Workers wait in a line for their baskets of freshly harvested coffee cherries to be measured at a coffee plantation, in Grecia, Costa Rica January 9, 2020. Picture taken January 9, 2020. REUTERS/Juan Carlos Ulate/File PhotoStructural change to how coffee is priced, traders sayIn 1980, coffee prices 500% higher, adjusted for inflation
Brazil's coffee exporters association Cecafe confirmed these beans were now being included in exchange stocks, saying it was in recognition of their improved taste and quality. Washed beans from Africa, Colombia, Central America and Peru have long been valued for superior flavour. Over time, however, Brazilian farmers have improved the taste of their unwashed and semi-washed coffee.
They simply state that approved beans should be free from 'unwashed flavours'. Unwashed coffee is so-called because its fruit is left to dry whole before the bean is extracted. "ICE has their standards established for each origin and each lot is subject to quality approval," he said. "We understand that if each lot has its quality approved ... it is because it fits established quality parameters", Ferreira said.
This surge initially didn't come to pass because there was not much spare premium coffee around so traders were able to get higher prices selling even semi-premium beans to roasters in the physical markets.