The year might be quickly coming to an end, but there’s still plenty brewing here at Bennetts!

As we approach the summer holiday festive break, our warehouses and logistics teams are already preparing for the busy lead up. We’ll share more updates with you throughout the month regarding pre-Christmas ordering. In the meantime, we encourage you to plan ahead for your stock requirements. Our team are here to support you with spot inventory to keep you well supplied into the New Year.

We’re kicking off this month’s wrap with our latest market insights to keep you up to speed on what’s happening across the coffee world. From there, we head into the cupping room, where a fresh wave of microlots has landed and are ready to be explored.

We also share an update on our continued support for Grounds for Health and their important work improving women’s health in coffee-growing communities. Plus, a special mention to Jack Simpson and his incredible performance on the world stage at the World Barista Championships!

Grab a cup, settle in, and enjoy this month’s wrap from the Bennetts team.

MARKET REPORT

If any of these terms in the market report are confusing, we urge you to use Investopedia to make sense of them. We have found it to be a brilliant tool when learning about all things trading, futures and currency.

October’s market was somewhat similar to the movements we saw in September, typified by a short lived large swing upward, before retreating back to rangebound levels as the industry awaits more meaningful news. Arabica opened the month at 372.35usc/lb and hitting the month low of 366.60usc/lb within the first few trading hours. The following 2 weeks were range bound, unable to test levels beyond 370 on the downside and 392 on the upside. The second half of the month saw a lot more volatility in the C with 20-30c/lb daily swings. Topping out on the 23^rd of the month at 437.95c/lb, only a few cents shy of the record set back in February of this year. The month settled at 393.05c/lb.
 

Arabica NY C Graph 

Robusta opened the month at 4,206USD/MT and followed a somewhat similar trajectory to Arabica over the month dropping to its lowest point over the first few trading hours to 4,151USD/MT. Topping out the month 4,870USD/MT before finishing the session on Friday 31^st against the new front month at 4,546USD/MT.

Robusta London Graph

The fundamental news centred around precipitation. Decent rains across Brazilian growing regions have, from all accounts, been relatively ‘normal’ for this time of the year and considered positive for the upcoming 2026/2027 crop.  Over in Vietnam, there were initial fears that a strong tropical storm could damage the current harvest, but thankfully the storm didn’t impact the coffee regions as much as initially forecast. Traders expect Vietnam to reach 30 million bags of production this crop season. Mexico unfortunately saw some torrential rains and flooding throughout growing regions in Veracruz and Puebla. While it is still a too early to tell the extent of the damage on coffee crops, it has been devastating for the people and infrastructure in the area that have been impacted by the floods. 

The other key mover of coffee markets has been from a regulatory point of view. While tariffs have remained largely unchanged, there have been talks of additional tariffs on Colombia and Nicaragua. While not as important as Brazil, both of these origins have significant percentages of their crops usually destined for US. This could pose a large impact on those origins and the flow of coffee in general. On the other hand, there have been ‘positive’ discussions between the US and Brazil in the hopes of some relief on their 50% tariffs.

We will have to wait and see. Outside of this, the US Supreme Court will have a hearing on the 5^th of November that could rule the tariffs as illegitimate in the eyes of the constitution and walk back the position of the administration on tariffs.  Obviously, a lot of moving parts, but the market generally views additional tariffs as bullish and the removal of tariffs as bearish. This is where most eyes will be focused on the coming months


A WORD FROM THE CUPPING ROOM - NEW MICROLOTS

Recently we landed some amazing Costa Rican Microlots which were selected by our Trader, Julian and Quality Manager, Georgia on their trip to origin earlier in the year. Shipped through our supply partner in the Tarrazu Valley, STC is an exporter group focused on relationships and collaborations with local micro-mill producers to source fully prepared specialty microlots, each with distinct and unique flavour profiles. The individual producers manage every step of the process, from harvesting and grading to pulping and fermentation, tailored to achieve the desired result.

Below are just a few of our available 35Kg bag lots – ask your Bennetts Account Manager for more information!

