Why do we purchase coffee from Intelligentsia? Simply put- consistently excellent quality. How do they do it? They travel around the world to origin, build long-term relationships with farmers and implement continuous improvements that ensure the coffees are of truly excellent quality. Farmers work collaboratively with Intelligentsia to “score” their coffees. This score translates into a pay scale that at a minimum assures the farmers are paid 25% or more above fair trade prices. This is the Direct Trade model in a nutshell.
From today’s NY Times:
For people at Stumptown and friendly competitors like Intelligentsia Coffee Roasters and Tea Traders of Chicago and Counter Culture Coffee of Durham, N.C., long trips to remote farms for meetings without immediate payoffs are necessary steps in a much bigger goal: reinventing the coffee business.
“These people have an almost unbelievable ability to source exquisite, unique coffees,” Mark Prince, senior editor at the coffee appreciation Web site coffeegeek.com, wrote in an e-mail.
Read the full NY Times article…
To Burundi and Beyond for Coffee’s Holy Grail
Also in the NY Times, Intelli’s wonderful Organic Nicaragua- Los Delirios…
Hot Java, for a Cool $40 (or Less) a Half-Pound
