Why We're Moving Up the Supply Chain

We've always worked at the end.

For five years, Wonky has operated at the tail end of the coffee supply chain. We'd partner with some of the best roasters in the world, rescue their surplus freshly roasted beans, and get them to people who'd actually drink and enjoy them. That model worked. It still works. And we're proud of how much waste we have prevented with all of the Wonky Ones.

But there was always something sitting upstream that kept coming up.

The offer we kept getting

Often our roaster partners would ask us the same question. Could we take some green beans off their hands? Unroasted. Specialty grade. Just waiting to be roasted. 

We'd always had to say no. We weren't set up for it. We didn't roast. That wasn't what Wonky did.

But the more it happened, and it happened a lot, across more and more of our 600+ partners, the harder it became to ignore.

Why the beans exist in the first place

These aren't beans that were grown badly, cracked, or imperfect due to an aesthetic reason. They're specialty grade, from some of the best growing regions in the world. The reason they end up without a home has nothing to do with quality. It has everything to do with the way the industry works.

Small roasters are constantly under pressure from traders to commit to volume early. Lock in your price now. Secure your supply. And so they do, sometimes more than they realistically need. Then demand shifts, a contract falls through, or the forecast just doesn't play out the way it was supposed to.

This then means that speciality grade green beans, sit there unroasted, slowly losing value. And eventually, run the risk of going to waste.

We've seen it happen more times than I can count. And it's completely unnecessary.

So we decided to do something about it

Last month, for the first time in Wonky's history, we took a small batch of specialty-grade green beans from Guatemala and roasted them ourselves — fresh, to profile, with one of our roasting partners.

We put them up for sale.

They sold out in five days! 

That result told us the demand was there. And it told us that our customers, you, were ready for this next step alongside us.

[Image: roasting process, beans going in or coming out of the roaster]

What this means for Wonky

Moving up the supply chain is an extension of exactly what we've always done, just earlier in the journey.

We're still rescuing coffee that the system couldn't find a place for. We're still working with the same roaster partners we've built relationships with over five years. And we're still getting exceptional coffee to people who appreciate it, at a price that makes sense.

The difference is that now we're intervening before the waste even happens. 

By moving up the supply chain to battle waste we're helping prevent waste or lesser outcomes to high-value speciality grade coffee beans.

Batch 2 is live now

Three origins. Colombia, Rwanda, Costa Rica. All specialty grade, all freshly roasted, all available in limited quantities.

Every bag you buy is also an entry to win a £750 Sage Barista machine and full at-home bundle — because if we're asking you to try something new with us, the least we can do is make it worth your while.

Stock is limited. When it's gone, the giveaway closes with it.

To the Wonky Ones,

Laurence & Harrison