Course 01 of 20 · Coffee Desk Academy

Fundamentals of Coffee Trading & Price Risk

Stage A, Coffee market foundations. Level 1 of 10.

A plain-language orientation to how coffee moves from farm to roaster, who the counterparties are, and why the price changes.

114 chapters · 11 modules · every chapter one 8 to 10 minute explainer · builds on: nothing: this is the entry point

Enrol or enquire See the 114 chapters
How a chapter is delivered

One chapter is one idea taken to the point of use

Each chapter covers one idea to the point where you can use it, and comes two ways: a narrated explainer, and a deep dive audio discussion of around thirty minutes that works the same material at depth.

Self-paced throughout, and the same chapters can be taught as a cohort. Chapters run in order: each one assumes only what the chapters before it taught, and capability belonging to a later course is named and deferred rather than half-covered.

Curriculum

11 modules · 114 chapters

Open any module for its full chapter list, in teaching order.

M0 What Coffee Is as a Traded Commodity Ch 1-10
  1. Growing Belt, Drinking Belt and the Gap Between
  2. Arabica and Robusta as Two Different Businesses
  3. Green Coffee Is the Thing That Trades
  4. The Bag as the Trade's Unit of Count
  5. A Once-a-Year Crop on a Tree That Lives for Decades
  6. How Green Coffee Ages in the Bag
  7. Parchment, Outturn, Differential: The Desk's Shorthand
  8. Where the World's Coffee Actually Grows
  9. Who Drinks Coffee and in What Form
  10. Why Anyone Sits Between a Farm and a Roaster
M1 The Farm and the Grower's Year Ch 11-20
  1. The Smallholder Farm as a Supplier
  2. The Estate That Owns Its Own Mill
  3. Flowering, Fruit Set and the Months of Waiting
  4. The Biennial Bearing Cycle
  5. Picking: Selective, Strip and Mechanical
  6. Harvest Arrives at a Different Month in Every Origin
  7. Altitude, Shade and Rainfall as Commercial Variables
  8. Leaf Rust, Berry Borer and the Grower's Running Battle
  9. Renovation and the Decision to Cut Back a Tree
  10. What a Grower Actually Needs From a Buyer
M2 From Cherry to Green Coffee Ch 21-30
  1. The Wet Mill and the Washed Process
  2. Drying Whole Cherry on the Patio
  3. Honey and Pulped Natural as Middle Routes
  4. Moisture Content as the Miller's Target
  5. Holding Coffee in Parchment
  6. The Dry Mill: Hulling, Sorting and the Finished Lot
  7. Screen Size and Preparation in the Lot's Name
  8. The Lower Grades Nobody Puts in the Headline
  9. Bags, Liners and Bulk: How Coffee Is Packed to Travel
  10. Where One Farm's Coffee Stops Being Identifiable
M3 The First Buyers at Origin Ch 31-40
  1. The Intermediary Who Buys at the Farm Gate
  2. The Cooperative as a Collective Seller
  3. The Washing Station That Buys Cherry
  4. The Exporter and the Licence to Ship
  5. A Merchant's Own Buying Company Inside an Origin
  6. Grower Federations and National Coffee Authorities
  7. Auctions and Exchanges Inside Producing Countries
  8. The Domestic Roaster as a Competing Bidder
  9. Why the Farm Gate Price and the Screen Price Differ
  10. Reading an Origin's Selling Behaviour
M4 Leaving the Country Ch 41-50
  1. From Mill to Port in a Producing Country
  2. Containers, Bulk and the Choice Between Them
  3. The Shipping Line as a Counterparty
  4. The Shipment Period and What It Obliges
  5. Export Clearance and the Checks Before Loading
  6. The Documents That Travel With the Coffee
  7. The Voyage and the Weeks Nobody Controls
  8. Arrival, Customs and Entry to the Destination Market
  9. Weight at Loading and Weight at Landing
  10. How Much of a Coffee Shipment Is Spent Waiting
M5 Arrival, Warehouse and the Roaster Ch 51-60
