Relationship Coffee: AKA Direct Trade Sourcing

After visiting origin for the first time in 2008 and meeting coffee producers, Poul Mark niavly made a promise to be 100% direct trade by the end of 2012. Since then, Poul has traveled to numerous coffee producing countries to meet and establish relationships with producers. During these past years, Transcend's business model has matured from that of a "direct trade" model to that of one built on real and mutually beneficial relationships. It is our sincere desire that these relationships will stand the test of time, through both the good years and the bad.

Transcend is committed to sourcing some of the world's finest micro lots (10 - 75 bags) of green coffee which are delivered to us from all over the world. We carefully roast (on our vintage UG22 Probat) and blind cup these micro lots. This hard work is the product of several trips a year, where we travel to origin — the countries where coffee is grown — and search for the very best coffee farms. These passionate, hard working coffee farmers become our partners in the coffee business. We believe that establishing meaningful relationships with coffee producers, not only affords us some of the best coffee in the world but it also ensures that our business dealings with coffee farmers is truly sustainable.

So what is relationship coffee? Well, we think it is building a relationship with a producer where we meet one-on-one, shake their hands, tour their coffee farms and micro mills, eat at their tables, and really to get to know them. It’s the only way for us to discover, connect with, and be inspired by the hard-working coffee producers that are as passionate as we are about quality coffee.

We then buy directly from these wonderful people, and pay them three to five times what they’d receive if they were to sell to larger national mills that treat coffee like a commodity. We also pay significantly higher than Fair Trade prices. We believe this is the only way to make coffee truly fair and truly sustainable. We believe these practices are reflected in the quality of the coffee we roast and serve and is vital to our integrity as a quality Edmonton roaster.