Costa Rica Don Sabino Finca El Orvo Natural – 84.25 points. Smooth black tea like body carries nippy grapefruit and blackberry acidity through to a long plum candy and malt finish.

Costa Rica Solsiré Solís Cordero Cuatro Vientos Natural - 86.00 points. Cups with notes of red wine, prune, black currant and rich cacao nibs. Winey plum acidity compliments a jammy body. Sweet dark chocolate to finish.

Costa Rica Ivan Solis Higueronal Anaerobic Natural – 86.75 points. Crisp stone fruit and white wine acidity up front. Smooth mouthfeel carries creamy notes of malt, almond, hazelnut and milk chocolate to the finish.

     Julian visiting La Chumeca Micro Mill with STC in Costa Rica

GROUNDS FOR HEALTH UPDATE

Over the last 15 years, we have actively supported not-for-profit organisation Grounds for Health (GfH), which provides essential women's health treatment and education programs in coffee growing regions. This year, on behalf of you, our valued partners, Bennetts have donated USD $5000.00 to GfH. This contribution directly supports their lifesaving work in Ethiopia, where the organisation continues to make a profound impact.

GfH has partnered with the coffee industry for 29 years to prevent cervical cancer in coffee communities in Latin America and Africa. They have been working in Ethiopia since 2015, starting in Wonsho and now focusing in Sidamo, Guji, and Gedeo. Since beginning their work in Ethiopia, they have provided cervical cancer screening for more than 137,000 women. This past year, GfH reached over 17,000 women with comprehensive cervical cancer prevention services. Over 8,000 of those women were offered HPV self-sampling — four times as many as any year prior. Next year, they are projecting growth in their HPV program by another 50%.

In Ethiopia, there are 10.5 million women aged 30–49, yet only about 26% have ever been screened for cervical cancer. Each year, more than 80,000 new cases are diagnosed and nearly 55,000 women die from this preventable disease. Access to screening and treatment remains severely limited in many coffee growing communities, which is why Grounds for Health’s dedicated local team continues to expand services on the ground.

GfH Executive Director, Kyle Engleman wrote to us today to share the heartfelt comments from local Ethiopian woman Marta who used the program. She said “I went house to house and told women about the benefits of the screening service. I explained that screening saves a life. I also set the example and got screened myself." So moved by her experience, Marta recruited an additional 170 women to get tested! We are happy to share that this year, Bennetts annual donation is helping to provide 500 HPV test kits to help women just like Marta in Ethiopia. Together, we are supporting a healthier future for women in rural, underserved communities. 

Marta and local Ethiopian women proud to support the GfH system.
 

2025 WORLD BARISTA CHAMPIONSHIPS 

A huge congratulations to Jack Simpson from Axil, who has proudly claimed the title of World Barista Champion 2025! Jack’s world-class routine showcased his exceptional talent and passion, featuring a range of outstanding coffees sourced from our long-term export partners at Lohas Beans in Colombia.

Jack has developed a very close relationship with Johnatan Gasca the producer/processor behind Zarza Coffee.  This personal relation and Jack’s desire to take Zarza coffee to the world stage was his main motivation to compete this year.  He was able to project this special connection throughout his presentation, and to serve three amazing beverages.  He chose a Jamison Savage Geisha for his Espresso. A Papayo variety (Tropical Fruit Forward - Natural Competition Lot) for his milk beverage. And for the signature drink, he chose to use a Honey processed lot from Zarza farm.  Jack managed to score very highly on all three days of the competition.  

At Bennetts we source coffee from Zarza farm, and other neighbouring specialty producers through the fantastic export team at Lohas Beans. We’ve had a strong relationship with Lohas for many years, and it’s exciting to see their commitment to quality and sustainable production represented on the global stage through Jack’s performance. This achievement highlights the power of collaboration across the coffee supply chain, from producer to roaster to barista, and contributes to consolidating Lohas Beans as a leading supplier of Competition Coffees.

      

 Jack Simpson and the Lohas Beans team at the WoC Milan 2025