Barefoot coffee is all about relationships. It is the hand that crafts the coffee that makes the biggest impact on both the flavor of the coffee and the positive impact that it has around the world. Coffee has a dramatic effect on many thousands of lives in its journey from the finca to the french press. Barefoot is committed to making the impact a positive one. Positive environmentally, socially, financially and personally. We believe in doing business by shaking hands and working on a win-win solution for everyone. The best products are always reserved for friends. Coffee is no different.
That’s why we developed the Relationship Coffee © program. It is not a save the world through free trade scheme (although we do aim to save our world). It is not a “we buy direct” campaign (although we often do!). And it is not a subsidized pricing system (although we do pay far more for great coffee.).
It is simply an old school way of doing business based on relationships, fairness and quality. It is started with a conversation over coffee, sealed with a handshake after breaking of bread together. It’s a personal relationship with conscientious coffee farmers. It’s just the right thing to do.
It recognizes that great people make the best coffee and that the best coffee is reserved for friends. We wanna be friends with those great coffee farmers! So we do just that.
So what is a Relationship Coffee? ©
To be a Relationship Coffee the farm has to these criteria:
- Consistently high cultivation and processing standards
- Farmed sustainably, using sound environmental practices
- We have visited the farm
- We communicate with regularly and have broken bread with the farmer
- Fully separated microlots
- Farm and Barefoot have 2 or more years of partnership
- Guaranteed to receive at least a 50% higher price than Fair Trade
Sometimes this results in a farm where we buy direct from them and write the checks to them. Other times Barefoot negotiates the quantity, milling and price with the farmer and then contracts an exporter and importer separately to bring the coffee in to the country. Every country has different rules and systems. No farm is exactly the same. But the quality of the coffee and the quality of the people is always high.
These farms are Barefoot’s current Relationship Coffees:
- Finca Vista Hermosa, Guatemala
- Finca San Jose and El Porvenir, El Salvador
- Dominion Trading, Ethiopia
- Aconcagua, El Salvador
- Daterra, Brazil
- Malacara B, El Salvador
Join us in supporting great coffee and even greater people. Build your relationship today.
