Frequently Asked Questions

The shopping cart has prices listed as 1, 5, 25 etc. What is that, pounds?

Yes. in coffee 1 is one pound. 5 is five pounds, and so on. As you add items to the cart the total will be added up automatically. As you reach each price break the total will be calculated accordingly. Tea is calculated by the ounce. 1 ounce, 2 ounces, etc.

 

How is your menu different than others?

The Coffee Project has a carefully chosen selection of green coffees from around the world. With over 70 coffee growing regions theres a lot out there to choose from. We’ve selected among some of the best coffees available for quality and consistancy. Our menu is very stable so you mostly won’t fall in love with a coffee you’ll never see again. Thats especially true with our CP Select choices. There are times when a very special coffee is in limited supply, like Cup of Excellence beans or many of the more exotic certified coffees, but we’ll let you know!

 

Can I find green coffee in my town?

Yes, you probably can! Find the café where you live which roasts coffee right in the store. You’ll find professional roasters to be some of the nicest people in the world. They love what they do and are passionate about the craft. Ask about buying some green beans for roasting at home. You’ll have a new friend with lots of information to share. Expect to pay about one half to one third of what they list as the price for roasted. $15 for instance roasted would be about $5- $7 green.

And don't be fooled in grocery stores by the 12 oz pound of roasted beans when comparison shopping. A real pound is 16 ounces.

 

Paying more means its a better green coffee. right?

No, not necessarilly. A lot of Specialty Coffee pricing is about scarcity. Sometime a farm only produces as few as 10 bags in a whole year, while another farm is producing hundreds of bags. Or regions like Colombia or Brazil that produce hundreds of tons. A lot of pricing is about whats available, not always a measure of quality.

Jamaica Blue Mountain for instance is a tiny producer with a lot of demand, therefore the prices are much higher. While JBM is truly pretty good, its not necessarilly better in the cup than many other coffees in the world.

There are coffees such as the Cup of Excellence selections which have been vetted by international judges as being top quality. Those choices then go through an auction process. Some auction coffees have sold for more than $40 per pound! Were they rare? yes. Were they worth over $40 a pound? That depends on how you value the experience.

Nothing makes an item more valuable than not having enough of it.

 

Whats the BEST coffee in the world?

The best coffee in the world is the one you like best. That's not really a non-answer. Familiarity, the degree of roast, certain tastes you like. Even a coffee that produces certain memories. Everyone has a favorite. If you try a few you'll discover the favorite for you. Forget about price and forget about names, forget about marketing and labeling. Find what fits you.

 

What's this "Make mine Monthly" in some of the coffee selections?

Its a simple system to set up re-occurring orders for certain beans. When you see the option to "Make Mine Monthly" and you select the options of how often, (either every thirty or sixty days) we'll duplicate that order exactly as placed and continue to process it on the schedule you've chosen until you tell us to stop.

Its a simple time saver for those orders you place all the time anyway. Its also a terrific gift to give a friend, especially when selecting our "Tworandom" bundle. (Tworandom is a combo totaling two pounds of beans, our choice, with a value thats always greater than what you actually payed.)

There are a couple simple rules with Make Mine Monthly. First is that the order must remain unchanged and the order will be sent out automatically with no further notice that its being prepared. Second is that yes you CAN use a coupon code at the time of placing a Make Mine Monthly order, and that coupon code WILL remain in effect for as long as the flow of orders is unbroken ( ie and ongoing % off each order.) However, if the flow is broken for any reason or changed, we start again from scratch.

Almost all of the choices in the Make mine Monthly selections are from farms we have had on the menu for many years, or are our own CP Select choices chosen for their high quality and ongoing consistency. What you probably won't find in the Make Mine Monthly options are the singular jewels that occasionally come up such as Cup of Excellence choices. And thats a good reason to choose the Tworandom Bundle as your Make Mine Monthly choice.

To reiterate- if you lock in a reoccurring order at a sale price and/or discount using the Make Mine Monthly option, that's your price until the flow of orders is broken. If you'd like to set up an ongoing order for something currently not listed as a Make Mine Monthly option, just ask about it and we'll see what we can do.

 

Why can't I find that same green coffee I loved from 6 months ago?

