The Better Coffee Standard
A new beginning for everyone who has had enough.
Take action, or someone else will decide what’s best for you.
The coffee production system is falling apart — and so are the people involved in it.
Farmers grow crops that don’t provide them with a living. Workers have no rights. Roasters roast poorly but hide it behind a veil of marketing. Baristas tell consumers we’re saving the planet by serving decaf lattes.
The system forces us to compete just to survive. And still, the industry calls this “progress.”
Enough!
The Better Coffee Standard does not follow this trend. It challenges it.
It offers a way out of the impasse — a shared structure that allows us to operate differently.
This is not a product. This is not a course.
This is a foundation.
This document was created for people around the world — farmers, baristas, coffee roasters, trainers, and everyday consumers — who are tired of waiting for the paradigm to shift to something even worse and more oligarchic.
It is used in classrooms, cooperatives, cafés, roasteries, farms, and communities that believe dignity is more important than marketing.
It gives form to the values at the heart of The Better Coffee — and makes them actionable.
It is intended for:
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The picker who is told to smile for the camera
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The barista who can name every flavor but doesn’t have a voice
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The coffee drinker who wants to do better — and doesn’t know where to start
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The student who learns formulas without access to knowledge
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Each of you who simply brews coffee at dawn before your shift to somehow function
You don’t need permission to read this.
You don’t need credentials to act on these principles.
The Better Coffee Standard is free to use, share, and build with — and it always will be.
A full version of The Better Coffee Standard is available right here — free to read in the online PDF viewer. Nothing hidden, nothing locked away.
If you choose to donate, you’ll receive a thank-you mail with a link to download the full PDF.
We do need support — from donors, investors, and aligned sponsors — to keep the servers alive, the tools improving, and the commons open. To learn how you can help, see the Support the Work tab.
If you can donate, thank you.
If not, that’s okay. The Standard remains open for all, always.
The old world is breaking. This is one way forward.
Welcome to The Better Coffee.