The concepts of Single Origin, Single Farm & Coffee Micro/Nano Lot

– FIND THE ORIGIN –

Quality, traceability, direct trade, and fair pricing are just a few of the advantages of Single Origin and micro-batch coffees. However, behind this excellent reputation, many still wonder what “Single Origin” really means; what is the difference between single batch, micro lot and nano batch?

Through this article, let’s learn about Single Origin, Single Farm and Micro/Nano Lot coffee.

Single Origin coffee is a type of coffee originating from a single place. However, the closer we look at this, the more variations we spot:

Single country or region: A Single Origin coffee can come from a specific country or region within that country.

You may also hear a coffee from a particular region called a macro lot: this batch still represents the flavor profile of the area, but it’s not as distinctive as a micro lot.

Single farm/estate: This coffee comes from a single farm. It’s usually a high-quality coffee with a high price tag and a distinct flavor profile.

Single cooperative: In many countries, especially in Africa, some farmers produce only a few bags of coffee per harvest. In these cases, the local cooperative will collect and process all the coffee together to produce a single batch from the raw materials of many local farmers. Some cooperatives have strict quality requirements and regulate their members’ production and harvesting methods to ensure uniformity.

Micro lot: A lot of coffee originating from a piece of land on the farm (or, in the case of small farms, sometimes from a group of producers living nearby). When coffee is harvested and processed on such a small scale, costs increase, so the selling price must also increase to compensate. For this reason, micro lots are often just coffee of exceptional quality, scoring between 87-89 on the SCA scale and up to 40-60kg/bag in size.

Nano lot: A nano lot is similar to a micro lot but much smaller. Typically, nano batches range from one to two 60kg bags of coffee with a score of 90 or higher.

With these diverse variations, Single Origin makes buyers and coffee businesses need clarification and clarification. However, the consistent quality and sustainability of the coffees in this group are unquestionable. Based on the orientation and approach, the coffee supply and demand process elements, Single Origin has different methods to select suitable products, aiming to supply high-quality coffee and transparency to consumers.

Although there are many ways to introduce the concept of Single Origin or the division into different types, the common point between them is the original value and the respect for the origin.