Direct Trade & Importers
Red Rooster buys coffee through three main channels.
- Mid-sized specialty importers - Companies like Royal Coffee NY and Cafe Imports have built their businesses on purchasing high quality coffee from farmers and producers around the world. They pay quality premiums and often work directly with farmers to improve yields and quality. We often buy our certified Organic and Fair Trade coffees through these channels, along with special microlots and coffees that stand out on the cupping table.
- Small regionally focused importers - Companies like Catalyst Trade, Caravela, and Yellow Rooster tend to focus their efforts on one particular country or region. This allows them to have very close working relationships on the ground - in fact both of these companies have part-owners that are from Ethiopia and Colombia respectively and live there full time. These relationships mean that we are able to buy small and unique lots of extremely high quality.
- Direct relationships - Many times we are lucky enough to buy coffee directly from a farmer or producer. Although this is a tremendous logistical challenge for both parties, it is also extremely rewarding since we know that the money we spend on the green coffee goes directly into the pockets of those growing and processing the coffee.
