels of under 12%. When the lots landed and the moisture levels were the same, we realised that the Federation also only takes a few random moisture measurements, and these five lots slipped through the net. JP now knows to measure every single lot that comes in for hulling, but we are still stuck with these lots. To summarise:

• there are 5 lots with high moisture (>13%) and water activity (>0.70)

• they now all cup beautifully, the typical dark fruits and chocolaty sweetness you know from Argote

• they show zero sign of ageing or mustiness / moisture.

• consumed within the next four months they will still yield nice coffees

• after that, they will theoretically start dropping in quality, perhaps suddenly.

We have marked these coffees in our shop with an exclamation mark so they are easy to find. We are willing to part with these lots with a discount and cut our losses. Given that the normal stock price for these coffees is 13,25 euro/kg (our cost price is 11,70), what do you think is reasonable and who wants to help us out - either by buying the coffees or by thinking of a creative way to sell them?

Discount case 2 :
Zombo lots not selling
despite high quality.

The next case is a bit less complex but more of a puzzle for us. Zombo’s lots from last year are not moving, while they have never cupped so well. Their prices have also not gone up much since the previous year, and we haven’t raised our demand significantly. Yet somehow roasters are not as interested in them. Is it the flavour profile? Is it a reputation thing? A lack of demand from the final consumer for Ugandan coffees, because they don’t know much about them? We don’t know, but we know we want to take action and start focusing on the next harvest.

This has been a tough year for Zombo - just when the company was about to show black figures after years of debt, another importer promptly left them with a container of coffee - a phenomenon we regretfully see more now that coffee prices are dropping again - importers simply don’t show up to deliver on their promises and leave producers with devastating burdens. For us, keeping the Zombo dream alive is the same as staying true to our overall mission: creating independent farmer groups amidst corporate oppression is the core of This Side Up, and nowhere is it so blatantly visible as in Zombo and Nebbi. To summarise our predicament:

• bright fruit tones have never been so pronounced for Zombo as in 2022, but somehow the coffees are not moving

• recent recupping shows very stable scores (see Tastify reports online)

• our lots have been in stock since August 2022, still 5 months from becoming old crop.

• to keep our focus on the next harvest coming in this summer, we are willing to part with this harvest with a discount - with an obvious preference to someone who can move them all at once.

The lots in question are also marked with an exclamation mark in the shop. Again, who will help us out? We thank anyone with ideas about how to better position our offer from Zombo, and those who show willingness to adopt these coffees from the bottom of our hearts!