Why Women Producers?

A note before we begin: we are always learning. The way we think about coffee sourcing today has changed over the last four years. We hope it's always this way - continuing to refine how we use our buying power as a coffee roaster. This is also an enormous topic with many people woven together, and it's complicated! So, let's just take a little peek into sourcing coffee.

When East View Coffee began, it was centered on kindness. Jenny knew she wanted the coffee she roasted to be ethical and sustainable, part of a vision that saw others and the earth as worthy of respect. 
It wasn't long before it became apparent that some of the certifications we lean on such as Fair Trade or Organic were not all they promised to be. They were certainly better than nothing, but not the final solution (another topic for another time...). Jenny had already started sourcing some coffee from women producers, and in learning more about gender inequity in coffee producing countries, she began to focus more of her efforts on finding coffees from women in order to celebrate their labor.

In specialty coffee, we often focus on a number - how high a coffee scored in a cupping. Obviously, quality coffee is important to us (have you tried our coffee? It's very tasty). But coffee value is more than a number on a tasting notes sheet, there are people behind that number and the truth is that most of those people are women. We've learned that women make up about 70% of the manual labor of coffee, but rarely have access to resources such as land, ownership, credit and education.  We believe that when women are recognized for their labor, everyone wins. We're not doing this as some sort of charity work or trendy angle. We love coffee. The future of coffee lies in these communities, and studies consistently show that when women are given access to leadership and decision-making roles they invest more in the health, nutrition and education of their families and communities, creating more sustainable paths forward.

In the end, it's about the women and their love for agriculture. Yes, it's good for everyone. Yes, representation matters. Many of them are fighting an uphill battle to find an active leadership role in the industry, and we're so glad to stand alongside and continue to source and celebrate the women who are growing and producing these beautiful coffees. The benefits ripple through families, communities, and entire economies.

The truth is that these efforts are still imperfect, but we're still continuing to promote women as much as we can and striving for more direct, equitable relationships.

You'll be hearing more stories from us and other women in the industry to celebrate the changes that are being made and to highlight the work ahead of us.

(Image from one of our direct trade coffees, Dos Ninas).