An Ethical Coffee Company

At Horsham Coffee Roaster we've focused on working directly with producers since visiting Rwanda for the first time in 2015. Part of our focus has been to commit to paying a fair price that is based on the cost of production and the fair value of the product rather than the changing trends of the C coffee price index. The price we've always paid to producers in Rwanda has also been based on direct and open discussions with the producers rather than prices set or negotiated by us or by an importer.

We then visited Kenya in 2016 and have been buying coffee from the same producers there every year since. In 2018 we added Costa Rica to the list.

This year we found out about Transparency.coffee. They are an organisation setup to promote transparency within coffee:

'Companies that misuse this concept of transparency for marketing purposes will define transparency in a different way, not revealing green coffee prices but still claiming to be transparent.

Companies that sign The Pledge agree to share a fixed set of variables when reporting on green coffee purchases. We aim to create a common standard for transparency reporting that is applicable throughout the coffee world. By disclosing additional information like the name of the producer organisation, the lot size and the cup quality of the coffee we add context to our transparency reports that makes them comparable and truly transparent.'

We knew right away that we'd be a perfect fit to join and are very excited to be the first UK coffee roasting business to sign The Pledge. You can read our transparency policy on the website for more information.

What defines an ethical coffee company?

This isn't clearly laid out but in our opinion we believe that ethical within the coffee industry are founded on the principles of positive and fair business relationships. Working directly with coffee farms means that we are fully aware of the supply chain and prices paid to producers, exporters, shipping companies etc. Having full awareness that coffee farmers are paid a fair price (in many cases more than double the fair trade base price) means we can build our roasting business in the knowledge that all parts of the supply chain are fair an honest.