A 36-pound Sustainable Harvest coffee box on display June 25 at Coffee Fest Chicago. Daily Coffee News photo.
After more than two years of development, Portland, Oregon-based coffee trading company Sustainable Harvest has launched a new e-commerce site, allowing smaller roasters to buy 36-pound boxes of green coffee for direct delivery.
Coffees sold through the site, all of which are scored at 85+ points, follow Sustainable Harvest’s in-house “Relationship Coffee” program, which promotes long-term sourcing relationships with producers.
Including fresh-crop coffees, coffees bearing various third-party certifications and lots featuring experimental post-harvest processes, the e-commerce site will be updated every two to three weeks, according to the company.
Meanwhile, the certified B Corp intends to make coffees from the same producers and farms available year after year, further reflecting the Relationship Coffee model.
Sustainable Harvest Chief Marketing Officer Alfonso Carmona told DCN that the 36-pound box size was chosen to accommodate the physical needs of smaller-volume roasters working in smaller spaces.
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“Many times, these boxes get shipped to the cafe setting, and it’s a hassle to bring in heavier and bulkier boxes or bags,” Carmona told DCN, adding that the smaller boxes might allow for a broader variety of coffees despite limited roastery space, and that the sturdy boxes themselves could double as containers. The boxes come shipped with GrainPro bags.
The e-commerce platform is integrated with Sustainable Harvest’s Tastify cupping and inventory management platform, while potential buyers can also set up alerts for when new coffees are added to the site.
“We’ve packaged our 25 years of experience into an online solution that integrates our brand values, traceability systems, and Tastify quality control reports to make it easy for anyone to buy green coffee online,” Carmona said. “Our ultimate goal is to bring Relationship Coffees to more roasters across the U.S.”
The e-commerce platform officially launched Thursday, June 23.
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