Transparency and "The Pledge"
As coffee makers, we communicate openly about what we do. We share knowledge in our courses and provide advice along the coffee chain. As a coffee roaster, we also speak about the purchase prices of our coffees and thus challenge the status quo of coffee trading.Raw coffee is too cheap. Very few small producers can live off it when they sell their coffee through established channels and achieve the price traded on the stock exchange. We have reported on this in several podcasts:
https://open.spotify.com/show/090WkPqHLfVjBPwZPrbrfn
As a coffee roaster, we see ourselves as responsible for paying coffee producers prices that make sense for both sides in the long term. We therefore do not orient ourselves towards the stock exchange price, but instead seek direct contact with the producers themselves to negotiate the price on equal terms. If this is (not yet) possible, we work with traders we trust. We also demand transparency from them as close as possible to the producer.
Despite living in the age of information, this is rarely easily possible. For a long time, coffee trading ran as a well-guarded, intimate business where nobody had to reveal their cards.
The Pledge – a self-commitment for coffee roasters and importers
However, those times are over – since 2018, an international group of coffee roasters (e.g. Tim Wendelboe, The Coffee Collective, Counter Culture Coffee, Quijote Kaffee, Flying Roasters, and others) has been working on a standard for transparency in the coffee chain. The result is "The Pledge" – a self-commitment for roasters and importers. Those who participate in "The Pledge" commit to making detailed information about the coffees they purchase publicly accessible. This includes, for example:
- Who are the trading partners?
- How long have you been working with them?
- How much coffee do we buy from them?
- What is the quality?
- What prices did we pay? (e.g. FOB)
We would like to quote Flying Roasters from Berlin here, who say about the Pledge:
With this, we are collectively setting standards, defining what true transparency means, and distinguishing ourselves from pure marketing initiatives.
Transparency as an attitude
By disclosing our prices, we are positioning ourselves clearly in the roasting world. We hope that many more roasteries will participate in this initiative. As Roger Wittwer from Kafischmitte said in our podcast about low coffee prices in autumn 2018:
The more transparently we act, the more it will hopefully become the standard. Customers see this and may increasingly ask about the conditions under which this coffee was grown and purchased.
Roger Wittwer, Kafischmitte
Making transparent what we do is important to us. With our coffee farm in Nicaragua, the Finca Santa Rita, we are right in the middle of coffee production and see, feel, and experience every day what it means to be a coffee producer.
With this background knowledge, we can and will no longer buy coffees without knowing exactly what goes back to the farm.
It is obvious that this means extra effort for the trader. Pascal Herzog emphasizes this repeatedly in his conversation with Philipp Schallberger. This extra effort must be worthwhile for everyone – and that's why we are also willing to pay more to actually get the information that satisfies us.
Transparency and open communication have always been a fundamental principle of the coffee makers. In our courses, for example, we disclose the operating figures of our café so that course participants can learn how to calculate material costs and personnel costs.
By participating in "The Pledge," we are consciously advocating for even more open communication that does not settle for certificates.
As a roaster, we commit to presenting the share of our transparently traded coffees in our overall range.
Our Raw Coffee List:
Further links on this topic:
What does FOB mean?
A text by Pascal Herzog. https://kaffeemacher.ch/preistransparenz-kaffee/
How can the coffee price collapse be explained?
Podcast https://podcast.kaffeemacher.ch/2018/12/29/kaffeehandel-und-preisfall/
What does FOB, Direct Trade, Farm Gate, production costs mean?
Podcast https://podcast.kaffeemacher.ch/2019/06/19/kaffeepreis-transparenz-podcast/
Notes on Finca Santa Rita:
* Santa Rita, Nicaragua: Finca Santa Rita is a farm jointly owned by Roberto Castellano and the coffee makers (each 50% owner). Coffee Makers GmbH purchases the coffee from Finca Santa Rita at the listed FOB price. Additionally, we finance all ongoing costs on the farm.
