We believe that each cup of coffee carries human value.
De Mello Palheta offers an origin based approach to coffee, procuring coffees from a large variety of regions and roasting to showcase the traits inherent of the terroir of these respective regions.
We do not run a washed coffee only program, as many specialty roasters do, but instead seek to highlight exceptional processes, be they dry, semi-washed, and/or experimentally processed coffees that break stereotypes and also have a lower environmental impact.
We practice tiered pricing, buying a range of scores from 84-90+, and paying premiums based for quality, but also providing a basic minimum price in each country that is at least 20% above local levels or FTO prices.
As part of this tiered pricing approach, we will aim to buy from producers who are more established while also seeking to develop markets by working with producers who are producing great quality coffee but may not be in well-known coffee producing regions of the countries we work in, or are only recently attempting to enter the specialty coffee market. This creates a more balanced and comprehensive purchasing model that doesn’t err on the side of a small handful of high quality producers only.
We strive to work with the same producers consistently, so that we may offer some level of economic security and peace of mind to these producers while also offering feedback from our end of the supply chain, should they desire to hear it. Where possible, we will attempt to work with local resources to encourage quality initiatives and make investments in infrastructure.
We strive to work transparently. In the coming year, we will be developing comprehensive pricing reports that include our purchasing price, costs, and price paid to producers, and will seek to tell the stories of our producers with accuracy and equality.. We believe this is important not only as part of our values, but that it is of utmost importance to the continued existence of the specialty coffee industry.
We believe quality includes social value. We seek to understand the environment and the conditions under which the producer is working so that we can offer some level of economic security while also bringing attention to the issues they face. This means quality is defined by more than a point score on a sheet.