C I R C A D I A N

Colombia uniquely offers a diverse array of coffee varieties and processing methods. Known for innovation and resilience, Colombia's coffee history dates back to the early 19th century, with smallholder farmers being key contributors. Despite challenges like weather and conflict, Colombia consistently produces high-quality specialty coffee. For over a decade, we've partnered with both large and small-scale producers from all five main growing zones, fostering close relationships and friendships.

Elevation influences coffee cultivation, impacting flavor and quality. Higher elevations offer cooler temperatures, slowing the growth of coffee cherries, allowing more time for complex sugar and flavor development. This results in coffee with brighter acidity and a nuanced flavor profile. Additionally, cooler conditions at high altitudes reduce pests and diseases, making these coffees highly prized for their superior quality and distinct taste.

Bourbon (pronounced Bor-Bone) originally hails from the island known as La Réunion. It spread to Brazil and onwards, and now is grown worldwide. It is slowly being replaced by more 'modern' varieties with better yield and disease resistance, but we love that classic, juicy Bourbon profile when we come across it.

The wet mill is also sometimes referred to as a washing station, indicating a large agrarian facility housing an arsenal of equipment designated for the sorting, de-pulping, fermenting, and drying of coffee cherries after harvest. These steps delineate the intricate and labor-intensive method of the washed processing technique. Every farm is a little different when it comes to how they accomplish each task along the way, but when a fully washed lot of coffee is laid out to dry at the end of the procedure, it should have no trace of pectin or mucilage left and only a thin outer shell of protective parchment should be remaining on the seed. To accomplish this, the cherries must be fed through a de-pulping device, a towering machine that funnels the fruits through a spinning cylindrical grated blade that strips away the outer layer of skin along with a certain degree of mucilage. In order to remove the rest of the remaining fruit, it must be broken down through a period of brief fermentation stages in large tanks or troughs of water. People are often surprised to hear that all coffee, even washed processed coffees, experience a certain level of fermentation. Once the fruit has adequately decomposed, the seeds are removed and rinsed thoroughly to ensure uniform cleanliness before drying. The resulting seeds are spread out evenly onto perforated tabletops for improved airflow, and are left to dry for several days in the sun. While washed processing is certainly taxing in terms of water resources, the results of this meticulous technique yield a wide range of tasting experiences from aromatic florals to bright citric or malic acidities that will make your mouth water. Processing Methods When it comes to coffee, there is always more to discover than what meets the eye. The journey our coffee takes from the rolling hills where it was grown to the delicious cup in your hand is tumultuously long. Each seed has a layered history behind the flavorful characteristics they portray in the final brew. One of the most crucial steps in this story occurs immediately after the harvest. The method with which our producing partners process their fresh coffee cherries once they’ve been picked has immutable implications in the flavor potential of the final product. A detail often omitted on your everyday grocery coffee bags, this is a pivotal decision that every producer must eventually make, and has eternal ramifications in the life of the lots they sell. Read on to learn more about the four most commonly used methods of processing, how they directly impact your coffee’s flavor, and how this singular distinction can dramatically change the way you buy and brew your coffee. All over the world, coffee grows on vibrant tropical trees situated in mountainous regions across the equator. When the cherries that encase the raw seeds (beans) turn bright red, farm workers will pick the ripest of them and transport them to a place commonly referred to as a wet mill. At the wet mill, producers escort the harvest step by step through what is arguably its most defining moment: the processing method. The purpose is ultimately to separate those precious seeds from the inside of their sticky fruit-flesh exterior and dry them for export. There is technically no limit to the combination of techniques producers can use to accomplish this, but they can be summarized across four predominating methods: Natural, Washed, Honey, or Experimental. The Buying and Brewing Process The method used to process a particular coffee is key in determining what it will taste like. The assigned tasting notes aren’t meant to prescribe flavors but instead offer an explanation of how that coffee’s unique origin, variety, and indeed its processing method have orchestrated a specific tasting experience. Natural or experimentally processed offerings frequently deliver juicy and tropical fruit or berry-forward drinking experiences, while washed and honey processed coffees lean toward floral and tea-like characteristics. It is possible to find fruity flavors in washed or honey processed coffees, but they usually manifest as stone fruits or pome fruits, like peaches and apples. If you are someone who tends to dislike juicy and fruit-forward coffees, look to avoid natural or experimentally processed offerings. If a coffee suggests a floral or tea-like experience, it has likely undergone a washed process, and in addition to those notes you can expect a light body and very subtle fruit flavors, if any. Just as each processing method changes what a coffee will taste like, they are equally significant contributors to the coffee’s behavior when brewing. Coffees that have been processed with extended periods of fermentation (naturals, experimentals, and sometimes honeys) have degenerated in some way or another, and are thereby more soluble. You don’t need to grind very finely to adequately and evenly extract the flavor from these coffees, and you may find that on filter methods, quick drain times typically coincide with coffees that have been processed this way. On the other hand, washed coffees are oftentimes quite dense, and it takes a little extra work to effectively brew these offerings. Consider using water directly off boil, and grinding a bit finer if you are afraid of under-extracting your brew. Every single coffee in existence has endured an elaborate journey before coming into our possession, and the unique flavors they exemplify in the cup give a spectacular anecdote of that journey. One way we can better understand not only the story that a coffee has to tell but the strategy to best prepare it is by first comprehending the methods that were used to cultivate and process it. From washed to natural, experimental or honey, there is something for everyone to discover, and emerging innovations in coffee processing are just one of many ways our industry pushes the boundaries of what is possible every single season.

