1.
Responsible coffee sourcing
As a leading Ethiopian coffee exporter with operations in the UK and a central role in the supply chain, we believe we have a pivotal role to play to ensure that work conditions, agricultural practices and business ethics meet essential sustainability standards and to spread sustainable practices across our supplier network
To fulfil our Responsible Sourcing objectives, we focus our efforts on Non-Deforestation, our Responsible Sourcing Program and Certified Coffees.
2.
Paying our female farmers a fair price
The coffee sector is one example of a sector in which it is clear to see that female smallholder farmers often receive the short end of the stick. This is something that we at Coffee Origin all too well. We believe that the current mainstream coffee market is failing women farmers, but this fact is invisible to the consumer, and hard to understand. Only if you have a deeper knowledge, you see the inequality faced by women in the coffee industry.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), women account for 75% of the coffee production labour force in Ethiopia while only receiving 34% of the income generated. As such, we strongly believe that empowering women in Ethiopia’s coffee sector is vital to improving gender equality and poverty.
3.
Responsible packaging
There’s a delicate balance between protecting our products in transit to prevent damage (which creates waste) and over-packaging (which also creates waste). From listening to your feedback, you feel the same. So our plan is to eliminate all unnecessary plastic from our packaging, and ensure that what we do use is recycled and recyclable.
2023 goal: Reduce total packaging by 50%, and reduce the amount of polystyrene and plastic we use as part of our packaging by 45%.
2024 goal: 100% recycled or recyclable packaging.*
*This is an ambitious goal, but an important one. We’re going to be transparent on our journey and will keep you updated with our progress along the way.
4.
Providing the best customer service possible
One of the most effective ways for Coffee Origin’s roasters to convey our values is through our relationships with customers.
We aim to consistently engage with our customers to ensure that our offerings are in line with local preferences.
Additionally, roasters and coffee shops like Coffee Origin should aim to publish information on their coffee sources and tell the stories of their producers. However, not all specialty coffee roasters have the finances to invest thousands in marketing and social media campaigns. Our solution to this would be our packaging design. We’ve been busy during 2022 in updating our packaging design that will help attract attention and reveals information about the coffee’s origin helping our customers feel more connected with the Coffee Origin brand.
For our clients, it can help them understand the coffee they buy and encourage them to seek out even more information. They may feel more connected to the product, and, as such, take greater interest in other aspects of the coffee supply chain.
At Coffee Origin, we understand the important role coffee packaging plays in today’s market. Our line of coffee packaging is completely recyclable, compostable, and biodegradable as it is made from sustainable materials such as kraft and rice paper, as well as LDPE and PLA-lined bags.
Furthermore, we are able to customise and digitally print coffee packaging with a 40-hour turnaround and 24-hour shipping time. This allows us to offer low minimum order quantities (MOQs) of packaging to micro-roasters, no matter what size or material.