Episode 15 - The importance of transparency in coffee — A conversation with Coffee Collective

In Episode 15 of our podcast I speak with Peter Dupont and Klaus Thomsen who together with Casper Engel founded the Coffee Collective in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2007. The Coffee Collective is by many, including myself, considered to be one of the few coffee companies in the wold that really walk the talk. They are one of the highest regarded companies in the world when it comes to  sourcing and roasting coffees of the best quality and they have from the start of their company been buying coffee focusing on transparency in the value chain and buying coffees as directly as possible from the farmers. Not only is their company B Corp certified, but they have also been part of developing the idea behind the Pledge and donating data to the Specialty coffee transaction Guide. It is a privilege to be able to call them my friends as The Coffee Collective have been one of my big inspirations for many years. In this episode we talk about transparency in coffee, why transparency is important and  what transparency really means. It is no secret that the commodity coffee price is disconnected from the producers needs to make a decent living. The fact that it has been more or less the same price for over 50 years means that most farmers are not able to make a profit. Looking at inflation alone the price for green coffee should be at least 3-4 times higher than what it is today. You may also have noticed that the «specialty coffee»  companies around the world often say that they pay more for their coffees because it is of high quality. But is it enough, and is the money going back to the farmers? And are we comparing what we pay against the wrong price benchmark?   Tune in to learn more about coffee prices, how we buy coffees and why we believe being transparent is important for the future of coffee. Links we mentioned in this episode: https://www.transparency.coffee https://coffeecollective.dk https://www.transactionguide.coffee Music by my uncle Jens Wendelboe