As their name suggests, Utopian Coffee from Fort Wayne, IN, wants to use coffee to make the world a better place. Like many of our selected roasters, one of the keys ways Utopian does this is by selling “relationship coffee.” Though a very small roaster, they spend a significant amount of their time and resources meeting the farmers they buy their green coffee from and making sure their needs are met.

One of their current projects is helping coca farmers – the plant that makes cocaine – switch to farming specialty coffee. Many farmers that produce coca do so because there is nothing else they can farm that will make enough money for their family. Utopian Coffee is holding up several farmers that successfully switched to specialty coffee as a model to help these farmers leave the dangerous drug trade.

Another key partnership is Utopian Coffee’s work with a female-owned coffee cooperative in Rwanda. Because of the Rwandan Genocide, many coffee farmers relied on women to continue the trade. In an industry that often uses women as the majority of labor but rarely gives them a share of ownership, we’re always excited to work with female-owned cooperatives.

On top of it all, Utopian’s standards for quality of coffee are top-notch. We’ve loved every sample they’ve sent us. Their head roaster is obsessed with finding the perfect post for each coffee, and it shows in their varied line-up.