Buying Green Coffee + Marketplace FAQs

You have a vision for your coffee menu—we’re here to help you bring it to life. We make it easy to identify the coffees that’ll serve your business needs and delight your customers.

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Every Marketplace coffee is rich with background information, including:

– Full traceability to the producer

– Tasting notes and coffee plant variety

– Farm awards and certifications

– Marketing support, including farm stories and images

– No-nonsense, competitive pricing

Search through our curated green coffee menu using a variety of filters. When you find a winner, simply order and we’ll ship the beans directly to you in easy-to-store, easy-to-carry boxes. If you’re roasting at larger volumes, we offer the option to purchase green coffee by the bag as well.

Marketplace FAQs

How do I place an order through the Bellwether Marketplace?

To order 24lb boxes or 132-154lb bags of coffee through the Marketplace, please follow these steps:

1. Visit store.bellwethercoffee.com on any device.

2. Log in using your Bellwether Admin credentials.

3. Select the coffee you would like to purchase and Add to Cart.

4. Tap on the shopping cart icon in the top right corner of your screen and tap Checkout.

5. Select any shipping or delivery specifications at checkout. For more information see Shipping & Checkout FAQs.

6. Place your order!

Canadian Customers: How to Order Coffee

Canadian customers can view up to date inventory and pricing for green coffee here.
Please reach out to your Customer Success Manager and they will guide you through the ordering process.

What can I do in the Marketplace? 

Buy coffee from any device – The Marketplace is hosted online, so you can access the store anytime and from any device. 

Buy boxes and bags in one place – Bellwether is the first green coffee supplier in the industry to create automated freight shipping for whole bags of coffee. You can buy and ship whole bags and pallets of coffee to your door with the same click-and-ship convenience of boxes. You can see live freight quotes for your region before you order. 

Enjoy flexible payment options – We’ve added flexible payment options so you can now buy coffee using credit, debit, ACH, or Credit Key. For more information on the payment options available, please refer to this article.

Search better, faster – Quickly and effortlessly see the whole menu at once, navigate coffees by origin, flavor profile, or impact.

See alerts to help you stay ahead – Easily see alerts for coffee inventory levels so you can plan your inventory on the fly.

How do I know I’m getting the best shipping rate and carrier on my pallets of coffee? Not every carrier is the same and rates are variable.

Our custom shipping tool pulls a dozen or more live freight quotes from carriers based on the criteria you enter (business location, liftgate request, etc.). Our software chooses the 3 cheapest quotes and averages them to provide a flat rate to you. Behind the scenes, our team views the 3 carriers that were averaged to produce that rate and chooses the best and most reliable option for your order. 

How do I know if I need a liftgate? 

If you don’t have a loading dock or a forklift, you need a liftgate for delivery. 

Liftgates are mechanical elevators on the back of some trucks that allow them to lower pallets to the ground in the event that you don’t have the equipment or a loading dock to receive with. 

Liftgates can be extremely expensive which may be jarring to customers who notice their shipping rate changes drastically with a liftgate option selected. Unfortunately, there’s no way around this. If a pallet gets delivered to a location without a dock or a forklift, they won’t deliver your coffee and it will be returned. 

What is the shipping time frame?

Orders placed through the Marketplace are processed same day if your order is placed by 11 AM Pacific Time. Your coffee may ship from different warehouse locations, so your purchases may ship separately or on different days.

If you’re located in California, it will take approximately two business days for your green coffee order to arrive and up to 5-7 business days if you’re outside of CA. We suggest having a month’s worth of green coffee on-hand and/or being aware of your inventory levels, so you don’t run out. 

When ordering bags of green coffee, the estimated delivery time can vary depending on proximity to either the NJ or CA warehouse. In general, most orders will arrive within 7-10 business days, but we highly recommend ordering 2-3 weeks before needing the coffee, as delays can occur with freight shipping.

Can I pick my coffee order up from the warehouse?

We work with two warehouses in the United States. They are located in Alameda, CA and Carteret, NJ. During the checkout process, you will be given the opportunity to choose warehouse pick up as a convenient option. If this works for you, simply select it and proceed with your order.

Are your Bellwether Marketplace coffees from a single origin? I’m seeing a different variety of names.

There is a distinction between single-origin and single-varietal or single-cultivar. 

On coffee farms, multiple varieties or cultivars are often grown together for several reasons. I could be to add diversification, to protect from disease, to experiment, to mitigate risk, or because that’s just what was planted. In saying that, there are coffees that are both single-variety and single-origin. For example, Brazilian coffee is often single-origin and variety. 

Another example of single-origin coffees that are often grown with a mix of varieties is coffee from Ethiopia. Ethiopian coffees often list “mixed heirloom landraces” or “Ethiopia Heirloom” as the variety. Ethiopian coffee farms almost always contain a mix of native and endemic varieties 

What are tasting notes? 

Tasting notes point to specific flavor attributes of the coffee and can be influenced by origin, processing, roast, and other elements.

Are the Bellwether Marketplace coffees stored in GrainPro bags?

Yes! All of the coffee in the Bellwether Marketplace are packaged in GrainPro bags. It is very rare that we will get a coffee in that is not.

Do the Bellwether Marketplace coffees go through an optical sorter at origin?

Yes, the vast majority of Bellwether Marketplace’s coffee offerings go through an optical sorter at the origin. Almost all specialty coffees get sorted via optical sorter these days.

Are the Bellwether Marketplace coffees density sorted?

Yes! All of the Bellwether Marketplace coffees are density sorted.