Impact Update September 2022
If there is one thing we as consumers have learned over the years, it is that things that happen on the other side of the world also affect life here. The same goes for coffee.
Sourcing green beans – or roasted ‘value added’ coffee in our case – from the ‘Coffee Belt’ near the equator isn’t always easy. Think Covid-19, disruption from the war in Ukraine (like the Port of Rotterdam holding on to a container of our coffee for two weeks), sudden increases in demand (positive of course!) and general parcel pressure since the pandemic.
“WE DIDN’T START MOYEE TO SELL COFFEE, WE STARTED MOYEE TO PROVE THAT BUSINESS MODELS AND CHAINS CAN BE STRUCTURED IN A RADICALLY DIFFERENT WAY. TO REDUCE INTERNATIONAL INEQUALITY.”
The Global Coffee Chain at a Glance
We explain it as simply as possible. In general, the life of a coffee bean starts as a cherry on the coffee plant.
Once harvested, the beans are washed, cleaned and dried. This is what we call green (unprocessed) beans. On the journey from the highlands to the export ports, the beans pass through the hands of various middlemen. Everyone gets a share of the proceeds. In most cases, the green beans are not roasted and packaged in the coffee-producing country, because that link in the process adds the most value to the product.
“OVER THE PAST 25 YEARS, FIVE GIANT MULTINATIONALS HAVE JACKED THE COFFEE CHAIN. THIS IS CREATING A HUGE ECONOMIC IMBALANCE BETWEEN COFFEE PRODUCING AND COFFEE CONSUMER COUNTRIES.”
'Big Coffee' thrives by squeezing out the margins in coffee-producing countries. The price of a cappuccino has exploded in recent years, but coffee farmers have not noticed this price increase. And actually it is even worse: these farmers earn less than ever. Only ten percent of the total yield goes to them. In the past it was 47 percent!
How Moyee does it
Moyee FairChain Coffee is a new model: the business model of the future. Our coffee grows between other plants, under the shade of trees on a biodiverse piece of land. And is hand-picked by the farmers.
By roasting the beans in the country of origin, instead of exporting them, more profit remains in the hands of the local population. We call this FairChain.
The goal of FairChain is a 50/50 split between coffee producing countries and coffee consuming countries.
The Future - Conscious Consumption
Covid-19 has been as devastating as it has been revealing. We have seen heroic acts of solidarity. We have seen an international economy grind to a halt and high inflation as it starts to move again.
We believe that there is a large group of people who are open to new economic alternatives. And a world with less pollution, less stress, less consumption, less plastic junk and more attention. People who want an economy that is good for the whole world, instead of one where our planet is destroyed by the richest one percent.
As a brand, we join this group of conscious consumers. Who choose one cup of (Speciality) coffee that respects people and the planet, instead of two cups of (poverty) coffee. Which is based on perverse profit interests for the minority, without taking the planet into account. We are ready for the future with these kinds of purposeful brands!
Previous
Next
OUR BIG PLANS – GET TO WORK
To fairly distribute the international coffee chain:
- From low volume premium quality exporters (in Ethiopia and Kenya) to high volume premium quality exporters.
- Scaling up roasting in Kenya and Colombia, to increase the percentage of truly locally-roasted FairChain coffee to ninety percent (we will continue to roast small quantities in our Amsterdam headquarters, in case of supply chain disruptions).
- Changing the profile of our Impact Ecosystem so that it is less dependent on one coffee roaster in Ethiopia. This spreads the risk of supply chain disruptions across multiple roasters.
- Combining best practices from the Netherlands, Ireland and Germany to roll out in Europe and create an entry point into America.
It's not easy and only possible with your support. We do it the hard (and honest) way. As far as we're concerned, the only right way…