Coffee is a yearly crop and much like wine, some crops really sing, some crops just hum. While Specialty Coffee farmers do their best and many farms are extremely consistant, sometimes there's magic in there too. On our menu you'll see a number of farms called out by name; La Minita, Kauai Coffee, La Torcaza and others. But you'll also see a number of choices we call CP Select.

These are instances where things need to change in order to stay the same. And, that's where we're a little different. Our CP Select choices like our Estate choices are chosen for their high quality as well as looking for consistency from order to order for you. This can be an important element when you've found a type of coffee you love or a certain blend you've created that you want to maintain. Perfection is a difficult goal but we do strive for that ongoing level of quality and consistency in each CP Select choice, so that its as same as possible each time you order. Those CP Select coffees do lose their bag to bag pedigrees as we source our beans from different importers who in turn source from different farms as we search for our choices, but they do carry our brand on the site, our seal of approval as a CP Select choice. For more information about our coffee in general please visit the Blog..

And, Yes. There are those jewels in the world too that we'll never see again. Among these are the Cup of Excellence coffees and others we've come across that are just too good and to rare to pass by. Often what happens is that in the whole world a farm has only produced 10 or 20 bags of that particular crop. So, there's only so much to be had. In those instances we try to buy as much as possible, tell you as much as possible about the farm, the farmers and region where the coffee has come from. The reality though is that there's only so much of it.

The best thing you can do is when you find a gem that you love, just like us, is buy as much as you can, keeping in mind the yearly cycle of coffee. In less than twelve months there will be another fantasic choice to fall in love with. The best thing you can do is embrace it when you've got it then let go when its gone. Coffees that are no longer available are the only coffees that gets better with age. Spend recklessly if you can.

 

Are their other sources of green coffee?

Yes again. An internet search will reveal a growing number of internet vendors with green coffees offered. We think you’ll like our speedy friendly service, our quality, and our prices best! There are hundreds of coffees out there so if it’s something you wish you had, you can probably find it. Or, just let us know what you’re looking for!

 

Do you have special offers or price breaks?

Yes! Send us your email address and We’ll tell you about special prices on some beans we think you should try. We send out an email about every eight weeks with news and info. Often these emails include a coupon code for a discount.

Mention your birthday month to us and we'll send you a coupon code by snail mail during that birthday month.

 

Bulk Beans?

We also supply small cafes, Mom and Pop roasting businesses, and the astute home roaster with a consistent menu of beans in 25lb bags. It’s the very same menu as the per pound beans but the price break is considerable when you order a lot at once.

This is a good choice for cafes who want a wide selection of beans but don’t have the room for 1,200 pounds of coffee. Along with the full bags they get from a warehouse they have the option of mixing

it up with smaller quanities of slightly more exotic or costly offerings. Great coffee with less commitment!

 

How do I estimate shipping costs?

Easily! You could add items to the shopping cart letting it do all the work, or follow this simple calculation: take the number of pounds your order will weigh, multiply by .38, then add $5.95

Because we ship from multiple locations, your order will arrive either super fast, or super cheap.

The more you order the better the value. When you combine our prices with this simple shipping structure, we're hard to beat. And, all of our coffee is the same specialty grade coffee whether you are ordering one bean or a few hundred pounds.

The exception to our shipping structure is if you live outside of the contiguous United States. Or, if there is some special request that bumps the package outside our standard shipping for that box. if you have any doubts or questions just ask us we'll do the math and let you know.

 

I live in los Angeles. Can you give me directions to your shop?

We'd love to... But we don't have a "shop"! The Coffee Project is a completely online business with no physical store front. Various parts of the business and personnel are located around Los Angeles and around the country. We exist most completely right on your computer screen.

Telephone calls are answered all day, plus most evenings — by real human beings! If you do call and get a recording, please leave a message, we will get back to you asap. Additionally, we check email all day long- so we're never really that far away to answer questions.

 

How long will my package take to arrive?

Typically between 3 business days and a week. Most of our boxes go out by UPS ground the day after the order is received. Local orders arrive in about one day after shipping. When appropriate, smaller boxes may go by USPS priority mail. Your order will ship either from California or Wisconsin, whichever will get it to you fastest.

 

Can you ship Overnight or Second Day?

Special shipping requests are possible but this may affect the total of your invoice. We always get confirmation when adjusting your total.

 

Can you ship outside the US? Or Alaska and Hawaii?

