Direct relational vs. Fair Trade

Currently we are hearing the word "Fair Trade" and "Organic" being used in the food industry. More people are being or wanting to be more conscious about the what they are eating and the environment. These organizations are great in providing a standard that farmers can follow. Example: Fair Trade looks at how the workers are being compensated; organic, the farmers are not able to use chemicals on the product we are to consume. To be apart of the organizations the farmer has to pay a fee. The importer pays a fee. The distributor pays a fee. And the seller has to pay a fee to post the organizations logo on the product. For me, the coffee roaster, we may buy from a distributor but how many in the "food chain" (I say as an expression)had to pay to be apart of this governmental organization. Please understand that I am not anti-governmental. These organizations serve their purpose and do a good thing, but what about the farmers that can not participate because of their size and other factors. What about the farms that can not afford chemicals. What about the farms that pay their employees properly and don't see the benefit of participating due to cost, etc. What about the farm that has an excellent product and would be penalized for being apart of fair trade. These agencies have rules and one of the rules to be apart of fair trade is that there is a standard pricing for the product being purchased. With coffee, I think, last years standard on pricing was $1.51 per pound. That means that the farmer would receive $1.51 for their coffee regardless of the quality. For some of us we are willing to sacrifice quality knowing that the company or farm is taking care of their employees. But, what about a farmer who could fetch $2.00 per pound because their product is really good. To be apart of fair trade they would still only make $1.51. They would loose .49 cents per pound and have to pay money to be apart of fair trade. I hope this makes sense. More and more people in the coffee industry are turning to direct relational or direct trade as an alternative. We are wanting to reward those farmers that are providing an excellent product while taking care of their employees. For me, I am wanting to tell the story of the community and the people that we are buying from. Just know, I do not have an importing license so I do have an importer that ships the coffee in to the states. He works with that community directly. Usually these importers only work with one or two communities or countries. I can ask specific questions; like, does the farmer use chemicals? These importers spend weeks if not months at these farms working with the farmer. They both, the farmer and importer, benefit in having a better product. They are investing in each other, have a similar heart and a high level of trust. There is no agency looking over their shoulders asking them questions and making sure they fit within the agencies guidelines. And since the importer spends so much time with the farmer the importer can say in all honesty that the farmer doesn't use chemicals, the workers are being compensated properly, and the difference their partnership has made in that community. For me, I get to see the benefits of this relationship too. One importer I buy from has built a hospital and schools in the community. If I want to travel to the community I can, and hopefully I will be able to this year. It has taken 3 years to develop these relationship and my philosophy. My heart is to work with several communities from different countries. To tell the story of coffee. We have the luxury to drink coffee and possibly have warm fuzzies knowing that someone is being provided for properly. But for my customers I want them to know that we are making a difference in a community and we can see it.

Together we can make a difference one cup at a time.

Rodney
the roaster

Church Coffee

I am online tonight searching information about "direct relationship" coffee. At Sozo we have 3 or 4 beans that we have a "direct relationship" with the coffee plantations. Rodney hopes to go to New Guinea and actually meet the growers this Fall. I am excited for him! I had this thought to look up "churches with coffee" and see what I came up with. Many churches said "proudly serving" Starbucks Coffee. I am not against any other coffee companies. You won't hear Rodney or I ever talk down about our "competition" only because we feel that everyone will drink the coffee they want to drink and we need to just focus on what we feel we are supposed to do. Not get off on trying to put another coffee chain down. We are a small roasting company and we are dedicated to bringing a great cup of coffee into the hands of the people! BUT here is the interesting point....why are churches willing to buy "Folgers, Maxwell house, and Starbucks" and not look at buying from a coffee roasting company that can honestly say that the coffee they are drinking gives back to a community and helps to support missionaries. Isn't that what being Christ and helping out each other should be about? Don't get me wrong....I know it is about "cost" and not every church feels coffee is important. We have seen it happen in churches that serve Sozo that more people hang out and drink coffee because it is "good" and therefore more fellowship happens....lives come together and community happens....cool....

So that is my blog tonight. Does your church serve "church coffee" (the kind that is cheap) just so they can say they serve coffee or do you think your church would want to go to that next level and spend a little more to know that their money is helping a community in Nicaragua to build schools and have medical needs met. Interesting thought. Their would be a story behind every cup of coffee.....is that to high a price to pay???

Check out Sozo and you may be surprised that buying from us in bulk actually isn't as expensive as you or your church may have thought.

Good night.
Mindy

The roaster gets a new toy!

I ended my last blog hoping you were anticipating this next one and so it is now time to share more of the story of how we began...

We bought a small 5 pound roaster (meaning it can roast 5 pounds of coffee at a time) we didn't want to get to carried away for our first real purchase. It was still so new...the thought that we were roasting coffee and people actually liked it. We couldn't live without it and now customers couldn't either. Our neighbors wondered about the smells coming from our house (we do have 4 kids......3 at the time) and one neighbor just about called the fire department when he saw all the smoke coming from our roof. The smoke was coming from the "dark roast." I always knew when Rodney was doing a dark roast.....the smells are good and bad. It may smell like something is burning but a "good burnt" right? The medium roast coffees did smell much better. Most people think roasting must smell "great" but they are thinking of the "grinding" of the coffee which is so aromatic!