Prior to production, each roast goes through a rigorous dial-in process, where we fine-tune our temperature curves. We roast to tight tolerances, with no more than 1° deviation from target temperatures, ensuring quality and consistency in each batch.

Raised-beds are scaffold like structures that elevate perforated trays that hold coffee parchment or cherries. This has high airflow and yields a longer drying time. Raised-beds are scaffold like structures that elevate perforated trays that hold coffee parchment or cherries. The holes in the structure allow for airflow on a near 360 degree level, ensuring that the coffee dries evenly when proper bed turning is practiced. Some even go as far as covering the beds with a partial block from the sun, which extends drying and ensures the cell structure of the coffee goes largely undamaged from the UV.

Metabolic Rate

Caffeine gets into your bloodstream quickly, with peak levels typically showing up about 15 to 120 minutes after you consume it. From there, what matters most is clearance, which is often described by caffeine’s half-life. In healthy adults the average half-life is about 5 hours, but it can vary a lot, roughly 1.5 to 9.5 hours even without disease. Half-life is a simple way to estimate “what’s left” through the day: after 1 half-life about 50% remains, after 2 about 25%, after 3 about 12.5%.

Slow metabolizers clear caffeine more slowly, so caffeine can stack up across the day and stick around into the evening. A major driver is genetics, especially variation in the liver enzyme CYP1A2, which impacts the rate of caffeine clearance. Slow metabolism can also happen due to physiology or medications that reduce enzyme activity, meaning a morning coffee can still meaningfully contribute to your total caffeine load late in the day.

Medium metabolizers are closer to that typical ~5-hour half-life, so caffeine from a morning drink is often substantially reduced by late afternoon, unless you keep adding more. Fast metabolizers clear caffeine more quickly, so the “tail” is shorter and less remains by evening, but the perk-up may also fade sooner. Smoking is a classic example of a factor that speeds clearance, one study found average half-life around 3.5 hours in smokers vs 6.0 hours in non-smokers.

A few common modifiers can shift you toward slower or faster metabolism on top of genetics: oral contraceptives have been shown to prolong caffeine half-life (for example, around 10.7 hours vs 6.2 hours in one study). Pregnancy can also prolong half-life substantially, with references noting up to about 15 hours late in pregnancy. And liver disease can extend it dramatically, including reports of 60 hours and even 168 hours in alcoholic hepatic disease. Practical takeaway: if you tend to be a slow metabolizer (or you are in a slower-metabolism state), earlier caffeine tends to be kinder to sleep, and smaller amounts later in the day can matter more than you’d expect.

