Our sourcing practices are centered around direct relationships with producers. As much as possible, we seek to source coffee and make annual purchasing decisions at the origin in which coffee is grown. This means that we’re traveling to coffee-growing countries, having conversations with producers, establishing prices, and making purchasing decisions on site. Because we utilize a more direct sourcing model, we do not focus on the Fair Trade certification, as we know that the prices we’re paying to producers are more than their production costs. We do have a small amount of Fair Trade certified coffees, but we do not actively seek coffees with this certification given our direct sourcing model. When we travel to an origin, meet with a producer, establish a relationship, and pay based on production costs, we call those coffees “Relationship Coffees”.  Our goals is to fill our lineup with coffees sourced in this manner. Check out the video below to learn more!