gratitude

obviously there are many folks that have been going to the source and buying coffee as directly as possible for many years. 

for all the shit talking about starbucks it seems that they are in many ways the pioneers of this method - the method of shortening the supply chain - but like most things with starbucks it seems that they have gotten way too massive to follow through in this area and the farmers i have talked to on the ground seem to have a lot of respect for the "old starbucks" but feel like they have been reduced to a number and have lost the personal contact they used to enjoy.  

dean cycon has been at it for years - and his new book Javatrekker is definitely hugely inspiring. 

and it seems doug zell at intelligentsia has set the gold standard in the world of direct trade. clearly there are too many folks around the globe doing the noble work of revolutionizing the coffee trade to mention them all - but here is a quick shout out of gratitude for those folks that have made paths in what was a veritable desert.