TLDR: Your metabolic speed sets caffeine’s half-life, slow means more caffeine remains into the evening, fast means less remains but the boost may fade sooner. Genetics (CYP1A2), smoking, hormones (including birth control and pregnancy), and liver health can shift that half-life a lot.

Extraction Content

Coffee brewing method changes caffeine in the cup mostly because it changes how much coffee is used, how much water ends up in the final drink, and how efficiently the brew extracts caffeine. Caffeine is very water-soluble, so it tends to extract fairly readily, which means two different methods can land surprisingly close in total caffeine if they use the same dose of grounds and produce the same beverage volume. Where methods really diverge is in the typical recipes people use for them (dose, ratio, dilution), not just the device itself.

Espresso and moka often have the highest caffeine concentration (mg per mL) because they use a relatively high coffee-to-water ratio, and in espresso’s case, pressure-driven flow through fine grounds promotes efficient extraction. Even so, the total caffeine per drink depends on how many shots you pull and how big the beverage is. As a rough everyday guideline, a larger, lower-concentration drink can match or exceed a small, concentrated one.

Filter and pour-over methods (drip, V60, batch brew) typically produce more volume, and caffeine per cup often ends up driven by dose and how much of the brew you actually drink. Changes that increase extraction yield, like finer grind, longer contact time, and more complete extraction, can raise caffeine in the cup, but the effect can be modest compared with simply adding more coffee or making a larger serving.

Immersion methods (French press, cold brew) can swing widely because the recipes swing widely. Longer extraction time, warmer water, and higher coffee-to-water ratios generally increase caffeine, while cold brew is a special case where very long time can boost extraction but lower temperature can limit it. Cold brew also commonly starts as a concentrate, so caffeine per serving depends heavily on dilution.

TLDR: Caffeine depends mostly on dose + drink size, not the brewer. Espresso is strongest per sip, drip can have more total, cold brew varies with dilution.

Green Cost

The subject of paying for green coffee is inherently complicated. While the amount paid is very important, the payment terms and type of contract negotiated during the purchase are also paramount. Paying $5/lb of coffee can be a great price, but could be detrimental to a producer if the payment terms exceed that of their needs. Here we will dive into not only what was paid for the coffee, but how the coffee was purchased. There is a glossary of terms to be found below which will aid in your understanding of industry terms.

Farm Gate - This reflects what is paid to the producer of the coffee at the farm level. Oftentimes in terms of our relationship coffees, FOB is fairly close to the farm gate price, except for countries like Ethiopia and Kenya, when it is very difficult to trace back all the way to the producer.

FOB - Free on Board. This means that the seller is responsible for any overland fees that happen before the coffee is on board the ship. This is our most frequently listed green cost, as it is the most simple way to present what we pay a seller, but it does not reflect what the person growing the coffee was paid.

EXW- This most often reflects the 'spot' price that we paid for a coffee. All of the cost is paid by the importer, and more often than not the FOB price as well as the transport costs are unknown.

Transportation Cost

This number represents the cost we incurred while the coffee was moved from the producing country to our roastery in Arkansas. The amount of information we supply here is correlated to the transparency grade we issue the coffee. The better the grade, the more we can break down this information.

The prices listed are generally for domestic trucking, but in the year of tariffs and rate hikes left and right, we have chosen to lump the flat 10% tariff rate here as well. This realistically could be categorized differently, but it helps to separate it from what we pay for the green coffee itself, since none of those tariffs actually go to the producers themselves.

Production Cost

The following list includes many of the costs associated with producing our coffee. We have always maintained transparency as a principle but have lumped these things under the label of “production costs” without going into detail. While the following list isn’t exhaustive, hopefully it gives you a picture of the work, expense, and investment involved in executing coffee at the level that we do. At this time we are listing our cost of production for each pound of coffee at around $5.45. There are obviously many other aspects to running a business such as shrink, mistakes, new equipment and maintenance, but this works as an arbitrary cost associated with making one box of coffee. 

