We Joined the B Corp Coffee Coalition — Here's Why It Matters
Earlier this year, we published our Five Sourcing Principles and formalized commitments from every green coffee supplier in our network.
That was about accountability within our own supply chain. This month, we took the next step.
In June 2026, Bear Lake Coffee officially joined the B Corp Coffee Coalition — a global network of Certified B Corps working collectively on the systemic challenges no single roaster can solve alone. It’s currently made up of 40-plus Certified B Corp companies working across the entire coffee supply chain. I am honored to be one of three US-based roasters in the group and look forward to gathering later this month at the World of Coffee in Brussels with our coalition friends!
We’re already preparing to begin work as part of the “From Poverty to Prosperity” working group — which couldn’t be in more alignment with our 5 sourcing principles.
Why the coalition, and why now?
The coffee sector is facing converging pressures: climate volatility, persistent poverty at origin, and rising expectations around supply chain transparency. The B Corp Coffee Coalition was built on a simple but important insight — B Corps are already driving change in their own ecosystems, but the most important challenges are systemic and require coordination across companies, roles, and regions — up and down the entire supply chain.
That's exactly what we've been working toward with our Five Sourcing Principles. And it's where the new B Lab Standards V2.2 — published February 2026 — are pushing the whole industry.
The updated standards are more demanding and more specific than any previous version. Each of our Five Principles maps directly to them:
- Traceable Coffee aligns with HR2.1 and HR4.1, which require documenting human rights impacts by source country and raw material — impossible without farm-level traceability.
- Fair Pricing & Livelihoods aligns with HR4.11, which requires a documented plan to close living wage and living income gaps in the supply chain. The standard draws a critical distinction: living income applies to smallholder farmers, not just workers — and most commodity pricing ignores it entirely.
- Zero Deforestation aligns with ESC5.5, which names coffee explicitly as a priority deforestation-risk commodity requiring verifiable, geolocated evidence.
- No Forced or Child Labor aligns with HR1.1 and HR4.4, which require public commitment to ILO conventions and active supplier engagement — not just a signed code of conduct.
- Long-Term Partnerships reflects the standards' own phased approach: continuous improvement over years, with a shared commitment to partnership & quality.
The "From Poverty to Prosperity" working group
We are a member of this working group, which is focused on building a shared, practical understanding of what prosperity actually means across the coffee value chain — looking beyond income to fair value distribution, climate resilience, education, and long-term wellbeing for farmers and workers. That's the work. And it's exactly what our sourcing principles are trying to operationalize. I'm excited to be in the room with other B Corps who are asking the same hard questions. We'll share what we learn as we go.
I look forward to working alongside coffee companies from around the world to develop supply chain approaches that drive a more regenerative economic system for our farmers, our communities, and our planet. The challenges are real — but so is the collective will to solve them. More updates to come.
B the Change. Brew the Change.
Sincerely,
Gabe Damiani
Licensed Q Grader | CVA Certified | SCA Roasting Professional
