We love to brag about how our selected roasters are changing the coffee landscape. We’ve once again found a roaster that has found a new and unique way of facing the challenges of the industry. Topeca Coffee was started by a coffee farm in El Salvador. During the 2001 coffee crisis, they decided to truly cut out the middle man and started a roaster in the US. Now that Topeca has cafes of their own in Tulsa, OK, they are the first truly crop to cup company we have ever worked with.

This process of “cutting out the middle man” has been extensive. In addition to the coffee roaster they started in the US, they also started one at the farm itself. They purchased wet and dry mills to allow them to process all their coffee on their own. Eventually Topeca purchased additional coffee farms and started their own logistics operation to handle the exporting themselves. A third cafe will be open in Tulsa soon!

To expand as a roaster, Topeca has begun importing coffee from other farms as well. When doing this, they have committed to purchasing fully traceable coffees, paying sustainable prices for quality coffee, and ensuring fair pay to producers and workers. Locally, Topeca invests in educating their own employees as well as the greater community in best coffee practices and often donates their coffees to local causes. They encourage their employees professional growth, often having them travel for more education or to coffee competitions.

Before the coffee crisis, their farms in El Salvador had been in the family for six generations. They started Topeca in hopes of providing for their community – both locally and around the world – for another six.