Shared Source is a green coffee agency that facilitates robust, transparent and equitable exchange between criteria-driven roasters and small producers. We practice a model that empowers these artisans to farm regeneratively and to make a real living from coffee.

GUATEMALA, por fin! Guat lots have arrived in Seattle AND New York, and they represent hard work along every step of the supply chain. And the coffees are tasting so, so good. Like this lot, from Cruz Perez who is pictured. His coffee is sweet and sparkling, with a full and creamy body. He leads the ASDEFLOR cooperative, and championed the building of their collective wet mill, including the recent installation of raised beds for slow and even drying. We’re proud to focus our purchasing in Huehuetenango from smallholder farmers like Cruz. Samples, you say? You got it- just make your request loud and clear! Want to know more about the different coffees Shared Source purchased in Guatemala this year, you say? You got it- we just so happen to lay it out in our stories- right now!

We believe that payment needs to be set on a basis wholeheartedly divorced from the commodity price model and should apply across 100% of coffee purchased by a ‘specialty’ roaster, not just select feature coffees. Want to know more? See our stories and the Pricing highlight. #theygetwhatyoupayfor #powertotheproducer

Friends, neighbors, cousins, pals, comrades, bosom buddies, chums, mates and even frenemies- we’re heading up to Seattle THIS THURSDAY, May 30 at 10am because we want to cup and share yummy coffees with you. Dorothea Coffee is kindly lending us their space and we’ll be cupping fresh crop Guats, shiny Colos, and perhaps a Kenya or two. The place to be is 1225 S Angelo St.- we can’t wait to see you there! ☀️🌱✌️

Willington Ultengo’s coffee from his small, 2 hectare farm Los Naranjos in La Argentina, Huila (Colombia!) is miraculously still available at the Green Room. This was a tiny lot- only 3 bags- but it was too good to pass up on, and we’re a committed buyer of Willington’s coffee. This is a great chance for a smaller roaster to pick up a full lot! Willington is a treat to work with- he’s experimenting with processing, planting new varietals on his farm, and actively transitioning away from chemical inputs on his farm. He leaves his coffee cherries to ferment under controlled conditions for 24 hours, before de-pulping cherries and fermenting for another 24 hours in an open tank before drying under shade cloth. This beaut of a coffee is juicy, and tastes like fresh cranberry with a velvety and lasting deep brown sugar sweetness. Have you had his coffee before? Let us know what you loved about it! DM or email to get samples- you know you want to. ✍️

As we receive another container of Colombia farmgate purchases into Seattle, we’re prompted by the many conversations about coffee pricing lately- at Re:Co, throughout SCA, and reflections from importers and others also worried about how to ensure that farmers get a fair price for coffee. This has been a question for Shared Source since our founding, and it informs the core of our business- primarily, our work in Colombia and Guatemala purchasing coffee in parchment, at farmgate prices paid in local currency directly to the bank accounts of coffee producers. Do you want to know how much a producer got paid for a coffee that you purchased from us? Shoot us a message- we strive for transparency. Want more context to understand the number we share with you? We’ll share local market prices when we purchased the coffee as a piece of context to the pricing. When we calculate fair pricing, we consider a variety of factors, including cup quality, agricultural practices and a commitment to transitioning away from chemical inputs, and local costs to continue improving quality. We ask producers what they would want to earn to be proud to see their children continue in coffee, and we rely on others’ trailblazing work to calculate the costs of production in each origin. Like all work in coffee, it’s an imperfect system, but by paying farmgate prices ourselves, we take the guessing out of calculating how much producers earn.

It’s parchment season! Our small team is busy evaluating samples, supervising dry milling, and coordinating transport logistics. In Colombia and Guatemala we pay farm-gate prices, purchasing coffee in parchment directly from producers to ensure that they receive a fair price that reflects quality- both in the cup, and in their sustainable agricultural practices. Buying in parchment means that we manage the dry milling process as well: from density sorting to loading trucks, we’re deeply involved. These bags pictured in Colombia have now been loaded onto the truck, and they’re at the port to ship out later this week. This will be our sixth (and last) container out of Colombia- until the fresh pickings return in fall! Need Colombian coffee before then? Reach out to receive samples!💌

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hello@sharedsource.co