Fixed Costs
These are costs associated with simply having a business. Things like utilities of internet, natural gas, phones, rent, business licenses, fees, etc. These things increase every year. For example, most commercial leases increase by 2% every year. We periodically look at these costs and try to reduce expenses, but work in this area are small moves of the needle as these are mostly the same and usually increase every year. In 2019, we invested in a solar energy system for our roastery. It was installed in 2020 and we are seeing a great return in terms of monthly costs of electricity. 

Packaging
This is all the things that go into packaging the coffee from the roaster to your house. There’s the biodegradable bag, the recyclable box, the compostable mailer, different boxes for bulk shipping, the paper that pads the coffee, tape, and a few odds and ends. (Read about our new retail packaging HERE). These costs are separate from the green and roasted coffee but a part of the cost of producing coffee ready to ship and consume. We want our coffee to arrive in a secure fashion, looking like it did when it left our roastery: with style and design but also keeping the environment in mind. Shipping packages inevitably has waste associated and we’re working towards sustainability at each step. 

Labor
We are proud of our team and the way they are so thoroughly dedicated to excellence and to being the best at their respective roles across the industry. We work to make coffee jobs both sustainable and celebrated. We pay salaries, provide health insurance, and give regular raises. Our coffee doesn’t taste the way it does without all of our team working had and performing at a high level. Often we have a handful of staff that get celebrated, but everyone on our team contributes and is valuable. Our roastery production crew has earned a small commission on coffees sold since 2017. Onyx is not just a brand or a design or a café, we are truly made by every person on our team.

We all know it takes work to make anything. Our approach has more labor involved than you may think. Because we visit every Relationship Coffee producer, that means our green buying team of Jon and Dakota typically spend a total of six months traveling. We’re committed to visiting and cupping on the ground, this inevitably is an investment of time, of money, of long lay overs, of encountering government coupes and protests, and forging some of the greatest friendships and seeing some of the most beautiful landscapes imaginable. 
Another place we are highly invested in labor is in our coffee quality control. Our QC manager literally cups every single batch of coffee that we roast, scores it, makes notes, gives feedback. These records can be found in Find My Roast. This is essentially a full time job. This is something that we technically don’t have to do, but in chasing our goal of having the world’s best coffee we can’t know exactly how each roast measures up without cupping it. 

We have more roasters than we technically need. We roast in small batch size, meaning we don’t max out the capacity of our roasting machines. This translates into us roasting more actual batches and necessitates more time. This concept is driven by our desire for quality.
 
We have a creative team that helps create all things visible, digital, and print. These folks are very talented and have really helped push the dream of Onyx to the next level. We believe that coffee can inherently be great, but having something that looks and feels good helps inform expectations, helps bring value, and tells the stories in coffee in a way that is tangible and important.

These are a few of the jobs we feel really have more involvement than might be imagined, but throughout Onyx there are touch points of intentionally positioned team members to help create the best possible coffee experience. 

Coffee Roasting
Roasting itself creates loss in coffee. There’s the straightforward fact that when coffee is roasted it loses between 7% and 8% of its weight, meaning that if you bought 1000lbs of a lot you end up with 920lbs of roasted coffee. We also use what’s called an "optical sorter" which sorts all of our coffee after its roasted and kicks out 2% of all coffees. Sorting just creates an overall cleaner coffee, eliminating any outlying beans that are discolored, are quakers, etc. This totals around 10% loss of coffee before it even is bagged for retail or wholesale. We donate this rejected coffee to local food banks, non-profits and halfway houses.

Then there’s profiling the coffee. We roast test batches before we release coffees to dial in roasting profiles, and we often make multiple tweaks. The coffee is then cupped multiple times, used to create brewing recipes and guides and used in training. We also pull a sample of each batch of coffee to quality control. 

We are committed to shipping only the absolute best coffees to our customers, and these measures—although costly—are in place to help create trust between you and us.

Taxes
We all know what this is. We set aside and submit money every quarter for taxes along with paying all of the weekly and monthly taxes we are obligated to pay. This can be tough for a small business as there are ebbs and flows in cash flow, and taxes are often not paid in conjunction with the sales season.

