Larry’s Beans’ Purpose in Life is to concoct wondrously luscious works of coffee and make the world better at the same time. We slow roast in ridiculously small batches to bring out every rich layer of indigenous flavor.
100% of our coffee is Fair Trade, Shade Grown, Kosher, and Organic or Transitional Organic. (Our Organic and Fair Trade practices are certified and audited by Quality Certification Services.) More (+)
We honor the work of our farming partners by transforming their extraordinary beans into marvelous coffees.
But That Ain’t All Folks. Making the world better goes way beyond coffee. We’ve sent a team to Nicaragua to record our farmers’ music. We've green-o-vated our roasting plant with passive solar, wind-powered vents, rainwater harvesting, fruit bushes and even dual flush toilets. Our delivery bus runs on vegetable grease. We provide Raleigh’s only distribution point for Biodiesel 100 fuel (locally brewed by our friends at Piedmont Biofuels). Our employees enjoy open air offices, afterall, we believe that business should make the world a happier place. And, to get other folks up to speed, we created Sustainability School (.org)
OUR BEGINNINGS
Larry started out as an obsessive coffee connoisseur from Seattle. He was focused on scouring the world for the most wildly unique coffees, then roasting them to bring out their full flavor. He started Larry’s Beans in 1994 and was led to Fair Trade because he wanted to deal directly with farmers. This direct relationship achieves a dual benefit — the ability to acquire great coffee beans while empowering farmers to improve their families’ lives.
For us, Fair Trade is an equitable way to buy fantastic coffee from farmers who put their hearts and souls into growing it. More importantly, it’s an alternate economic model. One where no one gets exploited and we all look out for each other.
OUR PARTNERS
Larry's Beans is a founding member of Cooperative Coffees, the only cooperative of independent roasters that import Fair Trade beans directly from farmers—no one else in between. Cooperative Coffees purveys what Larry (a Fair Trade maven who has long been a board member of the Fair Trade Resource Network) calls "the gold standard of Fair Trade." All farmers are offered pre-financing and treated as partners, not mere suppliers.
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