More Than Just Quality
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"Specialty coffee farmers face many challenges in production. The purpose of this paper is to investigate these challenges that specialty coffee farmers face in order to identify the factors that impact the price of specialty coffee, to communicate with customers why they pay a premium for their coffee. The research in this paper includes industry articles, dissertations, and peer- reviewed journal articles centered around the production of specialty coffee and its impacts on farmers. To further enhance the research, I conducted three interviews with Mid- western specialty coffee roasters to gain insight into their interactions with producers and their direct trade models. I found that commodity pricing on coffee severely impacts the volatility of this industry and disregards common business profitability models. The conclusion is that direct trade and relational coffee models add value to consumers and producers. These models employ common business profitability models, but the coffee is more expensive and higher quality than what consumers may expect."