Our Principles

Great coffee starts with people

Cafédirect was founded in 1991 with one simple belief - that the people who grow our coffee should benefit from it too. Created in partnership with farming communities, we set out to challenge the traditional coffee trade and prove there was a fairer way to do business.

More than 30 years on, that mission continues through our Manifesto for the Future of Coffee – helping build a coffee industry where farmers can earn a living income, invest in their future and keep great coffee growing for generations to come.

When you choose Cafédirect, you're choosing coffee that puts the people who grow it first.

We put growers first

The people who grow our coffee aren’t just suppliers. They’re our partners. We build long-term relationships with farming cooperatives, work towards living incomes and invest in farmers’ futures – because a better future for coffee starts with the people who grow it.

Growers first

We work with nature

Coffee depends on nature. We support farmers to adapt to climate change, protect the land they depend on and build more resilient farms. Most of the coffee we buy is organic, and we’re working towards Net Zero by 2040.

Our environment

We do business differently

Cafédirect was built to make coffee trade fairer. Today, farmers own shares in our business and sit on our Board. We buy directly from farming cooperatives, build long-term partnerships and work towards living incomes – putting farmers at the heart of how we do business.

How we work

A different way to do coffee

We've built our business around long-term partnerships, fairer prices and farmer leadership.

Cafédirect	How coffee is often traded
We source Fairtrade coffee. Cafédirect was the first Fairtrade coffee brand to launch in UK supermarkets. Today, we're the UK's best-selling Fairtrade coffee brand.	Fairtrade may make up only part of a company's range – or none at all.
We buy most of our coffee directly from farming cooperatives.	Coffee is often bought through multiple intermediaries, creating distance between farmers and the companies selling the coffee.
We're working towards paying Living Income Reference Prices for all our coffee by 2030.	Most coffee is still bought using market prices, which can leave farmers struggling to earn a decent living.
We've worked with our grower partners for more than 28 years on average.	Relationships often shorter term and driven primarily by price and availability.
Farmers don't just grow our coffee – they're part of our business. Farming cooperatives are shareholders in Cafédirect and have representation at Board level.	Farmers rarely have ownership or a direct say in how coffee companies are run.
We invest in farmer-led development through Producers Direct, helping improve livelihoods and resilience for more than 1.4 million farmers since 1991.	Support for farmers varies widely between companies. Where programmes exist, they are often standalone initiatives rather than being built into how the business buys coffee and works with farmers.
78% of the coffee we buy is organic.	Organic coffee often forms only a small part of a company's range.
We're working towards net zero by 2040 with science-based targets.	Environmental commitments vary across the industry. Few coffee companies have targets aligned to climate science.