Yes. When you place an order you can indicate that the order is going outside the US. We will contact you with options depending on how quickly you’d like the order to arrive. We cannot ship green coffee into Hawaii but Alaska is no problem.

Shipping by USPS flat rate boxes are a terrific way to send green coffee to our friends outside the US. Think about tailoring your order to be about ten pounds for optimal use of a USPS flat rate box.

 

What is your return policy?

Shop wisely. There are no returns on beans. A defective machine will be repaired or replaced based on the manufacturer's warrantee. If you have used a machine and feel its defective, you pay for the shipping back to the manufacturer. If its found to be defective, ask us and we'll create a store credit for that postage when we've received the original postage receipt. If the machine is not defective or the problem is a result of user error, you pay for the shipping back.

Canceled orders or returned items are subject to a 15% restocking charge. If an item is returned it must be unused, in the original packaging, and able to be sold as new. There are no refunds on shipping. Generally we're pretty reasonable. We want you to be happy. Let common sense be your guide.

 

What about guarantees or warrantees?

Its typical for the machines to come with a one year manufacturer's warrantee beginning on the purchase date. In all cases, home machines are intended for home use. They are not commercial roasters, nor are they intended to be modified in any way including the use of variacs etc to boost the power. Pressing a machine into service beyond reasonable household use is outside the scope of a warantee. For instance most manufacturer's instructions will tell you to let a home coffee roaster cool down between roasts. If you need to run a coffee roaster more than a few times a week then you either need a bigger machine or a second machine.

If you feel you need to engage the warrantee to repair or replace your machine, the first step is to contact us and discuss it. Sometimes its a matter of reading the manual and following those instructions. If some part of the machine is to be repaired or replaced, then you must ship it back to the manufacturer, to be examined. (we'll confirm with you the address it should go to.) User error or abuse are not covered by warrantees.

 

Tell me about guarantees or warranties outside of the US.

In most instances manufacturer's warranty do not extend to other countries. That means if you are buying equipment for use in another country, and it breaks or is defective it is not covered.

 

Ordering online?

Absolutely. This is the very best way to shop with us! You can add or subtract items until you are completely happy with the order. If you’ve added items but don’t want to complete the order at that moment, it will be remembered for up to a week. There is no commitment until a final series of credit card confirmations are made.

If you’re not sure, or want to send check or money order, you can print an ‘offline’ order at this point. This is a printable list of the items, prices, shipping, and the exact grand total.

For fastest delivery go ahead and place an ‘online’ order. We’ll know about your order immediately. You’ll receive an email confrmation of the order, and we’ll get right onto packing the box and sending it off to you!

 

Can I just call in an order by phone?

Yes! call us and someone will answer your question. If you don’t get all the information you need online please ask for Cheryl, James, Kristin, or Stacy. Almost all the information that you’ll need can be found right here online but we know that sometimes it’s nice to know you’re dealing with people.

 

I know what I’d like sent, but would rather not transfer my credit info over the internet…

The Coffee Project receives ordering information as encrypted messages, industry standard, and secure. It’s actually a safer method than most credit card transactions where you hand your card to a stranger, But we understand. In fact, on this point, you have choices! You could phone in the order and a human will enter your payment and order info by phone. Easy as that.

In subsequent orders you can then place an ‘online’ order where you’ve done everything but enter a credit card number. If we already have your payment info then select the option to use that info already on file. That lets you submit the order without re-entering a credit card number.

If we already have your payment info on file from a previous order just send us a plain email of what else we should send you.

A last option is to leave brightly colored post-its in a high traffic spot at home until your significant other gets the idea and calls for you. Checks or money orders are fine too.

 

Do I have the ability to produce the finest, freshest coffee I’ve ever tasted, bar none, in this universe or any other parallel universe conceivable?

Yes. Yes you do.

 

I LOVE The Coffee Project. I love the service, the speed of response and delivery, and of course I love the excellent quality and choices available to me. How can I help spread the word to my friends and everyone else?

Excellent Question! The number one thing you can do is blog about us. Include our name and a link to the site. www.coffeeproject.com Tell people why you like The Coffee Project and maybe mention what things you purchased. *That* would be an excellent way to let us know you care. Send us a link to your recent blogging and we'll send you something good as a thank you.

[back to top]