Fair Trade Minimum

Since coffee was first sold, producers have sought to increase or maintain the price of their product. In 1988, the first certified Fair Trade coffee was sold in Holland as a partnership with a cooperative in Mexico. This was a major stepping stone in coffee trading, as it promised farmers a safety net when the volatile commodity market of coffee plummeted. Fair Trade ensures that farmers will be paid a minimum price for their product, which serves mostly as a safety net when all other prices drop. As the specialty market has grown, criticism for Fair Trade has grown alongside it. Consumers and coffee professionals alike have misunderstood Fair Trade Certified coffees to be the answer to a growing coffee price crisis. Many have used these ethical labels to continue to pay coffee producers a minimum price for a product that has exploded in popularity through the years. We are careful not to minimize what Fair Trade and other certifications have accomplished through the years, viewing a set minimum price as a stepping stone to a larger conversation about how the industry treats valuable producing partners. As we avoid settling for the bare minimum, we always pay at least double Fair Trade minimums based on the quality of coffee we purchase.

In a recent decision, Fairtrade International made a historic raise to its coffee prices. The new Fairtrade minimum price for washed arabica coffee will be $1.80/Lb, an increase of $0.40/Lb. Additionally, the guaranteed premium for coffee sold as both Fairtrade + Organic (FTO) is increasing from $0.30/Lb to $0.40/Lb. These changes bring the base price for FTO to $2.40/Lb, up 26% from the current $1.90/Lb level. The new Fairtrade prices will come into effect for contracts issued from August 1, 2023, onwards.

C Market

In the modern world, coffee is valued as one of the most important agricultural exports of developing nations. Most coffee in the world is produced as an ubiquitous green seed to be roasted by large roasters and sold on a shelf with little information about where it comes from and who grew it. Like other agricultural commodities, coffee is traded in future contracts on many exchanges. This price is dictated by global economic forces such as supply and demand, which is set by the largest suppliers and the largest buyers. The price of commodity coffee has been in major decline since the collapse of the International Coffee Agreement, and also due to forces outside the coffee industry as a whole. The minimum price that a producer has gotten for their product since the collapse of the ICA has hovered around $1.20/ lb, but within the last few years it is most frequently found to be under $1.00/ lb, which many industry experts consider to be under the cost of production. The commodity price of coffee never dictates the prices we pay for coffee, due to the precedence that quality takes in the specialty industry. We factor in cup score, variety, process, country of origin, and other factors when drawing up our private contracts with producing partners. Choosing to list the commodity market price at the time of our purchase shows the distinct difference in markets, as we strive for a more holistic and honest approach to the way that coffee is purchased.

Cup Score

As we travel the world and taste coffees, we evaluate all the coffees we taste on a scoresheet developed by coffee professionals around the world. Through this, we can participate in and use the language of an industry standard set of guidelines. This allows us to honestly assign a numerical score to any coffee we taste, creating the ability for a starting point in a discussion of the quality of each coffee. We list the cup score of each coffee we purchase as part of our ethos of transparency, not as an end all be all statement of drinkability. Many of us agree that we’d rather drink an 86 point coffee rather than an 88 point coffee. We list it because the cup score serves as a reference of quality, allowing producers to negotiate higher prices based on the hard work they’ve done to achieve this quality. This is the imperfect industry answer to the commodification of coffee, which can be bought and sold based on economics, rather than the nuances and sweetness in the cup…

For more information on coffee sensory science, check out the Coffee Quality Institute.

Lot Size

Lot size is seemingly straightforward when taken at face value, but it gets more convoluted as you look closely at the vernacular of the specialty coffee industry. Terms such as micro-lot and macro-lot get awfully blurry as we buy coffee from different parts of the world. Like many other things in the coffee industry, there is not one catchall term that will tell you if your coffee is indeed a micro-lot. The size of a lot rarely informs us of the quality of that lot, which is a difficult concept to shake coming out of the early years of specialty coffee. Lot size informs us of one thing: the size of that lot. We can, however, take this time to talk about how coffee is separated at the production level, and how we make sense of it from country to country.

