How do we guarantee that our Intelligentsia Direct Trade coffees meet the criteria we’ve set out for them?
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 invo
