Mission
Intelligentsia Coffee’s buying philosophy is not very complicated. We believe in coffee quality and have made a commitment to our customers to offer only truly dazzling Specialty Coffees that speak for themselves in the cup. We believe that to get such coffees we need to work closely with actual producers, not just importers or exporters, so that we can build great coffees from the very start.
Almost all coffee roasters claim that they "work with farmers" but few can back the promise. Intelligentsia travels to our coffee’s source each of the 12 months of the year. We visit farms, roll up our sleeves, and get to it. We take 24-hour redeye flights and 10-hour, high-altitude pick-up rides over serpentine roads. You pick up our coffee and we shake the hand of a farmer in Peru. Or Rwanda. Or Guatemala. And when you see the Intelligentsia Direct Trade logo on our bag, you know how much effort is invested in each bean.
In the broadest terms, these coffees should be understood as a true collaboration, with both sides investing a great deal of time, energy and ideas to produce something great. At the end of this process, the coffee farmer who grows an award-winning cup is an artisan, and should be regarded as such. We believe human effort is the most critical factor in quality coffee and that the growers who do the best work should get the best price and individual recognition.
Criteria
Coffee quality must be exceptional.
The grower must be committed to healthy environmental practices.
The verifiable price to the grower or the local coop, not simply the exporter, must be at least 25% above the Fair Trade price.
All the trade participants must be open to transparent disclosure of financial deliveries back to the individual farmers.
Intelligentsia representatives must visit the farm or cooperative village at least once per harvest season, understanding that we will most often visit three times per year: pre-harvest to craft strategy, during the harvest to monitor quality, and post-harvest to review and celebrate the successes.
Geoff's Passport
Do you know where your coffee buyer is? Do you know where he was? Do you know where he is going?
Having worn out his previous two, Intelligentsia’s Geoff Watts is now on his third passport. El Salvador, Colombia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Papua New Guinea... these trips are a critical part of the Direct Trade model. To make it work, you absolutely have to be at origin, working with producers, and seeing their farms with your own eyes. Ask your coffee buyer how many stamps she’s got. Better still, ask her what number passport she’s on. Not too many folks in Specialty Coffee have one that looks like Geoff’s.
Geoff's passport - 2004 - 2009.
To see Geoff Watts’ passport, you must have Flash Player 8 or above installed. Those computers using a dial-up connection may have longer load times.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How is Intelligentsia Direct Trade different than Certified Fair Trade?
A: Certified Fair Trade is a certification that is owned by FLO International and licensed in the US by Transfair USA. It has been around for decades in Europe and is applied not only to coffee but also cocoa, sugar, bananas, and other commonly traded agricultural products. It is a one-size-fits-all certification designed to ensure that every product bearing its label is purchased at a base price that is above the cost of production for the farmer. Different products have different base prices. For example, the Fair Trade export price for coffee delivered to the exporting cooperative is $1.25 per pound unroasted and $1.45 for unroasted organic certified coffee. It is also a certification specific to democratically run cooperatives, and does not apply to private farms or private exporters.
Q: How do we guarantee that our Intelligentsia Direct Trade coffees meet the criteria we’ve set out for them?
A: We use our eyes, our ears, and our mouths. To see something for oneself is the most powerful validation. Geoff Watts, our coffee buyer, personally visits each grower, cooperative, or estate farm every year and spends time on the farm. He documents his trips with photos, talks to the pickers in the fields to make sure that they are receiving what they are promised and examines all the facilities on the farm. Once he is standing on a farm, it is easy to see whether there is shade, whether the pickers are being treated well, and whether the farm is respecting its environment. Again, it’s a matter of forming a true relationship with our producing partners. If something is not right, we fix it, the same way friends do. If we feel that any of the producers of our Intelligentsia Direct Trade coffees are not actively improving both quality and sustainability on their farms, we stop working with them. We maintain an ethical responsibility to ensure that things are working well for everyone involved at the farms, and this means not turning a blind eye to something that doesn’t seem right. If there is a question to be asked, we will ask it.
Q: How does the consumer know that we do what we say?
A: The proof is in the cup. Quality is not an accidental thing, and it does not happen without very careful attention to detail at every step of the way: from fertilization and pruning, to picking only ripe cherries, to fermentation, drying, and sorting. All of this takes a lot of work, and it does not happen without a tangible incentive or reward. Farmers that don’t get paid well for their work don’t do these things, and those who don’t respect their land and the people who work on the farm face a constant uphill battle to produce quality. Rarely do they produce "Grand Cru" caliber coffees. There may be the occasional exception, but in 10 years of working intensively with coffee this premise has been proven true over and over and over again.
If you have other questions regarding Intelligentsia Direct Trade, please use our Contact Us page.