The first way we see coffee divided up is by region. These lots are often built up of many farms, Coops, or washing stations. This often signifies that the lot was built to reflect the flavor characteristics of the region. Colombia comes to mind when we think of regional blends, and these blends can often be very valuable to roasters and producers if transparency is upheld and fair prices are paid. We partner with friends like Pergamino Coffee to build regional lots, where within we seek to uphold transparency and quality.

The second way we see coffee represented is by a cooperative, farm, or washing station. Oftentimes this is where you begin to see 'micro-lot' sized offerings, which can often be built from several parts of each farm, or a few farms in one area. (Sounds a bit like a regional blend, doesn't it?) These lots represent an entire harvest, where individual day lots are blended to form an offering that is of a decent exportable size. This ranges from just 100-300 kg all the way up to several full containers of exportable green. One thing is to note, forming a single farm lot can often take just as much cupping and profiling as the large regional blends, due to each day or weeks pickings being separated and cupped to ensure they fall into quality standards.

The final way we see coffee represented is by day lot. This is where terroir comes into play, due to organic variations in the environment such as shade, soil type, tree age, and many other factors. Nearly any quality control program that is on a farm level will evaluate harvest this way. This allows producers to isolate parts of the farm or crop that is facing some challenges, as well as to select truly remarkable day lots to represent the pinnacle of their work. These small offerings range from just a few kilograms up to several thousand. We see these lots most often during auctions such as Best of Panama and Cup of Excellence, where they fetch high prices. Each one of those lots not only represents the hard work of each producer, but they also represent the amount of coffee that was filtered out during this quality control stage. This focus on the minuscule may seem like semantics to some, but as you zoom back out to your cup you realize just how many decisions were made before it arrived in your hands.

Pay Structure

These ratings do not signify the “ethical grade” of a purchased coffee, instead they are created to show data to everyone. These ratings simply signify how much we understand what the grower of our coffees actually make. This is not an “us” vs “them” mentality of Roasters & Producers against Importers & Exporters or Farmers vs Customers that narrative can be damaging and usually full of fallacies. All parties are needed for this beautiful industry to thrive and our position is that sharing data has no moral position. It is simply numbers and math. We’ll leave the morale high ground to others even if this data is filtered through preconceived notions.

A+

This rating signifies we have published the price and payment went directly to the producer as well as all parties involved in logistics. Money exchanged was only though Onyx and producing parties. No procurement payments or bank financing were made. Mills, Exporter, and Importer are all known and quality scores are published. Farm gate, FOB, Milling, Logistics proven.

A

This rating signifies we have published the price and payment went directly to the producer . Money exchanged was only though Onyx and producing parties. Importer was hired to move coffee in the United States. No procurement payments or bank financing were made. Mills, Exporter, and Importer are all known and quality scores are published. Farm gate, FOB, Milling, Logistics proven.

A-

This rating signifies we have purchased directly from a cooperative or association and published price of FOB and wire to the head of a Cooperative or Farmers Association who pays members we are working with at Origin. We ask and publish what farm gate price was that is reported from farmers. Mills, Exporter, and Importer are all known and quality scores are published. FOB, Milling, Logistics proven.

B+

This rating signifies a published price of payment that went directly to a producer but producer also buys cherry from other neighboring farms. Verbal confirmation and published prices of Farm gate are acquired for coffees, but we only pay producer in contact. Mills, Exporter, and Importer are all known and quality scores are published.
FOB, Milling, Logistics proven.

B

This rating signifies we have published FOB price and pay directly to Cooperative or Exporter at Origin. Farm Gate price is proprietary or lacks of records of payments. Mills, Exporter, and Importer are all known and quality scores are published.

B-

This rating signifies we purchased this coffee from an Importer and visited farm, cooperative or exporter with the importer. We negotiate the contract with the importer representative and not the producer or cooperative. We pay directly to the importing company, Farm Gate price is provided by importer and published. Price, Logistics and Quality scores are published.

