At Three Tree Coffee, we use specialty coffee for three purposes: Empower our Farmers, End Human Trafficking and Engage the Community.

Jump over to our Giving Statement or continue reading to learn more about each of these mission points.

 Empower our Farmers

Because of the hard work our farmers put into our coffee, we want to ensure they are empowered with: a fair and livable wage, community development, and value adding systems through sustainable and quality practices.  We want each of our coffees to cultivate a relationship through which the farmer is cared for.

We roast each of our single-origin coffees to display the unique flavors of that region. In other words, each coffee has its own potential that we want to compliment, not cover. Knowing that many coffee farmers are exploited in unjust manners, it has been our desire from the beginning to ensure our farmers are being empowered through two initiatives: our Fair Trade coffees and Direct Trade coffees.

The Fair Trade certification is a third party certification program that requires a fair price minimum is paid to the coffee farmer.  The fair trade minimum price acts as an international minimum wage, ensuring coffee farmers are paid fairly for their hard work.  Because our Fair Trade coffees are also Organic coffees, the price minimum is $1.70/lb.

Our Direct Trade coffees are sourced with a more direct partnership and transparency to the farm level.  Though fair trade ensures a price minimum, we do not know who the farmer is or from which farm a coffee came.  With our Direct Trade coffees, we know who the coffee farmers are and where exactly the coffee is grown.  Each Direct Trade coffee has a different story that is more personal and has more potential for empowerment.  Most of our coffees are sourced in this manner.

End Human Trafficking

It is estimated that there are 20-40 million people trafficked every year.  These are people who are treated as commodities and forced against their will to provide value to others.  Human trafficking can take on many different forms of slavery; however, they all revolve around injustice.  We at Three Tree Coffee desire to see true justice and to end human trafficking.  To accomplish this, we are partnering with local and international organizations to bring awareness and raise funds.  

Our Giving Statement shows our financial commitment to this problem.  Put simply, $1 of each retail bag sold is donated to a safe house, 2 fundraisers are conducted each year per shop, and 3% of profits are donated to ending human trafficking.

Lastly, we are a proud member of the Freedom Business Alliance; a collection of businesses committed to applying economic solutions to the human trafficking problem.

Engage the Community

We want to rally our community towards addressing the human trafficking problem.  Some simple ways to get involved are to:

1. Pay attention to what you buy.  Try to purchase from companies with ethical standards on where they get their materials.
2. Volunteer at a local organization that addresses human trafficking.  This could be as specific as a Safe House or Rescue Organization, or it could be a non-profit that supports a related issue (domestic violence, foster care, addiction recovery, etc.)
3. Share this information with a friend!  

We not only want to mobilize our communities towards our missional initiatives, but we are also eager and excited to serve our neighbors.  Each of our coffee shop locations is eager to bring joyful hospitality and enriching experiences to our guests. 

Lastly, we donate to local non-profits and buy many ingredients locally.