Why our Bags Look Different
Brian
So we have lots of changes coming up here at Underground Coffee International. One that most people will notice is that over the next couple weeks we will start shipping coffee in different bags. And while this seems like a small change, it is actually very big.
Our plan has always been to use coffee that we can source though a roaster in America until we get to the point where we can bring coffee in from our local farmers in Asia. We knew this would take several years and figuring out some not so small logistical problems. In the past we have used a great little Mom & Pop roaster out of Little Rock, AR. We loved working with them and they loved that we were using their coffee to support missions and spread the Gospel. Everything was great until about eight months ago when their company was bought by a much larger company. The new company was less than ideal to work with (sorry, no more Coconut Creme and you have to pull our labels off of your bags) and for the past few months we've been praying for either a new way to get coffee stateside or for God to speed up the plan so that we could get coffee from our farmers to the US. And I believe that God decided to answer both of those prayers.
About a week before we left to come back to Asia, a friend told me that he was going to meet with a coffee supplier and asked if I wanted to tag along. What makes these guys special is that they exclusively use overseas missionaries like us to source their coffee. We have many of the same friends and they came highly recommended. As we talked further, we talked about the possibility of working together to import coffee from our farmers to the US, which allows them to take care of the big logistical hurdles like shipping and warehousing so that we can continue to focus on ministry with the farmers. As we talked, we decided to start phasing in their roasted coffee instead of using our old roaster.
Our new partners also have flavors (and I'm on them to get Coconut Creme in the mix). So over the next few months some flavors may change, however we spent a solid day blending coffee so that the taste is consistent with what you have come to expect from Underground Coffee. Hopefully in the next year our coffee's taste will change slightly as we bring in coffee from our local farmers, which has been the plan all along. And until that time our coffee is still missions sourced, which is what we're about anyway. So if you've got a couple extra minutes, go and check out our new partners at Kingdom Growers. And let them know that they should get some of our coffee imported so that you can drink it.