Ryan Brown: Dear Coffee Buyer
Dear Coffee Buyer by Ryan Brown is the first ever book dedicated to the profession of green coffee buying. Brown's vivid descriptions and engaging prose make readers feel like they’re right there with him: tagging along to taste hundreds of coffee samples during a twenty-hour stop in Guatemala, feeling his nervous excitement when he takes a spontaneous buying trip to Honduras with little more than a backpack, and sharing his frustration and determination to find farmers and exporters willing to offer exceptional coffees. Along the way, Brown takes an in-depth look at coffee bean varieties, processing, origins, cupping, forecasting, and pricing. He even interviews other legendary coffee buyers to get their take on the skills needed to begin a successful career in coffee buying. Dear Coffee Buyer will change the way a generation of baristas, roasters, and green buyers views 'direct trade,' seasonality, the Geisha variety, and the complex challenges of getting beans halfway around the world, from the farm to the cup. Ryan Brown: After years as a barista in the San Francisco Bay area, Ryan Brown was tapped to create the groundbreaking green-coffee program at Ritual Roasters. Later in his career, Ryan leveraged his experience at Ritual to establish novel coffee programs at companies such as Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Tonx, and Virmax.