Impact + Transparency

Why transparency matters

The specialty coffee industry talks a lot about sustainability, but without pricing transparency, it's hard to know who's actually paying producers fairly. We believe you deserve to see the numbers. More importantly, producers deserve an industry where fair pricing is the standard, not the exception.

By publishing our data—producer names, FOB prices, volumes, quality scores, and relationship length—we're holding ourselves accountable. We're also joining a movement of roasters who believe that transparency creates leverage for producers and informed choices for consumers.

A note on our approach

We prioritize three things: traceability, quality, and relationships. When we find producers who meet our standards, we do our best to work with them year after year. You'll see that reflected in this report—we're not chasing trends or jumping between producers just because something new comes along. When it makes sense, we stick with people. As we've grown, so have our purchase volumes with our partners. That's intentional.

This is just the beginning. We'll publish updated reports annually, and we're committed to increasing transparency across our entire operation over time.

How you can support transparent sourcing

If transparency matters to you: buy from roasters who publish their pricing, ask questions when roasters claim to pay fairly but won't show numbers, understand that higher prices often mean better producer compensation, and spread the word. The more people who care about this, the harder it becomes for the industry to ignore it.

We're just one small roaster in Chicago, but we believe that if enough of us commit to this, we can shift what's considered normal. Thanks for caring about where your coffee comes from.