Certification & Coffee Buying

How does Red Rooster purchase green coffee?
Red Rooster uses a variety of channels to purchase our green coffee. These include some traditional models like mid-sized specialty importers who purchase from around the world and distribute in the US. This also includes working with several boutique importers that might concentrate on one country or region. This also includes purchasing directly from producers and farmers themselves. In all channels of green coffee buying, Red Rooster works closely with producers and importers to select the highest quality green coffee and pay high FOB prices to help ensure coffee farmers receive a living wage.

What does it mean to be Certified Organic?
Red Rooster Coffee’s roasting facility is Certified Organic by CCOF. This means that we are inspected annually to make certain that our facility is clean and free from contaminants and harmful chemicals. Additionally, our books are audited to be certain that we are properly tracking the Organic products in our facility. This allows Red Rooster to use the USDA Organic Seal on our Organic products, as well as use the word Organic in our marketing materials.

Are all of your products Certified Organic?
No. The coffee buyers at Red Rooster work hard to purchase a wide range of sustainable and delicious coffees to satisfy the tastes of every customer. For us, this doesn’t always mean purchasing Organic coffee, but it does mean paying high premiums to small farmers who produce amazing coffees. Our mission is to make sure that we buy great coffee from producers who care about quality and to pay them well for the hard work they put into the land.

What does Fair Trade mean? Are your coffees all Fair Trade Certified?
Fair Trade certification guarantees a specific premium above the Commodity Market Price for green coffee. We believe this premium is an important first step in educating the customer about the price of green coffee and the necessity behind paying a living wage to coffee farmers. All of the Fair Trade coffee that Red Rooster purchases also includes an additional premium paid to the farmer for producing Organic coffee. When Red Rooster purchases coffee directly through small importers and family run coffee farming operations, we pay additional premiums for quality and transparency that are much higher that the Fair Trade and Organic premiums, helping to improve the quality of life for the farmer and the quality of the coffee in the future.