Course 03 of 20 · Coffee Desk Academy

Units, Benchmarks & Differential Quotations

Stage A, Coffee market foundations. Level 2 of 10.

Reading and converting coffee price quotations across bags, pounds, cents, exchange benchmarks and the differential convention.

110 chapters · 10 modules · every chapter one 8 to 10 minute explainer · builds on: Course 01, Course 02

Enrol or enquire See the 110 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

10 modules · 110 chapters

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

M0 What a Coffee Price Quotation Says Ch 1-10
  1. The Five Facts Behind Every Coffee Number
  2. Why One Parcel Carries Two Unit Systems
  3. Arithmetic Identity Against Market Convention
  4. Direction: Which Way the Factor Goes
  5. Green Coffee as the Common Basis
  6. Who Quotes to Whom Along the Chain
  7. The Quote Sheet as a Document
  8. Why a Wrong Unit Survives to Settlement
  9. Arabica and Robusta Quote Differently
  10. Reading a Price Against Judging Whether It Is Right
M1 Bags, Weights and the Unit of Trade Ch 11-23
  1. The Bag as a Commercial Counting Unit
  2. Bag Weight Conventions by Origin
  3. Kilogrammes and Pounds: The Fixed Relation
  4. A Bag Expressed in Pounds
  5. Bags to Tonnes and Tonnes to Bags
  6. Gross, Tare and Net Weight
  7. Nominal Weight Against Actual Shipped Weight
  8. Moisture and the Weight You Are Paying For
  9. Parchment, Cherry and Green Equivalence
  10. Roasted Weight and the Loss on Roasting
  11. The Hundredweight, the Carga and Local Measures
  12. Counting Bags in a Container
  13. A Weight Conversion Chain Worked Both Ways
M2 Cents, Dollars and the Price Denominator Ch 24-34
  1. Why Arabica Is Quoted in Cents Per Pound
  2. Why Robusta Is Quoted in Dollars Per Tonne
  3. Cents Per Pound into Dollars Per Tonne
  4. Dollars Per Tonne into Cents Per Pound
  5. Price Per Bag from Price Per Pound
  6. Price Per Kilogramme and the Local Quote
  7. The Four-Way Price Grid
  8. Cents, Points and the Decimal Place
  9. Rounding a Converted Coffee Price
  10. Reading a Quotation Aloud Without Error
  11. Checking a Conversion in Your Head
M3 The Exchange Benchmark Contracts Ch 35-45
  1. Two Exchanges, Two Coffee Benchmarks
  2. Where the Quotation Unit Is Published
  3. The Quotation Unit Against the Contract Quantity
  4. Reading a Price Move in Each Denominator
  5. Delivery Months and Their Letter Codes
  6. First Position, Second Position and the Front Month
  7. Settlement Price, Last Trade and Closing Range
  8. Deliverable Growths and What the Benchmark Describes
  9. The Exchange's Published Grade and Origin Table
  10. Reading an Exchange Price Page
  11. Why a Benchmark Price Is Not Your Coffee's Price
M4 Published Indicators and Origin Reference Prices Ch 46-56
  1. What an Indicator Price Is For
  2. The International Coffee Organization Composite Indicator
  3. The Four Group Indicators and What They Separate
  4. Brazilian Indicators Quoted in Reais Per Bag
  5. The Colombian Internal Price and the Carga Basis
  6. Vietnamese Robusta Quoted in Dong Per Kilogramme
  7. Origin Auction and Exchange Prices
  8. Trade Press and Price Reporting Quotations
  9. Which Published Number Answers Which Question
  10. Why Two Sources Print Different Numbers for One Origin
  11. A Published Figure You Should Not Reference
M5 The Differential Convention Ch 57-69
  1. A Price Stated Relative to a Benchmark
  2. Plus Means Added, Minus Means Deducted
  3. Over, Under, On and Off the Benchmark
  4. Premium and Discount in Coffee Language
  5. Basis December: Naming the Benchmark Month
  6. Composing a Flat Price from Benchmark and Differential
  7. Differentials in Cents and Differentials in Dollars
  8. A Sign Error Worked Twice
  9. Reading a Differential List from an Exporter
  10. A Differential Quoted Against an Indicator
  11. What a Differential Is Made Of
  12. A Fixed Price Quotation Without a Benchmark
  13. The Differential Vocabulary Handed to Trading
M6 Currency and Cross-Currency Quotations Ch 70-79
  1. The Currency Is Part of the Quotation
  2. Reading a Rate Before Converting a Price
  3. Multiply or Divide by the Rate
  4. A Dollar Benchmark and a Local Purchase Price
  5. A Euro or Sterling Sale Price
  6. The Rate Source and the Rate Date
  7. The Reciprocal Error and How to Catch It
  8. One Lot Priced in Three Currencies
  9. Converting a Price Against Carrying Currency Risk
  10. A Differential Agreed in a Non-Dollar Currency
M7 From Quotation to Invoice Amount Ch 80-90
  1. The Quantity a Price Is Applied To
  2. Building an Invoice Amount from a Flat Price
  3. Reading an Invoice Backwards to the Quotation
  4. Weight Tolerance and the Amount Payable
  5. The Delivery Basis Changes What the Number Includes
  6. Restating an Offer onto One Delivery Basis
  7. A Quality Allowance Expressed as a Price
  8. Provisional and Final Invoice Amounts
  9. A Shipment Short of the Quantity Contracted
  10. A Roaster's Delivered Cost Per Pound
  11. An Invoice Rebuilt Line by Line
M8 Reading a Quote Sheet and Cross-Checking Ch 91-100
  1. The Fields One Offer Line Must Carry
  2. Shipment Period and Position in a Quotation
  3. Trade Shorthand and Abbreviations
  4. Firm Offers, Indications and Subject Quotes
  5. The Implausible Number Test
  6. Cross-Checking a Quote Against the Benchmark
  7. Cross-Checking Against an Indicator and an Origin Price
  8. Transcription Errors That Reach a Confirmation
  9. Reproducing Somebody Else's Number
  10. The Conversion Sheet You Carry
M9 A Quotation Worked End to End, and the Limits of Arithmetic Ch 101-110
  1. A Washed Arabica Offer, Part One: Reading the Line
  2. A Washed Arabica Offer, Part Two: Flat Price and Invoice
  3. A Washed Arabica Offer, Part Three: The Counterparty Disagrees
  4. A Robusta Offer Restated onto a Pound Denominator
  5. Three Offers Compared on One Basis
  6. An Origin Purchase and an Export Sale Reconciled
  7. Where a Converted Price Stops Being Decisive
  8. Conventions That Change Without Notice
  9. The Questions a Careful Buyer Asks First
  10. The Arithmetic Later Courses Will Assume

The brochure gives each of these 110 chapters a paragraph on what it covers and what you can do once you have worked through it.

This is course 3 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