causing pressure in supply." Th is pressure may
make it impossible for the diff erential to drop below $1 again, he says. As a result, some of the highest of the
high-end coff ees are being pushed out of consumers' price range. And they're looking for alternatives. "Th e price of [Kenyan AA] has gone up so that people are fading away from that," Earls
asking me for suggestions. So I'm trying to fi nd says. "Instead, they're calling and things that are similar." Chauvin imports coff ee from about
implications for the very defi nition of specialty coff ee. Daw, for one, feels that the category is already becoming somewhat diluted through overuse of the words "specialty" and "gourmet." "Even within the category of what's acceptable to be labeled that way, there are some mediocre coff ees out there," he says. "It's getting harder to fi nd exceptional coff ees these days. Th ere's
If this trend continues, however, it may have long-term " he says.
two dozen nations, and products from Ethiopia, Tanzania and Central America are among the alternatives it can off er to more expensive varietals. "When the pricing is so high on their favorites, they'll look around a little bit more,
th f d
In Caruso's view, the market has to hit a "sweet spot" of pricing, in both the C and top-quality specialty beans, reasonable profi ts all chain.
much more competition to fi nd these specialty coff ees, because the segment is so much bigger than it was. And production hasn't kept up."
s h an ch
but the farmer doesn't," Caruso says. "You need to fi nd a balance where the farmer makes money, the miller makes money, the shipper makes money, the broker in New York makes money, the roaster makes money and the retailer can make money." SCR
ev
Opposite: Gaviña Gourmet Coffee made its early reputation with dark roasts, but the company says consumer roast preferences in general have long spanned the light/dark spectrum.
Above: A Caribou roaster extracts a bean sample. Caribou followed Starbucks into the lighter end of the roast spectrum when it introduced Starlight coffee in January. Photo courtesy of Brian Aliffi
everybody at the top end might make money, 't
"When coff ee becomes
through the supply too
to allow cheap,
April 2012 • www.specialty-coffee.com | 13
