Meet OurFarmers

Chikmagalur — the Menezes family

The Menezes farm sits at 1,350 metres on a slope that faces the morning sun. Third-generation growers, they moved fully to washed processing a decade ago and their coffee forms the cocoa backbone of the House Blend. Mr. Menezes still cups every lot himself before it ships. His verdict on our first roast of his beans: 'Not bad, city people.'

Coorg — the Kalappa estate

The Kalappas run a 14-acre estate under a canopy of silver oaks, where pepper vines climb the same trees as the coffee. Their higher-grown lots carry the stone-fruit edge in House Blend. Mrs. Kalappa also makes the jam we serve with our banana loaf, which makes this a two-ingredient relationship we are extremely proud of.

Coffee does not begin at the roast. It begins eight months earlier, on a slope, in weather nobody can control.

Wayanad — the terrace collective

Forty-one smallholders, most farming under two acres, who pool their harvest onto shared raised drying beds. The terrace rows catch the mist in the afternoon and the honeyed lots from this collective are why Morning Roast tastes the way it does. We pay a 22% premium over the local market rate for these lots, and we think you can taste the difference in both directions.

Why direct trade matters

When a roaster buys through three layers of brokers, the farmer sees a fraction of the price of the final bag. Buying direct means the money lands where the coffee grew — and it means that when we say a lot is traceable, we can name the family. The list of names is on every bag. That is not a marketing choice. That is the whole point.