5 ms·

My point is that it's not economically feasible at scale. There are mountains and mountains[0][1][2] of organic coffee pulp, the price would plummet once more f

My point is that it's not economically feasible at scale. There are mountains and mountains[0][1][2] of organic coffee pulp, the price would plummet once more farms produce it. The pulp isn't waste either, it's 100% reused as fertilizer. [0]: https://i.imgur.com/0a306pb.jpg https://i.imgur.com/0a306pb.jpg [1]: https://i.imgur.com/Duar7Uu.jpg https://i.imgur.com/Duar7Uu.jpg [2]: http://www.elfaroestate.com/img/large/coffeemill16.jpg http://www.elfaroestate.com/img/large/coffeemill16.jpg

peterwwillis 8y ago
Where's the infeasibility exactly? Currently it's used as fertilizer. As long as they can sell it for higher than the price of new fertilizer, they will be making profit. So really the question is, how much are people willing to pay for it, or how can companies convince people they need to pay more for it? Arabica coffee is currently 2.962 USD per kilogram, and we pay double that for a cup of coffee using about 8 grams. We're paying 125x more for a cuppa than the cost of the beans. So it's certainly possible someone could come up with a way to make some small profit off the pulp. (Incidentally, tea is 0.0288 USD/kg, but obviously it weighs a lot less and we drink a lot less of it)
- Cerium 8y ago
  Looks like your price is off by a couple digits, I'm seeing about 2.90 USD per kg on World Bank commodities report.
  - peterwwillis 8y ago
    I think you're right, the website I was looking at was off it seems
- _JamesA_ 8y ago
  Is that a wholesale price for tea? As someone trying to drink more tea I find the retail price for Lipton loose tea is about $21 USD per kilogram and other brands are considerably more expensive.
  - peterwwillis 8y ago
    It's the world bank commodities trading price. It gets a healthy markup by the time it reaches consumers.
    - emodendroket 8y ago
      It is a rather drastically simplified picture to talk about "tea" as one big undifferentiated product rather than an entire class of goods with wildly varying qualities and prices (then again I suppose that's also true of coffee to some extent, but I know less about it).
  - emodendroket 8y ago
    If you're trying to drink more tea, I might recommend at least getting Twinings or something. Lipton tea is one of those things I wouldn't really ever choose for myself.
    - blanderman 8y ago
      I enjoy finding something fair trade from a local shop. It's generally better quality also, if slightly more expensive per month.
      - emodendroket 8y ago
        Sure, that's true. Twinings isn't bad and you can get it in your local grocery store, though.
  - csomar 8y ago
    Welcome. There are transport/shipping costs, customs fees, taxes, storage fees, workers fees, retailer commission, packaging fees, advertising fees, banking fees, interest, VAT, etc... That's why 3rd world prices are cheaper. They don't have most of that since they usually get the product directly from the producer.
  - romwell 8y ago
