Sustainable relationships

At Allpress it is our philosophy to carry out business in a manner that is fair and equitable and that will sustain long lasting relationships with every person or business we work with. We believe there are many ways of doing this.

For over 20 years we have been developing relationships with all our customers and suppliers, building trust and loyalty through the integrity of what we do, how we do it and the quality of what we provide.

Our trading relationships

Not all coffees are created equal and of all the coffee in the world we only source the highest quality available. To obtain this quality we trade with small estates and co-operatives that are sustainably managed with high standards of agricultural practice and who demonstrate social and economic return to their communities. We establish direct relationships with these growers and exporters and by virtue of the quality of their product and farming methods pay the premium price they rightly command for their coffee. This kind of relationship promotes open discussion about quality and price requirements in a fair and mutually agreeable way.

There are an increasing number of social and environmental certifications within the coffee market from Fair Trade and organic labels to Rainforest Alliance, Bird Friendly, Shade Grown and many others. They have been established to address the social inequalities and environmental issues that sometimes exist, not only in the coffee market but also cocoa, sugar, bananas and other commonly traded agricultural products. These certifications are voluntary and growers that comply with the prescribed standards have to pay to have their coffee certified. Unfortunately though, certification does not necessarily demand quality of the coffee grown.

Allpress acknowledge the motives and aspirations of those certification schemes, however because quality is so important to us, we have always preferred to have relationships directly with our growers. This is the way we can guarantee quality of our coffee and also the benefits back to our growers.

Our trading standards

We are continually refining our trading standards to ensure all of our coffee, from every origin, has been traded directly between the farmer, the exporter and Allpress in a traceable, sustainable and transparent manner all parties consent to. The standards encompass transparency of pricing, environmental responsibility, pursuing social projects (housing, schooling, dental) and fair and lawful workers rights.

We regularly visit coffee farms and small co-ops in Central and South America, Africa, Asia and the Pacific spending time with farmers, their families and communities and allowing us to see our trading standards are benefitting all. Meeting the growers face to face, seeing where their beans are grown, who picks and processes them and cupping coffee together further strengthens the genuine intent of our supply relationships.

The Fairly Traded Allpress mark has been developed to represent the combined efforts of coffee communitites and Allpress working together and producing best possible tasting coffee.