How to import green coffee from Guatemala: a roaster's guide

Can a small roaster really buy direct from Guatemala?

Yes — the thing that changed the game is consolidation. A full container holds around 275 bags of coffee, far more than an independent roastery needs. In a consolidated (LCL, less-than-container-load) shipment, several buyers' lots travel in the same container and share the freight and handling costs. That is exactly the model we work with: micro-lots from a few bags up, grouped into shared shipments.

Buying direct means better traceability and a shorter chain than buying from an importer's spot list — but it also means planning around the harvest and waiting for a boat. If you need coffee next week, a local importer is the right tool. If you can plan a season ahead, origin-direct micro-lots are within reach of very small roasteries.

When should you buy? The Guatemalan harvest calendar

Guatemala harvests roughly from November–December through April, moving up in altitude as the season advances: lower regions like Nuevo Oriente pick earlier, and high-altitude Huehuetenango finishes latest, often into April. After harvest the coffee rests in parchment, is milled and graded, and export peaks between March and July. Fresh-crop arrivals typically reach the US and Europe between April and September.

Practical rule: cup offer samples between January and May, confirm your lots before mid-year, and plan your roasting calendar around an arrival window rather than a precise date — ocean freight schedules move.

How does the buying process work?

The sequence is the same across the specialty trade:

1. Offer samples. The exporter sends samples of available lots with their specs (region, variety, process, altitude). You roast and cup them.
2. Confirmation. You confirm volume and price in writing, with the shipping terms spelled out (see Incoterms below).
3. Pre-shipment sample. Before the coffee leaves Guatemala, you receive a sample drawn from the actual milled lot — cup it and approve it. This is your quality gate; use it.
4. Shipment and arrival. The lot ships from Puerto Quetzal on the Pacific or Santo Tomás de Castilla on the Atlantic, depending on destination, clears customs, and reaches your roastery or a warehouse.

What documents are involved?

On the Guatemalan side, coffee exports are regulated by Anacafé (the national coffee association): every exporter needs an export license and per-shipment export permits. Your exporter handles that, plus the phytosanitary certificate issued by Guatemala's agricultural authority (MAGA), the ICO certificate of origin, the commercial invoice, the packing list and the bill of lading. As the buyer, you should receive copies of all of them — if an exporter can't produce these documents, walk away.

On your side it depends on the destination. In the United States, green coffee is an FDA-regulated food: your customs broker files FDA prior notice, and your facility should be FDA-registered (most roasteries already are). In the European Union, coffee is in scope of the EUDR deforestation regulation: from 30 December 2026 (30 June 2027 for micro and small companies), EU operators must file a due-diligence statement backed by geolocation data for the plots where the coffee grew. Coffee you buy this harvest will likely still be on your shelf when the rules bite, so ask your exporter now whether they can provide plot coordinates for the lots you're buying — it's becoming a make-or-break question for EU-bound coffee.

What do Incoterms mean for your quote?

Most Guatemalan green coffee is quoted FOB Puerto Quetzal: the price includes everything up to the coffee loaded at the port, and you (usually through a freight forwarder) cover ocean freight, insurance and destination costs. Some exporters also quote EXW (you pick up at the warehouse) or CIF (freight and insurance included to your port). None is better — what matters is knowing exactly which costs are yours so quotes are comparable.

What does it cost beyond the coffee?

Budget for these lines on top of the FOB price:

• Ocean freight for your share of the consolidated container
• Marine insurance (a small percentage of cargo value)
• Destination charges: port handling, customs clearance, broker fees
• Inland trucking from the port to your roastery or warehouse
• Import duties where they apply (green coffee enters the US duty-free; check your country's tariff)

The smaller your volume, the more these fixed costs weigh per pound — which is exactly the problem consolidation exists to solve, since most of them are shared across the container.

Mistakes first-time importers make

• Skipping the pre-shipment sample because the offer sample was great. Approve the actual lot, always.
• Comparing quotes with different Incoterms as if they were the same number.
• Buying a year of coffee at once without a plan for storage: green coffee keeps best in a cool, dry, stable place, and quality fades faster in poor storage than most people expect.
• Not asking about EUDR (for EU buyers) until the coffee is already on the water.
• Treating the exporter as a vending machine. The best lots go to buyers who communicate: share your cupping feedback, confirm on time, and the next harvest's best coffee finds you first.

Where to start

Start with samples — nobody should buy coffee they haven't cupped. We source micro-lots from Baja and Alta Verapaz (Anacafé's Rainforest Cobán region), we roast these coffees ourselves, and we consolidate small volumes so independent roasters can buy direct.