Ethically Sourced Coffee in Springfield

Responsible coffee shop owners research the growing conditions of their beans that come from thousands of miles away. However, it takes a special level of dedication to invest the time and resources into visiting these farms in person and getting to know the growers on a first-name basis.

Origin trips, as they call them, are a way for industry professionals to sample a variety of coffees, learn about quality control and form relationships with the farmers who make our favorite daily ritual of enjoying a cup possible.

The Coffee Ethic (124 Park Central Square, Springfield, MO) crew has taken origin trips to Colombia, Costa Rica, Brazil, Guatemala and El Salvador over the years. These expeditions touch on their three mission statement pillars: cup, people and earth.

“Origin trips are a way for us to know for sure where our coffee is coming from and give us the opportunity to meet the people who are cultivating the coffee plant that produces the beans we roast,” says owner Michelle Billionis, who has personally been on origin trips to Colombia and Costa Rica. She took her first origin trip to Huila, Colombia, in 2019 with Ally Coffee, and it forever changed the way she views the beverage. There, she met Rodrigo Sanchéz, a charismatic coffee farmer and entrepreneur who connects small farmers with coffee buyers through Clearpath Coffee.

On this trip, Rodrigo drove her up treacherous terrain to about six different small farms tucked away in the high elevation of the Andes Mountains. “We tasted some incredible coffees from the small farms located in remote areas in the mountains,” she recalls. “There are really some hidden gems there. The farmers had tremendous pride in their coffee, and their hospitality was over-the-top amazing. It was a very humbling experience.” Today, The Coffee Ethic still uses beans from many of the Colombian farms Billionis visited.

The coffee industry certainly deals with its fair share of supply chain issues, which is why sometimes an origin trip is taken primarily for the sake of building relationships in hopes of working with a farm years down the line. For example, Billionis still wants to source beans from the farms she visited in Costa Rica back in 2023.

Justin and Karen Beiler are the owners of Eurasia Coffee Co. (445 E. Commercial St., Springfield, MO), and their coffee careers have also led them to some far corners of the world. Since the beginning, they’ve donated a minimum of 10% of their revenue to help with humanitarian efforts in various parts of Eurasia. The Beilers have personally visited some of the sites the shop’s donations benefit, but that’s not the only work-related traveling they do. They’ve also taken origin trips to Nepal.

“Nepal coffee farms aren’t like the ones in South America, where you have these big plantations,” Justin explains. “A lot of it is ancestral land that keeps getting split into smaller and smaller parcels over generations. So there’s a whole community of small farmers, not just one big farmer.”

Justin and Karen’s goal is to start sourcing the shop’s beans from farmers in Nepal, but they’ve got even bigger dreams beyond that. Aside from supporting existing farms, they want to use the skills they’ve gleaned from running both Eurasia Coffee Co. and their boutique hotel, Culture C-Street, to help Nepali locals start an agritourism coffee farm where visitors could stay and learn about the growing process.

At the end of the day, efforts like these further connect the coffee drinker with the coffee farmer, leading to an even greater appreciation for the beverage we always look forward to in the morning.