    >As someone trying to drink more tea I find the retail price for Lipton loose tea is about $21 USD per kilogram and other brands are considerably more expensive. I advice against Lipton: it's overpriced because it's a familiar brand even to people who aren't tea enthusiasts. I'd recommend going to tea stores where loose leaf tea is sold by the pound. For packaged black tea, I can highly recommend the following two: at about $9/pound, they are an excellent bang for the buck for high quality loose leaf OPA (many grades[3] above Lipton teabags): -Ahmad OPA [1] -Zarrin OPA [2] As a note, $21/kilo really not that much once you convert it to cups of tea. With green teas especially, since one can brew them several times. So the Lipton you're talking about isn't expensive per se, just for the grade you get (dust in teabags, FBOP loose). [1] https://www.amazon.com/Ahmad-Ceylon-OPA-Tea-Carton/dp/B0011010XY https://www.amazon.com/Ahmad-Ceylon-OPA-Tea-Carton/dp/B00110... [2] https://persianbasket.com/zarrin-pure-ceylon-special-opa https://persianbasket.com/zarrin-pure-ceylon-special-opa [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_leaf_grading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_leaf_grading
- lostlogin 8y ago
  What kind of brew uses 8 grams? That’s a seriously weak or very small coffee. 20ish is a lot more civilised. That price per kg is also not very reflective of what you pay for ok-good coffee if you are buying green beans from an importer. The current batch I have is sold to me from the importer who buys direct from the farmer.
  - nathancahill 8y ago
    Who's your importer? I've worked with a couple people to try to set up a direct from farmer import in the United States, and it's difficult for quantities less than a shipping container.
    - lostlogin 8y ago
      https://johnburton.co.nz/contact-us/ https://johnburton.co.nz/contact-us/ I found them by chatting to a local coffee roaster and getting the name off them. It’s often written on the coffee sacks too. I know it’s a different country but if you wanted advice, a friendly email to them might serve you well. They are a great company. They sell by the kg to me and have often chatted about how they work. Road trips around various countries with a grinder and espresso machine - sounds fun.
    - molsongolden 8y ago
      http://directorigin.com/ http://directorigin.com/ Green microlots from Colombia and Honduras, available in the USA. I haven't purchased from them and am not sure how the pricing compares to other producers but it's a cool project.
  - da_chicken 8y ago
    It depends on what he's talking about. A standard single shot of espresso is about 7g[0] for 30 mL. A double espresso takes 14g to 18g of coffee[1] for 60 mL. A latte or cappuccino is just an espresso with some form of milk. A caffe Americano is an espresso in hot water. Traditionally brewed coffee should be 10g per 125 mL of water before brewing[2] which should be 20g to 30g for a basic mug, but 8g can be perfectly reasonable for many types of "civilized" coffee. 0: https://coffeefaq.com/many-ounces-shot-espresso/ https://coffeefaq.com/many-ounces-shot-espresso/ 1: https://www.seattlecoffeegear.com/learn/videos-home/ask-the-experts/quantity-ground-coffee-double https://www.seattlecoffeegear.com/learn/videos-home/ask-the-... 2: https://coffeefaq.com/just-how-much-ground-coffee-do-i-need-for-x-amount-of-coffee/ https://coffeefaq.com/just-how-much-ground-coffee-do-i-need-...
- danmaz74 8y ago
  Not the op, but their point is that it can't continue to fetch a premium on coffee for long, not it can't be sold for a profit.
1123581321 8y ago
The price shouldn’t plummet any lower than the price it sells for fertilizer. Farmers would benefit from having more demand for byproducts.

