For the past five years, Sustainable Harvest, the OCC's importer, has hosted Let’s Talk Coffee. The annual three-day event brings together our supply chain partners and stakeholders in the specialty coffee industry. LTC assembles farmers, cooperative leaders, roasters, industry visionaries, market analysts and business experts, providing a forum for everyone to meet face to face. This year, nearly 300 participants from 20 countries received industry-specific training, listened to expert presentations designed to help improve supply-chain quality, and shared best practices among their peers. The cumulative impact of six consecutive years of training at Let’s Talk Coffee has resulted in added value in economic, social and environmental spheres.

In 2009, Let’s Talk Coffee became a not-for-profit event. Sustainable Harvest remains the founder and primary funder of LTC, while the event is now managed as a program of the Charitable Partnership Fund, an Oregon 501(c)(3) organization. This has opened the door for the Organic Coffee Cartel to put the majority of its profits toward Let's Talk Coffee and its associated efforts. In a perfect world the entire event would be funded by our coffee sales rather than the generosity of Sustainable Harvest. After all, the real profit margins are in roasting, not importing.

The OCC is committeed to giving back money to the folks who need it most. Everyone in the Cartel has day jobs. But we nonetheless cling to the transformative power of business when it focuses on the greater good. By buying our coffee, you spoil yourself and make the world a better place. That doesn't happen too often.