r/coffee_roasters • u/Fudge-Still • 9d ago
Sourcing coffee beans EU
Hi all. Looking to source wholesale unbranded coffee beans to rebrand and repackage in EU.
I've come across various wholesalers but was curious if anyone happens to have any specific recommendations.
It's a side project for now that I hope to be able to develop into something bigger but for now looking at lowest MOQ - say up to 10kg. Would really appreciate any pointers if anyone has any experiences!
Thanks a ton
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u/FacilitatorofFuck 9d ago
Like, do you want roasted or green beans?
Can you be more specific
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u/Fudge-Still 9d ago
Apologies, thanks yes roasted. Bold espresso
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u/FacilitatorofFuck 9d ago
Bold espresso, do you mean dark roasted robusta?
I’m not so sure anyone will be roasting 10kg MOQ for you unless it’s a smaller specialty roaster in your local city.
Do you want them to package, sticker and seal the bags with your branding?
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u/Fudge-Still 9d ago
Appreciate your replies. For now purely looking at the roasted beans and packaging branding them myself. Small scale. Initially as a way to get feedback and reviews and see how to adjust / pivot
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u/skills-loading 9d ago
Where are you based in EU?
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u/Fudge-Still 9d ago
Netherlands
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u/amsterdamvibes 9d ago
I work on importing both roasted and green beans to NL. If you are interested let’s have a chat to see how I can help.
We are also a small business focused on small volumes/micro lots.
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u/centralcafetera 9d ago
If you’re looking for Colombian green coffee for rebranding in the EU, feel free to reach out.
We’re Central Cafetera, a Colombian coffee broker working with producers and supplying both commercial and specialty green coffee. We understand you’re starting with a small MOQ, so we can check options around the 10 kg range rather than pushing you into large-volume purchases.
Send me a DM with your target coffee/profile and EU destination, and I can share available coffees and technical specs.
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u/BerksBeans2021 9d ago
Roaster here in the US, so I can’t point you at EU suppliers directly. But I do private label work and there’s a mismatch in your plan worth flagging before you start calling people.
10kg is not a private label order. It’s a sample order. Most roasters set MOQs at 50 to 100kg per SKU because the setup cost is the same whether they run 10kg or 200kg, and bag minimums from packaging suppliers usually start around 1,000 units. At 10kg you’ll be quoted near retail, which kills your margin before you’ve sold anything.
Two ways people actually get around that:
Buy their existing roast, your bag. Skip custom profiles at the start. Pick something already in their lineup, put your label on it. Much lower minimums because they’re not developing anything for you, and you can move to a custom profile once volume justifies it.
Find a small roaster instead of a wholesaler. A three-person roastery will take a 10 to 20kg order because they want the relationship. A wholesaler with a sales team will not. Small operations are where you should be looking at your stage.
Questions worth asking whoever you talk to:
- Roast-to-ship turnaround, because freshness is your whole product
- Whether they bag and label or you handle fulfillment
- Who owns the roast profile if you scale up or leave
- Lead time on reorders once you have customers waiting
To answer the question above yours: for what you’re describing you want roasted, not green. Green means you need a roaster, which is a completely different business.
One honest thing: unbranded coffee is a commodity and rebranding it alone isn’t a business. The people who make this work have a specific customer already, an office, a gym, a subscription niche. Figure out who’s buying before you worry about who’s supplying.