peterwwillis 8y ago

Where's the infeasibility exactly? Currently it's used as fertilizer. As long as they can sell it for higher than the price of new fertilizer, they will be making profit. So really the question is, how much are people willing to pay for it, or how can companies convince people they need to pay more for it? Arabica coffee is currently 2.962 USD per kilogram, and we pay double that for a cup of coffee using about 8 grams. We're paying 125x more for a cuppa than the cost of the beans. So it's certainly possible someone could come up with a way to make some small profit off the pulp. (Incidentally, tea is 0.0288 USD/kg, but obviously it weighs a lot less and we drink a lot less of it)

Cerium 8y ago
Looks like your price is off by a couple digits, I'm seeing about 2.90 USD per kg on World Bank commodities report.
- peterwwillis 8y ago
  I think you're right, the website I was looking at was off it seems
_JamesA_ 8y ago
Is that a wholesale price for tea? As someone trying to drink more tea I find the retail price for Lipton loose tea is about $21 USD per kilogram and other brands are considerably more expensive.
- peterwwillis 8y ago
  It's the world bank commodities trading price. It gets a healthy markup by the time it reaches consumers.
  - emodendroket 8y ago
    It is a rather drastically simplified picture to talk about "tea" as one big undifferentiated product rather than an entire class of goods with wildly varying qualities and prices (then again I suppose that's also true of coffee to some extent, but I know less about it).
- emodendroket 8y ago
  If you're trying to drink more tea, I might recommend at least getting Twinings or something. Lipton tea is one of those things I wouldn't really ever choose for myself.
  - blanderman 8y ago
    I enjoy finding something fair trade from a local shop. It's generally better quality also, if slightly more expensive per month.
    - emodendroket 8y ago
      Sure, that's true. Twinings isn't bad and you can get it in your local grocery store, though.
- csomar 8y ago
  Welcome. There are transport/shipping costs, customs fees, taxes, storage fees, workers fees, retailer commission, packaging fees, advertising fees, banking fees, interest, VAT, etc... That's why 3rd world prices are cheaper. They don't have most of that since they usually get the product directly from the producer.
- romwell 8y ago
  >As someone trying to drink more tea I find the retail price for Lipton loose tea is about $21 USD per kilogram and other brands are considerably more expensive. I advice against Lipton: it's overpriced because it's a familiar brand even to people who aren't tea enthusiasts. I'd recommend going to tea stores where loose leaf tea is sold by the pound. For packaged black tea, I can highly recommend the following two: at about $9/pound, they are an excellent bang for the buck for high quality loose leaf OPA (many grades[3] above Lipton teabags): -Ahmad OPA [1] -Zarrin OPA [2] As a note, $21/kilo really not that much once you convert it to cups of tea. With green teas especially, since one can brew them several times. So the Lipton you're talking about isn't expensive per se, just for the grade you get (dust in teabags, FBOP loose). [1] https://www.amazon.com/Ahmad-Ceylon-OPA-Tea-Carton/dp/B0011010XY https://www.amazon.com/Ahmad-Ceylon-OPA-Tea-Carton/dp/B00110... [2] https://persianbasket.com/zarrin-pure-ceylon-special-opa https://persianbasket.com/zarrin-pure-ceylon-special-opa [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_leaf_grading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_leaf_grading
lostlogin 8y ago
What kind of brew uses 8 grams? That’s a seriously weak or very small coffee. 20ish is a lot more civilised. That price per kg is also not very reflective of what you pay for ok-good coffee if you are buying green beans from an importer. The current batch I have is sold to me from the importer who buys direct from the farmer.
- nathancahill 8y ago
  Who's your importer? I've worked with a couple people to try to set up a direct from farmer import in the United States, and it's difficult for quantities less than a shipping container.
  - lostlogin 8y ago
    https://johnburton.co.nz/contact-us/ https://johnburton.co.nz/contact-us/ I found them by chatting to a local coffee roaster and getting the name off them. It’s often written on the coffee sacks too. I know it’s a different country but if you wanted advice, a friendly email to them might serve you well. They are a great company. They sell by the kg to me and have often chatted about how they work. Road trips around various countries with a grinder and espresso machine - sounds fun.
  - molsongolden 8y ago
    http://directorigin.com/ http://directorigin.com/ Green microlots from Colombia and Honduras, available in the USA. I haven't purchased from them and am not sure how the pricing compares to other producers but it's a cool project.
- da_chicken 8y ago
  It depends on what he's talking about. A standard single shot of espresso is about 7g[0] for 30 mL. A double espresso takes 14g to 18g of coffee[1] for 60 mL. A latte or cappuccino is just an espresso with some form of milk. A caffe Americano is an espresso in hot water. Traditionally brewed coffee should be 10g per 125 mL of water before brewing[2] which should be 20g to 30g for a basic mug, but 8g can be perfectly reasonable for many types of "civilized" coffee. 0: https://coffeefaq.com/many-ounces-shot-espresso/ https://coffeefaq.com/many-ounces-shot-espresso/ 1: https://www.seattlecoffeegear.com/learn/videos-home/ask-the-experts/quantity-ground-coffee-double https://www.seattlecoffeegear.com/learn/videos-home/ask-the-... 2: https://coffeefaq.com/just-how-much-ground-coffee-do-i-need-for-x-amount-of-coffee/ https://coffeefaq.com/just-how-much-ground-coffee-do-i-need-...
danmaz74 8y ago
Not the op, but their point is that it can't continue to fetch a premium on coffee for long, not it can't be sold for a profit.

1123581321 8y ago

The price shouldn’t plummet any lower than the price it sells for fertilizer. Farmers would benefit from having more demand for byproducts.