PRODUCER PARTNERS
We have been directly sourcing coffee where possible since 2008 when our founder, Bryan, visited Costa Rica.
Having witnessed first-hand the challenges coffee producers face, such as climate change and fluctuating markets, Bryan knew that the importance of this practice could not be underestimated. The trip proved to be crucial in determining the way we do business today.
Developing long-term, sustainable partnerships with producers across the globe is at the heart of everything we do; it builds trust between both parties and allows us to develop and share working practices together. The passion and knowledge these relationships bring is immeasurable.
Finally, consistency is something we are extremely proud to promote. Forming long-term, sustainable relationships ensures our coffee remains consistent, being grown in the same soil at the same altitude in the same climate year after year.
M&M PURA VIDA - TARRAZÚ REGION, COSTA RICA
M & M Pura Vida is an independent coffee producer based in the famous Tarrazú region of Costa Rica.
Owned and run by the Mata family, we have worked with Roberto Mata since 2008 and directly import our coffee from him. The relationship we have with Roberto, his wife Doris and their children, has resulted in a firm and long-standing friendship.
Bryan and other members of the team have visited Roberto on multiple occasions, including November 2013 when we celebrated 10 years since Cafeology's formation. We also enjoy welcoming the Mata family here in the UK - Roberto and Doris most recently visited us in October 2024.
We commit to buying around one fifth of Roberto’s annual crop, which guarantees income for him, his family and their employees and gives assurances while navigating external factors such as climate change and spiralling production costs. This means he can afford to pay his coffee pickers more, to ensure that they return, and invest in infrastructure, such as mechanical washing and drying machinery.
This relationship and direct trade also gives us control and full traceability. Independent coffee exporter Coricafé license the export and shipping of Roberto’s coffee to UK, where we then utilise rail haulage from London’s Gateway port (halving the container’s emissions compared to road haulage), and use our neighbouring Sheffield haulage company, Newell & Wright, to bring the container from the rail freight depot to our door resulting in less than half a mile by road haulage.
CENCOIC CO-OPERATIVE - CAUCA REGION, COLOMBIA
We have had a direct trade agreement with the CENCOIC co-operative since 2017.
We welcomed their manager, Juan Carlos Guampe, and export manager, Elisabeth Menses Sandoval, to our roastery in October 2019. Our directors, Bryan and Andy, and head of coffee Steve have also visited CENOIC during origin trips to Colombia.
CENCOIC is a co-operative comprised of indigenous communities in the Cauca region of Colombia which produces Arabica coffee. The company is leader in the trade of coffee in Colombia.
In May 2024, our founders Bryan and Andy hosted a study tour for university caterers to Colombia. The trip showed guests how our coffee is farmed, the processes used and how we support our producer partners. This coincided with a visit to Cauca, where the visitors got to meet the team from CENCOIC and try their hand at coffee picking and sorting.
RACAFÉ COOPERATIVE & EXPORTER - COLOMBIA
Steve, our head of coffee, visited Colombia in 2022 and fell in love with the Bolivar region. While there he met Hernan Vergara, the director of speciality for Racafé, and we have been buying full containers of coffee from them ever since.
Racafé is one of the main green coffee traders in Colombia, dedicated to the purchase, threshing, commercialisation of green coffee and product development.
We were impressed by their CRECER programme – a standard that covers different aspects of environmental, social and economic interest to coffee growers – and choose to pay a premium on our coffee to support farmers.
The programme’s objective is to provide a framework to generate changes in the production systems of Racafé's coffee suppliers. The system is based on a progressive process of continuous improvement, leading them towards sustainable practices in the social, environmental and economic factors associated with coffee production.
Read more about the CRECER project and how our premium is used here.
As of November 2024 we have secured 143,850kg of coffee from Racafé.
LEGENDÉR EXPORT GROUP - BRAZIL
During the 2017 World of Coffee festival in Amsterdam our team met Demilson Batista Jr. - owner of Brazilian export group Legendér Specialty Coffee.
Demilson has strong relationships with the farmers he sources from, buying directly from them above market price. He fights hard to maintain these relationships and practices to ensure these farmers continue to sell to him and not elsewhere.
Steve, our head of coffee, worked closely with Demilson to discuss, cup and taste a variety of coffees to develop a profile for our Legendér Especiale – a special selection of green coffees blended at source, of which we are the only UK supplier.
Demilson visited us here in the UK in May 2024 when he toured our roastery and we took him to visit establishments that use his coffee across Sheffield and the Peak District.
MICRO LOTS
We carefully select the coffee brokers we use to ensure that they are reputable, can provide full traceability documents and have sent representatives to the farms we are yet to visit for due diligence.
Microlot coffee is grown on a small plot within a specific farm. This makes it traceable and pure due to the small amounts of coffee purchased through micro lots.
We mainly work with Covoya, D R Wakefield and Inter American to bring in any smaller lots we require as it is impossible to purchase microlot coffee in the standard 20 tonne coffee containers due to the limited yield.