Cafédirect: the history

The collapse of the International Coffee Agreement in 1989 sent market prices plunging, putting the lives of millions of smallholder farmers around the world in jeopardy.

In response, three coffee growing communities - in Peru, Costa Rica and Mexico - each shipped a single container of coffee, loaned on trust, to the UK. The beans were roasted and sold through church halls, charity shops and at local events.

Cafédirect was born.

Since then we have been pioneers in ethical business – we began trading three years before the Fairtrade Foundation mark was first used in the UK and we were the first coffee brand to carry the mark.

In 2004, we successfully executed the UK’s biggest ethical public share issue to become a publicly listed company, raising £5 million from 4,500 investors. The opportunity enabled our grower partners, consumers, employees and founders to own a share in the company and to be directly connected to each other.

Today we work with 39 grower organisations across 13 developing countries, encompassing 264, 666 farmers and directly improving the lives of more than 1.4 million people.

Cafédirect is the innovative result of Oxfam, Equal Exchange, Traidcraft, and Twin Trading’s decision to bypass the conventional market and buy coffee direct from disadvantaged growers in developing countries. Since 2000 alone we have invested more than £3.3 million of our profits directly into the businesses and communities of our growers, and paid more than £13 million over and above market prices for our raw materials.

Pioneering grower initiatives and consumer engagements for more than 17 years, Cafédirect has developed and works to its own Gold Standard, consistently setting the bar for ethical business leadership. In a report issued by Millward Brown in 2007, UK consumers voted us the most recommended brand in the nation in a survey of 2,000 companies.