What does a coffee exporter do?
A coffee exporter is a company or individual responsible for selling and shipping green coffee from the producing country to buyers abroad, such as roasters or importers. They play an important role in the supply chain:
- With access to coffee from producers (farmers, cooperatives, or washing stations)
- Grading and milling the coffee to prepare it for export
- Handling logistics and documentation needed to move the coffee across borders
- Actively ensuring quality control protocols are met for their customers
In many cases, exporters also work closely with importers or direct trade buyers to align on quality, pricing, and delivery timelines.
Coffee importer vs coffee exporter
A coffee exporter is usually based in the producing country. Their role is to prepare coffee for export: milling, sorting, quality checks, government approvals, and shipping preparation.
A coffee importer operates closer to the market side. Importers manage the journey from customs clearance onwards—warehousing, quality follow-up, financing, and customer service to roasters. Sometimes a company operates in both roles. A quality-driven importer often plays an active role in quality control and building long-term relationships directly at origin—with cooperatives, farmers, or washing stations. But broadly speaking, exporters focus on the coffee origin side of the supply chain, while importers focus on the destination.
Exporting Specialty Coffee vs Commercial Coffee
Specialty coffee scores 80+ points on the SCA scale, with a focus on flavour complexity, clean cups, and defect-free lots. Coffees are usually hand-picked, carefully processed, and traceable down to the farm, farmer, or variety. Producers and exporters prioritize transparency around origin, processing, and pricing, often supported by long-term partnerships. Small volumes like microlots or curated blends are common, along with custom processing methods such as honey or anaerobic fermentation. With greater attention to drying, milling, and storage, specialty coffee preserves quality, drives product innovation, and commands higher prices that reflect both quality and the real cost of production.
Commercial coffee typically scores below 80 points, with simpler flavours, more defects, and less emphasis on quality. It’s often machine-harvested, bulk processed, and blended from multiple sources, offering little to no traceability. Post-harvest care is standardized for speed, scale, and consistency, rather than origin or flavour nuance. Sold in large volumes and priced near commodity rates, commercial coffee is usually traded through transactional supply chains, with limited focus on relationships, transparency, or sustainability.
Where Nordic Approach fits in
At Nordic Approach, we primarily operate as a coffee importer—connecting roasters with traceable, high-quality coffees from across the coffee belt. However, through our close relationships and teams at origin, we often take on parts of the exporter’s role as well: collaborating directly with producers, overseeing milling, managing shipments, and securing export approvals. We have a strong focus on quality, transparency, and impact, which means being present across all stages of the production cycle is crucial.
This hybrid approach means we can offer more transparency, more control over quality, and deeper support for both sides of the supply chain.