At Tug Hill Artisan Roasters, when we use the term “Direct Trade” it implies two things. First, we have a personal relationship with the farmer as in, we’ve actually interacted with them. In some cases that means we’ve met at conferences, exchanged business cards and then followed up with purchasing some great coffees. In other cases it means we’ve spent time in each other’s houses, visited farms / roasteries, we know each other's children’s names and ages and we’re in regular contact through Whatsapp. 

 

Regardless, we still have to employ the services of mills, exporters, shipping consolidators, customs brokers and warehousing services. Furthermore, if we’re introduced to a coffee through an importer and then we meet the farmer, we would not cut out the exporter / importer in the purchasing process. We believe that exporters / importers provide an invaluable service in finding great coffees and facilitating the coffee trade. Neither would we consider this coffee to be fair trade. 

 

We purchase our coffee from Finca El Jardin directly because we negotiate with Pablo and Eva directly. Pablo has an export license and is able to ship the coffee to the United States. In the case of Finca Moradita, we consider it direct trade because we negotiated directly with Armando Rodgriguez and then connected the dots to get his coffee to our roastery in Lowville, NY. In the case of Finca La Serrania, we consider it direct trade because we met the farmer, negotiated with the farmer and then asked Pablo to help with the exportation and importation. 

 

In the case of other coffees we offer, we do not consider them direct trade because importers told us what is available and we purchased accordingly. While we are confident in transparency and fair prices paid, we did not negotiate with these farmers and did not organize the export / import. 

 

At the end of the day, we’re not opposed to the term “direct trade”, just like most things, it’s extremely nuanced.