Importing Australian Coffee to Taiwan

[RikkiandJill Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close RikkiandJill]

Hi There
We are new to Coffee Snobs and have joined to connect with some likeminded people as well as gather some advise on our coffee shop ventures.
I (Rikki-lee) am from Australia and my partner (Jill) is from Taiwan. At the end of the year we will be going back to Taiwan and partnering with Jill’s sister to open our first coffee shop.
We would really like to bring a taste of Australian coffee to Taiwan but need to figure out what coffee bean would be best and how to easily import it to Taiwan.
Any advise you all might have would be so greatly appreciated.
Many thanks in advance.

[chokkidog Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close chokkidog]

Hi R&J and welcome to CS.

Good luck with your new venture in Taiwan.

Pretty broad question you've asked there! Which bean?? Do you mean green or roasted?

Presuming you mean roasted then you will have to do some research on a) which 'taste of Australia'

will appeal to the demographic. b) the cost of flying it into Taiwan. c) Getting in touch with Taiwanese customs

and/or a local food import/export agent and finding out the rules and regs.

Plenty more to consider. Personally I'd look for a local roaster who can roast to your specifications. The green beans

available in Taiwan would pretty much be along the same lines as what is available here as far as origin/region/farm/washing station etc.

You would do better to focus on delivering an Australian style of café with our type of service, fit out and coffee menu, rather than an Australian coffee per sé.

If you want to import coffee it will be expensive!

[Andy CoffeeSnobs Owner Find all posts View Profile Close Andy]

I agree with the above.

Shipping to Taiwan is going to be expensive for any freight method that is fast... $10-$14/kg in freight alone makes whatever you buy pricey to land.
(that's without even knowing what tariff/taxes you might incur at the other end)

[Vinitasse Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Vinitasse]

The Taiwan Coffee Association would be able to point you in the right direction

taiwancoffee dot org

[Barry O'Speedwagon Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Barry O'Speedwagon]

Yep, and charge 'em double on Sunday to cover the penalty rates

[RikkiandJill Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close RikkiandJill]

Thank you all so much. We are definitely bringing an Australian ‘style’ to Taiwan with the menue, decor and service. My suspicions was that importing an actual Australian coffee bean to Taiwan was going to be far too expensive, but getting your advise and input has been great. Please if you have any other ideas or input – keep posting

[pyrmontboy200 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pyrmontboy200]

Hi there

There is a place in Songshan district which imports Australian roasted beans from a very well known roaster here. They have your idea of providing 'Australian style' coffee to locals in Taipei, in fact the name of their café is a place in Sydney. I won't mention it here as I am going to sledge them a bit. I found while the idea is good in principal, this place fails in execution. On the times I visited, the beans tasted stale as long black, and the espresso I got on a return visit was equally disappointing. I ended up taking my business up the road to a guy who was doing filter with a coffee menu of different origins, out of a hole in the wall. This 'Australian style' place would be so much better ditching the 'brand name' beans and getting a local roaster. I suspect there are plenty to choose from, as they make a lot of commercial roaster machinery there, and I am seeing more of the roaster/café hybrid places popping up.