What is spot coffee?

Spot coffee is green coffee that's sitting in a warehouse right now, available to buy and collect without waiting. No vessels to track, no harvest to wait for - it's physically landed, cleared, and ready.

The term comes from commodity trading, where "spot" means you're buying the physical goods at today's price for immediate delivery, as opposed to a futures or forward contract. In green coffee, spot is what you'll find on most importers' live offer lists: a selection of landed, in-stock lots with current pricing.

For roasters, spot is your fastest route to green coffee. If you've run out of a staple or want to try something new without committing months in advance, spot availability is where you start. The trade-off compared to forward contracting is choice - by the time a lot lands and hits the spot list, the most sought-after allocations may already be gone. The roasters who consistently get first access to the best coffees are usually the ones who've committed forward.