Falcon Coffees Donating 5 Cents Per Pound of Specialty Coffee to CQI

Coffee drying in parchment. Daily Coffee News photo.

The UK-based coffee trading company Falcon Coffees has announced that it is donating 5 cents (USD) for every pound of specialty coffee sold through its North American sales unit to the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI).

Falcon — which maintains an office in Austin, Texas, and has spot inventory in Oakland and New York — says it believes the donation program is mutually beneficial in that it is ultimately designed to support CQI’s work towards creating a more dynamic specialty coffee sector.

“CQI is a legacy organization that provides enormous value to the global coffee community through the Q lexicon of language and the Q Grader program,” Falcon Coffees Founder Konrad Brits said in a recent announcement from CQI. “It is a living ecosystem that provides value recognition through the hierarchy of coffee quality and professional qualification. Specialty coffee relies on CQI, and without it we would return to the days of commodity trading where quality is subjective and price premiums to origin are eroded.”

The nonprofit CQI — based in Southern California with an office in Bogotá, Colombia — maintains the rigorous Q Grader testing and certification programs, designed to give coffee professionals all over the world a common language surrounding quality analysis, while helping roasters and producers alike develop skills and relationships.

“Like so many in the coffee industry, CQI has faced serious financial challenges due to the pandemic,” CQI CEO Tina Yerkes said. “Falcon Coffees’ commitment will not only help us weather that storm, but more importantly it will allow us to focus unrestricted resources where they are needed the most — education projects at origin. As a nonprofit, 501(c)3, CQI depends, in part, on charitable giving from the coffee industry to deliver our mission. Falcon’s support will be part of a fund that allows us to increase impact in origin countries and support the Q Community as a whole.”