  1. The Importer and Dealer at Destination
  2. Destination Warehouses and the Stored Position
  3. Exchange-Certified Stock as a Published Number
  4. The Roaster as the Market's Final Buyer
  5. Blends, Single Origins and the Limits of Substitution
  6. Roasting Loss: Why the Roaster Buys More Than It Sells
  7. Soluble Plants, Decaffeinators and the Industrial Buyers
  8. The Cafe Counter, the Shelf and the Capsule
  9. Specialty Roasters as a Different Kind of Customer
  10. Counting the Hands One Bag Passes Through
M6 The Two Halves of a Coffee Price Ch 61-70
  1. Why Coffee Has an Exchange Price at All
  2. The Arabica Contract and the Robusta Contract
  3. The Differential as the Other Half of the Price
  4. Selling Coffee Before Its Price Exists
  5. Published Prices and Who Publishes Them
  6. Coffee in a Warehouse Against Coffee Afloat
  7. Why the Arabica and Robusta Prices Watch Each Other
  8. The Shape of Prices Across Delivery Months
  9. From a Price at Origin to a Cost in the Warehouse
  10. Reading a Coffee Offer Correctly
M7 Why the Coffee Price Moves Ch 71-82
  1. Why a Small Coffee Shortage Moves the Price So Far
  2. Frost and Drought in Brazil
  3. Rain at Harvest in the Central Highlands of Vietnam
  4. Flowering Reports and the Market's Earliest Signal
  5. Stocks in Four Places and Visible in One
  6. The Local Currency and the Grower's Willingness to Sell
  7. Demand That Grows Slowly and Shifts Quietly
  8. Containers, Congestion and Logistics as Price Events
  9. Funds, Positioning and the Argument About Their Effect
  10. Export Policy, Retention and Government Intervention
  11. When a Destination Rule Shortens the Buyer List
  12. What a Coffee Headline Is Actually Worth
M8 Where the Money Goes in a Coffee Trade Ch 83-92
  1. The Cash Timeline of One Shipment
  2. Paying a Seller at Origin
  3. Who Lends Against Coffee
  4. What It Costs to Hold a Bag for a Month
  5. Documentary Credits in the Coffee Trade
  6. Sixty Days of Credit Priced as a Discount
  7. Margin Calls as a Cash Problem Rather Than a Loss
  8. Three Currencies in One Coffee Trade
  9. Where a Coffee Merchant's Margin Comes From
  10. A Shipment That Earned Well and Ran Out of Cash
M9 What Goes Wrong Between Farm and Roaster Ch 93-102
  1. The Unfixed Balance Nobody Was Watching
  2. Washout: Settling a Coffee Contract in Cash
  3. A Lot Rejected on Arrival
  4. The Outturn Argument
  5. The Counterparty That Cannot Ship
  6. Credit Risk Across Many Small Sellers and Few Large Buyers
  7. Why a Futures Hedge Leaves a Coffee Parcel Partly Uncovered
  8. Clerical Failures That Outrun a Good Trading View
  9. Phantom Stock and the Warehouse That Was Empty
  10. What Hedging Does Not Protect a Coffee Desk From
M10 The Desk, One Lot and What Comes Next Ch 103-114
  1. How a Coffee Trading Business Is Arranged
  2. Origination and the Relationship That Precedes a Trade
  3. The Cupping Laboratory as a Commercial Function
  4. Coffee Operations: The Seat That Makes Shipment Happen
  5. A Week on a Coffee Desk
  6. What a Coffee Book Looks Like on a Screen
  7. Following One Lot, Part One: Origin Purchase to Shipment
  8. Following One Lot, Part Two: Arrival, Fixation and Invoice
  9. Following One Lot, Part Three: The Cash and the Result
  10. The Single Lot and Other Convenient Fictions
  11. Why Knowing the Coffee Chain Is Not Yet Trading It
  12. Which Coffee Course Answers Which Question

The brochure gives each of these 114 chapters a paragraph on what it covers and what you can do once you have worked through it.

This is course 1 of twenty

It stands alone, and it is also the entry point to the Coffee Desk Academy pathway.

Enrol or enquire See the whole pathway