2022 Transparency Report
Anacleta García in Santa María Yucuhiti Mexico
We've been purchasing her coffee for 2 years
In 2022, the ripple effects of rising inflation due to the pandemic were still present.
All of our costs from shipping supplies, to labor, and the raw product continued to increase at a blistering pace. This has caused us to make adjustments to the way we operate our business, which includes the way we forecast our green coffee needs.
However, our approach to buying practices remains the same as always.
- Quality is the forefront of our buying practices & has allowed us to strengthen existing relationships & foster new ones.
- We negotiate most of our coffees directly with our producers, relying on them to set a price that covers their operating costs.
- Heart increases the amount paid to producers year after year.
When talking to the producers about what it costs to produce the coffee, we have found that many coffee producers don’t have a concrete answer. The fallout from the pandemic in the form of rampant inflation and labor shortages have made it extremely difficult for producers to forecast what they need to charge in order to operate a profitable business.
To us, transparency reporting is a way to encourage coffee lovers to stay curious about what their roasters pay for coffee in order to determine whether the profits are getting distributed fairly. At heart, our focus is making sure everyone in the supply chain earns a livable wage, especially the producers who are working so hard.
Working closely with a select few importers and exporters over the years, we have been able to gain FOB (Free on Board) pricing for all of our coffees. FOB pricing continues to be the standard transparency metric through the specialty coffee industry, however we believe this metric is not transparent enough.
For 2022, Farmgate pricing has been introduced to our transparency reporting, showing the exact dollar amount some of our producers are receiving for their coffees. Moving forward, our goal is to obtain and report Farmgate data for all of the producers we work with in 2023. This will allow us to be truly transparent about the prices paid along our entire supply chain.
Transparency information is important for us to share with our personnel and customers with the hope that there will be a better understanding of how much goes into each bag of coffee. Sharing this information holds us accountable to our core values.
We would not be able to invest in the work that we love without our customers and the producers we buy coffee from, thank you for supporting Heart!
Anthonus Nyaga, Kenya Nyawira estate owner
We've been purchasing his coffee since 2018
