2020 Coffee Accountability Report

2020 COFFEE ACCOUNTABILITY REPORT

4.22.21

This coffee accountability report serves as a benchmark for improvement and to educate staff, wholesale clients, and guests.

This coffee accountability report, which provides an overview of our 2020 coffee buying practices, was originally compiled by Roasting Operations Manager Dave Smallhoover to educate our staff and wholesale clients and to act as a benchmark for company-wide improvement. Here, we have created a summary of that report to share with our broader community. Transparency is a core value of our coffee program. We hope our publication of this report provides a deeper understanding of the specialty coffee industry and invites each and every reader to become a more integrated part of our journey. Commonplace Coffee is passionate about creating and fostering community – for our staff, for the neighborhoods we serve, for our wholesale partners, and for the coffee world at large. Our desire is to continuously improve by sourcing coffee in a way that supports our supply chain’s long-term sustainability, roasting coffee in a way that honors the growers, and brewing coffee with both craft and care to provide a positive guest experience.

Commonplace’s buying activity in 2020, compared with standard C-Market prices and the Fair Trade Minimum

Despite the pandemic-related challenges of 2020, the pursuit of equitable sourcing practices and the ongoing coffee price crisis remain at the forefront of our minds. This crisis is the result of an exploitative system of colonialism, further perpetuated by current-day economics. Family farms are selling coffee below the cost of production and have operated under this vicious cycle for decades. Meanwhile, C-Market prices remain virtually unchanged, and the cost of production continues to rise. This debt cycle undermines farm owners and laborers and threatens the future of coffee. As a small to medium-sized coffee roaster, our impact on the entire coffee industry may be modest. However, we recognize the significant impact of our buying decisions and the long-term relationships we have built with small farms, cooperatives, and importers. We cannot pursue our mission without taking accountability for our influence on the coffee supply chain.

Breakdown of Commonplace’s 2020 purchasing by origin

In addition to consciously sourcing coffee, Commonplace seeks to foster local community by supporting regional charities through the sale of collaborative coffee blends. We are excited to continue partnering with local organizations and expand our collaborative blend series in the future.

2020 was a year of challenges and growth for Commonplace. As we look to the future, we aim to fulfill the following long-term goals: buying on fixed-price contracts, negotiating these contracts based on farmers’ cost of production, and developing long-term relationships with farm and supply chain partners. Our ability to sustainably plan for the future rests on the ongoing support of our staff, wholesale clients, and engaged community, who bring direction and energy to our coffee program. We aim to further strengthen this connection in 2021 by continuing to welcome feedback, questions, and open conversation. We offer our sincere gratitude for your trust as we continue to grow. It is an honor to serve you coffee sourced, roasted, and made with craft and care! Like everything else in the coffee industry, the best work we do is fueled by the creativity, knowledge, and support we receive from our peers. We’d like to extend a special thank you to the incredible businesses below, who inspired us to create this report. Phoenix Coffee Co.SemillaOsito CoffeeCaravela CoffeeCounter Culture Coffee