We’re certification agnostic — though many of the coffees we bring in do have organic, Fair Trade, or other certifications, we aren’t participants in any of the licensing agreements to display those marks. We buy our green coffees from smaller importers and exporters who emphasize transparency and long term relationships with growers and mills. There is a small (but growing), increasingly strong and competitive high-end green coffee market that’s emerged in recent years that offers much higher premiums to growers than the old fair trade minimums. Certifications have been good (in some, not all countries) at establishing a floor for sustainable practices and prices, but they’ve been surpassed by the better communication systems, technical agronomy, supply chain transparency and increased producer equity that’s developed within the newer specialty coffee movement.
None of which is to say that the “third wave” quality coffee movement has solved all the hard problems of sustainability, but we’re proud to work with the farms, mills, and green buyers we do business with and think they represent a strong slice of the current vanguard when it comes to best practices.
