How to Request & Evaluate
Green Coffee Samples

Why Sampling Matters More Than You Think

Buying green coffee without sampling first is one of the most common mistakes roasters make — especially when sourcing from a new origin or supplier. Spec sheets, cupping scores, and tasting notes are useful starting points, but they cannot replace your own evaluation under your own roasting conditions. A lot that scores 86 on someone else's cupper's table may land differently in your drum, at your altitude, with your water profile.

A good sampling process protects you from expensive mistakes, builds supplier relationships based on real data, and — done consistently — develops your team's palate calibration over time. This guide walks you through the whole process, from initial enquiry to buying decision.

Step 1: What to Ask For When Requesting a Sample

A sample request should be specific. Vague requests slow down the process and sometimes result in receiving a generic lot rather than what you actually want to evaluate. When contacting a supplier, include the following in your initial message:

Most reputable suppliers will send between 200g and 500g of green for evaluation. This is typically enough for two or three sample roasts and a full cupping session. If you receive less than 150g, it's worth asking for a top-up — you need sufficient material to roast consistently and cup multiple preparations.

Step 2: Inspecting the Green Before You Roast

Before the sample goes anywhere near your roaster, spend five minutes on a visual and sensory inspection of the raw green. This step is often skipped, but it provides useful baseline data and occasionally flags problems early.

Pour the green onto a white or light-coloured tray and look for: uniformity of bean size and colour, visible defects (blacks, sours, insect damage, shells), moisture on the surface, and any unusual odours. A well-prepared specialty lot should be visually clean, consistent in colour, and smell faintly of hay or fresh grain — never musty, fermented, or chemically sharp.

Note the moisture content if you have access to a moisture meter. Specialty green coffee should typically fall between 10% and 12% moisture. Below 9% suggests old crop or improper storage; above 13% is a quality and mould risk. If the supplier has provided a spec sheet, cross-reference the moisture figure against what you observe.

Step 3: Roasting the Sample

Sample roasting requires a different mindset than production roasting. The goal is to reveal the coffee's character as clearly as possible — not to make a great-tasting roast by your house profile standards. This distinction matters.

Aim for a light to medium roast, typically ending at first crack plus 30–60 seconds of development time, or roughly 205–210°C at bean probe on most drum roasters. Avoid roast styles that mask origin character: very dark roasts will obscure the acidity and floral notes that define high-altitude Tanzania coffees; under-developed roasts will introduce grassy, raw flavours that aren't representative of the lot's potential.

If possible, roast the same lot twice with slightly different development times and cup both. This gives you a more complete picture of the coffee's range and how it responds to heat application. Record your charge weight, inlet temperature, charge temperature, first crack timing, and drop temperature for each roast. You'll want this data if you're comparing multiple lots or following up with the supplier.

Rest the roasted sample for a minimum of 8 hours before cupping. 24 hours is better for light roasts, which benefit from longer degassing before the aromatics fully open up.

Step 4: Setting Up Your Cupping

SCA cupping protocol is the standard for a reason — it creates a controlled, repeatable evaluation environment that allows meaningful comparison between lots. Even if you're cupping informally, keeping conditions consistent between sessions is essential for building reliable reference data over time.

Evaluate the coffee at three temperature stages: hot (around 70°C), warm (around 55°C), and as it cools toward room temperature (below 40°C). Many coffees reveal their best qualities in the mid-range — the acidity resolves, sweetness becomes more apparent, and the finish lengthens. A coffee that tastes flat when hot but opens up dramatically as it cools is a good indicator of quality.

Step 5: What to Evaluate and How to Record It

Professional cupping scores assess ten attributes on a 6–10 point scale each, totalling 100 points. For a practical buying evaluation, focus on the five attributes that matter most for your purchasing decision:

Fragrance and aroma — what does it smell like dry, and after water contact? This is often the most immediate indicator of quality and origin character. Floral, fruit, and clean cereal notes are positive. Earthy, musty, fermented, or rubbery aromas signal defects or processing problems.

Acidity — evaluate both intensity and quality. High acidity is not a flaw; harsh, unpleasant acidity is. A well-grown high-altitude Tanzania lot should have bright, clean acidity — think lemon, stone fruit, or citrus zest rather than vinegar or sharpness.

Body — the tactile weight and texture of the liquid in your mouth. Washed coffees tend toward lighter, cleaner body; naturals toward heavier, more syrupy body. Neither is inherently better — match to your intended use.

Flavour and aftertaste — specific tasting notes and how long the finish lingers. A long, clean aftertaste is a mark of quality regardless of origin.

Overall — your holistic impression. Does this coffee excite you? Would your customers pay for it? Does it fit your current offering? This is the most subjective score, and it matters.

Record your scores and notes immediately after cupping, while the impressions are fresh. Even brief notes — "bergamot, clean, good acidity at warm stage, fades quickly" — are far more useful than relying on memory when comparing multiple samples side by side.

Step 6: Comparing Against the Supplier's Score Sheet

If the supplier has provided their own cupping score and tasting notes, compare your findings after you've completed your own evaluation — not before. Reading the supplier's notes first creates anchoring bias and will influence what you perceive in the cup.

A discrepancy of 1–2 points between your score and the supplier's is normal and expected — different cuppers, different calibration, different roast. A gap of 4+ points warrants a conversation. Either something went wrong with your sample roast (most likely), or the lot has degraded in transit or storage, or the supplier's scoring is optimistic. Asking politely is reasonable; a confident supplier will welcome the dialogue.

Step 7: Making the Buying Decision

Once you have cupping data in hand, the buying decision should be methodical rather than purely emotional — though both matter. Ask yourself:

Does the coffee score at or above your minimum threshold for single origin retail (typically 84+ SCA)? Does the cup profile align with what your customers expect from this origin or processing style? Is the lot available in the volume you need, at a price that works at your planned retail price point? And critically — does it excite you enough that you'll talk about it confidently when selling it?

If the answer to all four is yes, move forward. If one element is borderline, consider whether it's negotiable. Price can sometimes be discussed for larger volumes. Cup profile may improve with a different roast approach. But if the coffee fundamentally doesn't excite you, trust that instinct — it's difficult to sell something you're not behind.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Cupping too soon after roasting. A sample roasted and cupped on the same day will taste flat, astringent, and undeveloped. Always allow adequate rest time — especially for lighter roasts.

Using inconsistent water. Switching between tap water and filtered water between sessions destroys comparability. Choose one water source and use it for all evaluations.

Only cupping at one temperature. Many coffees — particularly high-grown African lots — reveal significant complexity as they cool. A coffee that seems unremarkable at 70°C may be exceptional at 50°C.

Relying on a single cup. Always prepare at least two cups per sample. A single cup can be skewed by grind inconsistency, pouring technique, or a random defect bean. Two cups give you a check on your own consistency.

Letting the supplier's notes lead the evaluation. Tasting notes are suggestive, not definitive. Your palate and your customers' expectations matter more than what the origin report says. Read notes after cupping, not before.

Building a Sample Log Over Time

The most underused tool in green coffee buying is a well-maintained sample log. Recording your scores, notes, roast parameters, and buying decisions over time gives you a calibration reference — you can compare a new Tanzania AA against the last three you evaluated, see whether your scores have drifted, and identify patterns in which lots consistently over- or under-deliver relative to their score sheets.

A simple spreadsheet works well: date, supplier, lot name, origin, processing, roast date, rest time, your score, supplier score, tasting notes, decision (bought / passed / hold), and volume ordered. After a year of consistent logging, you'll have a genuine competitive advantage in green coffee buying that no spec sheet can give you.