Why do two coffees from the same country taste different, and why does a coffee leave the shelf after a while? The answer is simple but a little long. Coffee is an agricultural product, like grapes or olives. It ripens on the tree, is picked by hand, dried, travels for months and has an age by the time it is roasted. We want to walk through that calendar here, because once you understand it, changes in the cup start to read as a rhythm rather than a flaw.
Every origin has its own season
Coffee grows along the equatorial belt, but that belt is not one climate. In Ethiopia the main harvest runs from October to January. New crop from Yirgacheffe is processed, dried and shipped, and usually lands in Turkey between April and June. Colombia has two seasons: in southern regions like Huila the main harvest is October to December, with a second, smaller "mitaca" harvest picked between April and June. This is why fresh Colombian coffee can be found almost year round. In Brazil the harvest stretches from May to September; the dry winter in Cerrado is ideal for natural processing. In Guatemala, the Antigua region picks from December to March.
These dates are not set in stone. One year the rains arrive late, flowering shifts and the harvest moves three weeks. That shows up in the coffee too: same producer, same plot, a slightly different cup.
Green coffee has a lifespan
Unroasted coffee keeps for a long time when stored properly, but "keeps" and "at its best" are not the same thing. Fresh-crop coffee is lively, with clear acidity and distinct aromatics. As the months pass that clarity slowly softens, and at some point flat notes of paper and straw begin to take over. We try to finish a coffee before it gets there. That is why some coffees sit on the shelf for a while and then give way to the new season.
Rather than keeping one origin available all year, we prefer to rotate with the seasons. Sometimes that means a coffee you love is gone for a few months. In return, the coffee you do buy is genuinely in its best window.
What changes in the roast
Green coffee needs careful storage too: cool, dry, dark and off the floor. As humidity and temperature swing, it tires faster. That is why we prefer small lots in season to deep stocks of one origin, and it is why there are two coffees of the month.
Every new lot differs a little in moisture and density, so the same roast profile will not give the same cup from two lots. Each new coffee's roast is set up again. The aim is not to make it taste like the old lot, but to find the new lot's own best version.
What this means for you
That is why we list the harvest year on every coffee's product page. If you loved a coffee and it disappeared from the shelf, its season has most likely ended; it will be back next season with a slightly different character. It is also why we choose two new coffees each month: the same coffee is not on our shelf every month, because the same coffee is not in the field every month.
The rough calendar below shows when you will find each origin freshest. Dates are approximate and drift a little each year.
- Ethiopia — harvest October–January, reaches Türkiye April–June
- Colombia — main harvest October–December, mitaca April–June, fresh lots year round
- Brazil — harvest May–September, reaches Türkiye September–November
- Guatemala — harvest December–March, reaches Türkiye May–July
You can always write to us with questions; telling the story behind a cup is our favourite part of the job.
