Imvelo Coffee · Lusaka

The work inside every bag.

Beans, sourcing, transport, roasting and packing: a clear account of what goes into your coffee, and why international shipping deserves a line of its own.

Updated

What goes into the price?

A bag starts with green coffee, but the beans are only the beginning. Selection, transport, roasting and packing all have a real cost. This is how those parts fit together.

01 · The green beans
The actual purchase price of the coffee before roasting. Origin, lot, processing and availability all matter.
02 · Sourcing
The work and travel involved in selecting coffee and maintaining the relationships behind it. Costs already included in the bean price are counted only once.
03 · Transport to Lusaka
Getting the green coffee from its sourcing destination to our roastery.
04 · Roasting loss
Coffee loses weight during roasting as moisture and other material leave the beans. A kilogram of roasted coffee therefore starts with more than a kilogram of green coffee.
05 · Roasting and packing
The roaster’s time, energy, quality checks, bags, labels and the work of preparing your order.
06 · Running the house
Payment costs, premises, equipment and the day-to-day work of keeping the roastery running.
07 · Imvelo Studios
Five percent of revenue supports Imvelo Studios and Zambian artists. This is calculated from sales, not profit.
08 · Remaining margin
What remains after the costs and Studios allocation, allowing us to keep buying, roasting and investing in the next bag.

These are the parts of the price, not percentage shares. The section below shows the sourcing and roasting-loss ranges we can quantify. An exact full split depends on the coffee, bag size and actual costs of the lot.

Follow the cost through the roast.

We pay approximately US$9–10 per kilogram of green coffee. Transport adds US$1–5 per kilogram, depending on origin. Roasting reduces the weight by about 15–20%. Those ranges put beans and transport at approximately US$11.76–18.75 per roasted kilogram, before roasting, packaging and operating costs.

  1. US$10–15 / green kg

    Beans at US$9–10 plus transport at US$1–5. The origin changes the transport cost.

  2. 80–85% retained

    After roasting loss of 15–20%, one kilogram of green beans yields about 800–850 g of roasted coffee.

  3. US$11.76–18.75 / roasted kg

    The bean-and-transport cost after allowing for roasting loss. Roasting labour, energy and packing still need to be paid.

Owner-supplied approximate ranges, 8 September 2026. These are endpoints across the range, not a quote for a particular lot.

Why roasting loss matters.

To work out the green coffee needed for a bag, divide the finished weight by the fraction retained after roasting. We use measured batch yields when costing a roast, because each roast loses a different amount.

Green coffee needed = finished bag weight ÷ retained weight fraction.

What stays in Zambia.

Our roasting and packing happen in Lusaka. That keeps those activities and the work they create here. For Zambian coffee, the beans are grown here too. For the other origins, purchasing the beans supports their own coffee-growing communities before the coffee reaches our roastery.

Five percent of revenue supports Imvelo Studios and Zambian artists. That is a contribution from sales, not a percentage of profit. For every US$100 of revenue, US$5 supports Studios.

Shipping is a separate journey.

A bag’s retail price and the cost of delivering it internationally are different things. On our delivered subscriptions they are brought together in one monthly price. Sending 2 kg every two months instead of 1 kg monthly reduces the number of parcels from twelve to six.

Plans start at US$70 per month for delivery every two months (US$840 over twelve months), or US$85 per month for monthly delivery (US$1,020 over twelve months). Both provide 12 kg: a US$180 annual saving at these starting prices. Standard delivery is included to eligible destinations. We confirm your postcode and final delivered price before enrolment; remote addresses and other destinations may cost more. Import duties, taxes and customs clearance charges are excluded.

Follow the shipping journey