Alright, Rodney is now roasting a lot more with his new "toy" and adding new origins of beans and creating his own blends. The story behind KELLY'S BREAKFAST BLEND....Rodney's brother and sister in law came to stay a few days with us all the way from Alabama. Rodney was excited about his new found "love" and wanted to share with them. Now, my name is Mindy and yes I am the wife of the roaster.....Rodney asked his sister in law what she liked in a coffee. She gave him some ideas of flavor, etc. He created a blend, roasted it and handed it off to his brother to take home and try it out. She loved it! Her name is Kelly. When Rodney allowed friends to try this new blend they would ask what it was called....he would say...."Kelly's Blend" only because he didn't know what else to say. It became one of his most popular blends that the name couldn't be changed. TODAY that is our most popular blend with our medium roasts. I don't expect Rodney to ever name a coffee after me, besides "Mindy's Breakfast Blend" wouldn't have been as exciting....(I am smiling)

All the beans we were selling at the time were to support the Living Freedom Recovery Center. We wanted to help people with addictions and selling coffee beans was a great way to support it. We soon became past (a whole other blog) musicians that turned into coffee roasters. We were enjoying it but we could see there was more we were supposed to do with it.

We started growing and a bigger "toy" was in our fututre.....

Traveling Espresso Bar

As I spoke before about the news getting out FAST about this great coffee (did I mention great before?) we had to figure out a plan. A business plan was not what we were thinking. We needed a plan to keep us roasting and selling fresh, smooth, aromatic coffee beans. Our first coffee client was Regal Nissan in Huntsville, Alabama realizing that it is good to serve the best when you are "selling" the best as far as cars. We couldn't really believe the response to the coffee. I was loving the fact that my husband would roast up a batch of Decaf for me and bring it up from his small shop in our basement and I could be spoiled with the smooth taste. The smell, the taste...perfection and I never realized coffee could or should taste so good.

Back to my blog...I had a moment of thinking I should brew another pot for myself today. I did mention Decaf and one day soon I will explain why those of you drinking decaf should be sure you are getting a "swiss water" or "mountain water" process...stay tuned...

I titled this blog "Traveling Espresso Bar" because that is how we began to let the public really know we were here. Ionia, Mi had another coffee shop/restaurant but we were different. We always tell people that. We are a coffee roasting company "first" and a bakery cafe. Not too many cities have their own coffee roasting company and some of the bigger companies don't allow you to try the coffee in a "shop" setting. We started out at the Ionia Free Fair with a small booth. Rodney and friends spent many hours building a cart system so we had our sink and counters and refrigerater all in one place. It seemed to be a success and the word was getting out about "Sozo." The next event was the Harvest Festival on Main Street Ionia. We had a great night and people were surprised but happy we were in town. We didn't have a location set for Sozo YET but we were telling people we were coming. Some very "kind" lady said "We don't need you in this town--we already have a coffee shop." She wouldn't buy a brewed cup of coffee but instead bought our yummy Caramel Apple Cider Latte! No coffee in that drink....she said it was good.....

**fast forward....the coffee shop she was referring to....closed at 6pm the day before we opened at 5:30am!! I guess they did need us after all....

That is a good place to end this blog. Happy Day! Great Coffee!

How Sozo Began....

It is a funny story how this all really started. I, the roasters wife, was tired of hearing Rodney, the roaster, say he would like to learn how to roast coffee. He was asking a few questions to people about roasting but not doing anything about it. So, one weekend while I was away with a close friend (having some "me" time with out the kids and hubby) I found a coffee shop that sold "green beans" (beans not yet roasted) and bought a pound for my husband. All I knew about coffee was that he liked a bean called "sumatra" and you don't leave coffee on the "burner" because it will taste burnt. My knowledge was simple.

The story goes that I gave Rodney the bag of green beans and said "learn how to roast" and show me what you can do. He had a friend tell him to use a popcorn popper to begin. He roasted enough beans for a pot of coffee every day for about a week. He loved the coffee. He couldn't believe the difference FRESH beans could make. I wasn't sure about the commotion over the beans, but I was willing to try his coffee. I am personally a decaf drinker and wasn't drinking full cups of caffeine to get the taste he was raving over. But it did taste different. Smooth....the smell was so yummy too....

Rodney started calling companies and getting samples of other green beans to keep roasting. He ran out of what he had and went to the local store to buy some brand off the shelf. THAT WAS THE LAST TIME HE WILL EVER DO THAT!! It was not a good day for this coffee drinker of mine. The coffee was bitter and stale and well...nasty. We had bought this brand before but now that we had tasted the FRESH cup we didn't want to turn back. Rodney did get some decaf for me to try and then I was hooked too. We went to a restaurant that we had drank coffee at many times before and I told him one night on a date....that I was frustrated with him.....now I couldn't drink coffee any more except Sozo Coffee......he as glad that was it....our popcorn popper soon roasted it's last batch of beans and we were on to a bigger roaster. Our friends that had tasted Rodney's coffee were getting hooked too and the need for a bigger roaster had come.

So here we are....much more to our story, but for now the night ends here.