Specialty Coffee vs. Commodity Coffee

That bag of coffee at the supermarket that’s easy to put in your cart and cheap at checkout is convenient and affordable, and yes—it does contain coffee (technically). But what is the true cost of that decision?

One definition of the word “commodity” is “an article of trade or commerce, especially a product as distinguished from a service.” What an interesting distinction: product vs. service. And with commodity coffee that’s readily available at any store, that’s an accurate way to describe it. It’s simply a product—nothing more. We don’t really know where it comes from, how it got to us, or the ways in which it was handled. We know a price, a brand, possibly a vague description (that may or may not be fully honest).

But with specialty coffee, so much more goes into it. Specialty coffee is both a product AND a service.

It’s a service because someone’s hands have taken care of the coffee plant: fertilizing it, pruning it, tending to it when it needs help. Someone’s hands have picked every single coffee cherry and then performed quality control on each one: depulping, washing, sorting. Someone’s hands have made notes about how the coffee responds to heat when roasting, what smells and tastes are being unlocked with each trial, and how that particular coffee can be improved until the perfect formula is discovered and that coffee’s best qualities have been captured.

With specialty coffee, so many extra steps are taken to provide not only a product but also a service. And when that specialty coffee is traceable—and especially when it comes to customers through direct trade—that service becomes relationship. We are so used to not having any attachment to where the goods we buy come from, but when we decide to change that, everything becomes so much more meaningful.

We start to learn whose hands have done all that work. We begin to feel confident that both the working conditions and the conditions in which our coffee is prepared are as they should be. We understand the value in paying more but also getting so much more.

In our opinion, the decision to invest in high-quality, ethical, non-commodity coffee isn’t always easy. But it’s always right.

To purchase our specialty coffee, check out our shop. To learn more about our farm, follow us on Instagram.

Here, we show each step in the cycle of our coffee, from flower bud to a fully brewed cup of delicious Ecuadorian specialty coffee!