At the time of writing, the “coffee market” price for a pound of coffee is sitting at $0.94. The price has been dangerously low for months now—a complex issue of global trade and economics—and it’s making it difficult for many farmers to even break even.
Thankfully, there’s already a big effort to fight for sustainable coffee farming and foster better trade relationships. And you’re right at the center of it.
Recently, Coffee Review gave three off our coffees a rating higher than 90, which is extraordinarily high. You’d think we’d have a big announcement about how excited we are (of course we’re thrilled), but we want to do something different this time. We want you to see that your coffee habits are making a difference for farmers.
Here’s how.
Quality: Exceptional Taste
We love pushing the boundaries of quality and taste (and we know you like it too). We aim high with our farming partners, set new bars, and then have to do it all over again the next year. This means our partners grow better and better coffee over time.
High-quality coffee from twenty years ago would merely be acceptable by today’s standards.
Here, we’ll let the tasting notes speak for themselves.
- marmalade, raspberry jam — Rwanda Natural Mushonyi
- peach, clove, nutmeg — Rwanda Mushonyi
- apricot, figs, honey — Burundi Nemba
But it’s not all just for a great score from Coffee Review. High-quality coffee has a real-life connection to sustainability for farmers because it leads to higher demand, and thus, higher prices.
Note: This is the whole point of our Reserve Coffee Subscription, to introduce you to remarkably tasty small-batch beans that lead to a positive impact in other parts of the world.
Sustainability: We Partner With Farms Long-Term
You love great coffee. We love great coffee. So it only makes sense to create long-term relationships with the farmers that produce delicious beans. But it matters beyond good business: predictable year-after-year income can be empowering for coffee farmers.
Many coffee farmers cannot rely on consistent sales from season to season because most often their importing partners make purchases for a single harvest cycle. This makes it difficult for producer groups to risk investment in better equipment and processes, which means advancements in quality and sustainability come slowly for small farmer cooperatives, negatively impacting the health of the group long-term.
But what happens when roasters (like Amavida) partner with quality-oriented farms for 5, 10, or even 15 years? Here’s what Martin Trejo, our Director of Coffee, says:
“It allows producer groups to invest in their growing, processing and packaging practices. Improving these steps increases the quality over time, which increases the value and of the coffee. They can then ask higher prices for their higher quality product, and the cycle goes on.”
Long-lasting relationships are good for everyone across the board, and they’re created when both sides pursue quality over profit margin.
How You Can Help: Put On The Pressure
Ultimately, it’s you that makes this positive trend toward quality and sustainability a reality. You vote with your dollar, as they say—and when we vote together in this way, we can create a positive collective impact.
- We love being a coffee company that serves the best organic, Fair Trade beans we can find—but we wouldn’t even be in business without you.
- We love offering exceptional, limited release coffees—but we wouldn’t be able to if you didn’t demand better and better tasting coffee from us.
- We love partnering with farmers over and over again and paying a dignifying price for their beans—but you’re where we get the finances to do that in the first place.
Curiosity is a good thing to have as a coffee lover. It makes you want to find unique and unusual coffees. It helps you listen. Here’s why that’s important, according to Martin:
“It’s in those moments of curiosity where people truly understand what specialty coffee can be and become willing to pay that extra bit of money knowing that it will support the farmers that gave them such a wonderful coffee experience.”
You drive us towards tastier, more sustainable coffee. Keep putting on the pressure. We’ll keep finding and roasting stellar, sustainable beans.
And then we’ll raise the bar again together.
