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      Coffee Business Supplies

      Check out this article to uncover some additional items you may need to help you operate your coffee roastery!

      What Supplies Do I Need?

      Roasting is just the beginning of your coffee journey. 

      Once you’ve roasted your coffee, you’ll want to make sure you’ve got all the supplies you need to run a successful operation.

      While your bagging and production supplies won’t take up much space, you’ll need to decide everything you need to get going and set up a small area for storage and production of your roasted coffee. We’re making it easy to start by listing and linking some of our favorite products in coffee production. 

      A few of our favorite Suppliers:

      We’ve worked with hundreds of vendors and partners over the years, and these 3 are our go-to life-long partners for coffee-related supplies (and more!). 

      • PLC Print: Our one-stop-shop for printed-anything—if you can imagine it, they can print it! Anything is possible with PLC. This amazing shop is owned and operated by people of color out of Berkeley, CA, and across the street from our very first office(garage)! 
      • StickerMule: a great source for coffee labels if your menu changes often. Their lowest minimum order is 50; it’s our go-to spot to get low quantities, but the bigger the order, the bigger the discount! We use StickerMule for the labels on our coffee bags, green coffee orders, shipping boxes, welcome kits, tech kits, bagging kits, and more. We’re proud to work with StickerMule, a company that wanted to make an industry better, which many said would be “impossible” to do… sound familiar? 😉
      • SavorBrands is the company that makes our Bellwether-branded coffee bags and is a leader in coffee packaging. Savor Brands is dedicated to innovative packaging solutions for a more sustainable future of coffee - Bellwether's values through and through! We love the team at SavorBrands and are proud to call them a Bellwether partner. 

      Scales

      Having a reliable scale that is fast, appropriate in size, and able to handle the weight and resolution value required for the task is important. For example, a small, fast scale, that can fit under your portafilter and on your drip tray may not be able to handle or be a good size for weighing out 6lb lbs of green coffee for a roast or weighing 5lbs of roasted coffee for a bulk bag. Additionally, some scales have rechargeable batteries, some require batteries, and some can be plugged directly into the wall outlet. You'll need to choose scales that match your needs. 

      Here are a few suggestions for scales we recommend for different tasks for your coffee business at a variety of different price points:

      Scales For Weighing Roasted Coffee

      Scales for weighing out your roasted coffee for serving or filing your retail bags are relatively easy to find and most of the scales above will do the trick. However, if you are weighing out 5lbs bags of coffee for bulk or wholesale consumption you might need something with a little more weighing capacity. Additionally, advertised weight on your packaging is required by law.

      Here are a few suggestions, including their weight limits and accuracy (generally speaking, accuracy goes down the more weight you have on the platter):

      Scales For Weighing Green Coffee

      For weighing our green coffee in preparation for roasting, a scale with a high weight capacity and a larger weighing platter or surface is ideal. Here are a few scales that are good for this:

      Espresso Portafilter and Grinder Area Scales

      You’ll want something that is fast reading and has a platter size that can fit the portafilter comfortably.

      1. Acacia Pearl $150
      2. Hario V600 Drip Coffee Scale $56
      3. Jennings CJ-4000 $34

      Espresso Liquid Scales

      For weighing out your espresso liquid, you’ll need a scale that is small enough to fit on your drip tray, fits underneath your portafilter and cup, and is fast reading. A note on these, having a water-resistant scale is preferable for this task, but not necessary.

      1. AWS Series Digital $17
      2. Acaia Lunar $225 (water-resistant)
      3. Brewista Smart Scale II $90 (water-resistant)

      Drip Coffee & Pour Over Bar Scales

      A scale that works great for weighing coffee out for you batch-brewer, tea, and for manual brewing, etc., is a necessary scale to have behind a coffee bar. For manual brewing, it can be handy to have a built-in timer, but it is not necessary. This scale needs to be able to handle a little more weight than the espresso preparation scales. 

      1. Acacia Pearl $150
      2. Hario V600 Drip Coffee Scale $56
      3. Jennings CJ-4000 $34
      4. TOMIBA Digital Scale $12
      5. Etekcity Digital Scale $14
      6. Gator Coffee Scale $24

      Coffee Scoops

      We suggest using separate scoops for your green and roasted coffee because it is best to avoid cross-contamination of green and roasted coffee beans. Green coffee dust can end up on roasted coffee, tainting the flavor. Either a metal or plastic scoop will work. It’s nice to have a larger scoop for weighing out green coffee in preparation for roasting like these:

      For bagging or weighing roasted coffee, it’s a little easier to have a couple of smaller scoops handy like these:

      Buckets, Containers, and Bins for Green and Roasted Coffee

      Depending on how much room you have and how much roasting you are doing, buckets, containers, or bins around can be very helpful. Whether you are storing and blending green or roasted coffee, roasting multiple batches in one session, or want to cut down on your single-use coffee bags, having the right-sized container available can make your coffee roasting operation a lot easier. 

      Green coffee storage can often be a little easier to organize. Boxes and bags of green often come in Grain-Pro bags, which are perfect for green coffee storage. 

      You will want to make sure you store your green coffee in a cool, dry place free from cleaning products or fragrant foods. Remember, green coffee is porous and can absorb smells from nearby materials. Also, be sure green coffee is stored separately from roasted coffee to avoid cross-contamination. 

      If you want to transfer your green coffee out of the Grain-Pro bag into a different container, here are a few suggestions: 

      For roasted coffee, it’s convenient to have buckets that you can easily label, stack, carry, and scoop from for bagging. Here are a few that we suggest:

      An Impulse Bag Sealer For Your Coffee Bags

      When you start to bag your own coffee for retail, you will need a sealer to seal the bags.  A tabletop hand-operated bag sealer works perfectly well. 

      • ROMECH Impluse Bag Sealer $39

      If you require a sealer that can handle a little more volume and is a little faster, here are a few options:


      Having these essential items will help to make your roasting operation consistent, efficient, and user-friendly. Happy roasting!

      Cafe + Coffee Shop Supplies

      If you are looking for paper goods and other supplies for your coffee business, here are a couple of businesses that offer everything from cups to oat milk:

      1. http://www.coffeeshopsolutions.com/
      2. https://cupsworks.com/