coffee sourcing & tariffs

Welcome to the Trailhead Blog. In this post, I’ll share experiences and information as it relates to buying green coffee from our favorite coffee farm coops and families. Let’s start with a story about Brazil. I work with a farmer/importer who creates a great product and his family’s coffee goes into our espresso blends. Really nice natural-process coffee from Canaan in Brazil. He’s a great guy and I’ve bought from him forever, about a decade, maybe more. The new 50% tariff just straight up ends the business for Sergio and his family. Can he pivot to other markets like China, New Zealand or Europe? Maybe. But there are freighters in the water right now that were destined for the United States. I’m not a water freight logistics expert but surely there’s a mix of stuff in containers stacked up. Are they all from Brazil? Should the ship unload some stuff while leaving Sergio’s coffee on the boat? Now does he end up paying for the journey to the States and then another charge to get that cargo ship to Europe or wherever? I see no way for this to work out to just break even, never mind making a living. This saddens me to my core. Does he eat a massive loss in 2025 and then send his coffee elsewhere going forward? Are the swings in fortune too great to absorb?

It’s a bummer for my friend. It’s a bummer for the collective of farmers and workers who he employs. It’s a bummer for us at Trailhead. I can readily source a coffee that profiles similarly in the cup but I really don’t want to do that. If my customers are willing to pay a premium for this coffee, I’d accept slow sales to support Brazilian farmers. My margins are too lean for any wiggle room so a 12oz bag of Provisions or Classic Espresso would be somewhere between $24 - $27. Would people pay that for a solid great coffee? That price would typically secure a micro-lot from Kenya or similarly rare coffee. Faced with such a choice, what’s the right call for a coffee drinker? This hypothetical micro-lot would be supporting a Kenyan farmer who equally needs to make a living. Is buying green coffee and paying tariffs to the United States government an ethical move?

I have no answers. I don’t like any of it. If you have thoughts or info, drop me a note in the comments.

Thanks for reading!

Charlie

owner/Trailhead Coffee Roasters