Nutty Natural – Brazil

We paid the coffee farmer 5% more for this coffee

We pay the coffee farmer more for the coffee than the market price.

Research shows time and again that certifications such as Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance have no demonstrable positive effect on the living conditions of coffee farmers. (Cordes and Sagan, 2021)

Western coffee companies earn large sums while coffee farmers worldwide live in poverty. That is wrong, and we must change it.

That is why we pay more for the coffee beans we import.

44% of coffee farmers worldwide still live in poverty. At least 5.5 million coffee farmers live below the international poverty line of $3.20 a day. Studies show that one-third of coffee farmers earn less than $100 annually from coffee production (Enveritas, 2018; Sachs et al., 2019).

When we pay farmers more, we give them the opportunity to invest in themselves and their businesses. This can lead to further growth and the opportunity to invest in their farming practices and projects such as water consumption reduction and reforestation.

The calculation:

We paid the coffee farmer: $6.58/kg

The market price at the time of the contract was: $6.26/kg

Thus, we have paid the farmer 5% more than the market price

Documentation

See the complete overview of the payments we have made for our coffee beans in our annual transparency report: CleverCoffee: Transparency Report

Sources

"Responsible Coffee Sourcing: Towards a Living Income for Producers" (Cordes and Sagan, 2021)

"Why do coffee farmers stay poor? : Breaking vicious circles with direct payments from profit sharing" (Ruben, 2023)

"Six Transformations to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)" (Sachs et al., 2019)

A short and transparent supply chain

We always work with a supply chain that is as short and transparent as possible. In 2025, 93.58% of our coffee was traded directly with the coffee farm, meaning without the use of a middleman.

This coffee is an exception, as we have used a transparent importer to bring the coffee in.

The vast majority of our roasted coffee is also bought directly from us - with a few retailers as exceptions, such as coffee shops and specialty stores. You cannot buy our coffee in any large chains or on online marketplaces.

Consequently, fewer parties need to “have a slice of the pie,” and we can provide better payment for the coffee farms, which have been underpaid and living in poverty for decades.

The supply chain for this coffee looks like this:

• The coffee is grown in the area around Vale da Grama in Brazil
• The coffee cherries have been processed locally
• The green coffee beans were imported to Europe by Café Imports Europe
• After this, the green beans were transported to CleverCoffee
• The coffee is roasted and packed at CleverCoffee in our own roastery outside Aarhus