C+

This rating signifies we purchased this coffee from an Importer. We pay directly to the company. FOB price was provided by importer and is published, Farm gate price is unknown or proprietary information and unshared. Price and Quality scores are published.

C

This rating signifies we purchased this coffee from an Importer. We pay directly to the company. FOB and Farm Gate price is unknown or proprietary information and unshared. Price and Quality scores are published.

F

Little to no information is known about the producer and process itself. Transactional system without understanding the factors that combine into getting the coffee produced and exported.

Solar Energy

As our coffee production surpasses a million pounds annually, we recognize the significant energy demands of our operations. To reduce our carbon footprint, we have invested in solar energy, installing panels above all roasting machinery to power our most energy-intensive equipment. This shift not only decreases reliance on traditional energy sources but also aligns with our commitment to sustainable practices, ensuring that our growth does not come at the expense of the environment.

Beyond solar energy, we prioritize working with environmentally conscious roasting manufacturers like Diedrich and Loring, whose advanced technology minimizes fuel waste and optimizes energy efficiency. Every decision, from the equipment we use to the energy sources we rely on, reflects our dedication to long-term sustainability. By integrating solar power and cutting-edge roasting technology, we are taking meaningful steps toward a greener future for coffee production.

In 2024, we generated nearly 68,000kWh of electricity.

Living Wage

We are proud to be the first business in the state of Arkansas to achieve Living Wage Certification, a recognition granted to employers who voluntarily commit to paying wages that cover essential living costs like housing, food, and healthcare. This rigorous certification ensures employees earn enough to live securely, and without unnecessary financial strain. Achieving this milestone within the coffee industry is particularly momentous, as tight margins and market volatility pose monumental threats. However, our expansion into e-commerce has afforded us the financial stability we need to make sustainable investments into our workforce.

Fair wages are not just an ethical choice, but a key driver behind doing business with excellence. The Living Wage Certification reflects our deep commitment to transparency, accountability, and the prosperity of our employees. It's about fostering a thriving community not just within our walls but beyond, and setting an example for other businesses to do the same. We see this as both an accomplishment and a starting point, taking inspiration to continue pushing the boundaries of what it means to be a responsible and caring employer, proving that business growth and social responsibility can go hand in hand.

Transparent Trade

We are proud to represent a holistically transparent approach to our green coffee purchasing practices, establishing accountability and accessibility for all. From the beginning, we’ve committed to ensuring that our producing partners are not only fairly compensated but are awarded for striving towards excellence in their craft. By publishing all trade data online and even on our packaging, we’ve inadvertently become a measuring tool for smallholder producers navigating pricing structures in a convoluted market.

We believe that transparency creates responsibility which promotes accountability, and all these things work together to create long-term benefits for everyone involved. That’s why we never release new offerings without comprehensive analytics on the journey it took from the bottom of the supply chain to our shelves. Things like green cost, transportation cost, and production cost are all delineated under each and every coffee we publish online. In this way, we have positioned ourselves as a sightglass between our coffee-drinking community and our partners at origin by championing transparency in our international trade practices, and we are grateful for the platform we have to advocate for an equitability in our industry.

Certified B Corporation

Onyx is proud to be a Certified B Corporation, a designation that recognizes businesses committed to the highest standards of social and environmental responsibility. This certification evaluates our impact across key areas, including ethical sourcing, employee well-being, sustainability, and community engagement. Becoming a B Corp means we are legally bound to balance profit with purpose, ensuring that every aspect of our business from how we source coffee to how we treat our employees is aligned with our values of transparency, accountability, and long-term sustainability.

For us, this certification is more than a milestone – it’s a reflection of our deep commitment to ethical coffee production. As a specialty coffee company, we have always prioritized responsible sourcing, fair wages, and reducing our environmental footprint. Being a B Corp reinforces these efforts and signals to our community that we are dedicated to setting a new standard for what it means to be a truly sustainable and socially responsible coffee business. This achievement is not the finish line but a foundation for continued growth, innovation, and leadership in the industry.

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