According to studies, regular coffee consumption can have many benefits, including correlations with lower body fat in women and increased fat burning potential, helping fight type 2 diabetes, and preventing neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease. It’s so much a part of our everyday, and has been for so long, that people don’t always stop to think about where their coffee comes from beyond the country on the bag—but coffee has as a complex diaspora as any global culture. According to the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA), Coffee arabica—the most commonly consumed form of coffee—“originated in the forests of Ethiopia and South Sudan, then famously spread throughout the world for the production of its seeds.” Legends say the same: According to esteemed writer Alexandre Dumas, the coffee plant originated in Yemen, just across the Red Sea from Ethiopia. Another popular legend says it was discovered by a goat herder named Kaldi in the hills of Ethiopia. The one thing that’s certain is that the coffee plant, in its consumed varietals, originated in Africa. “That led me down the rabbit hole into the weird world of third-wave coffee,” said Maurice Henderson of Cxffee Black in an interview. “The more I went, though, the more I realized I was often one of few people of color in these spaces, and that puzzled me.” But there are plenty of coffee brands that can allow coffee-drinkers to connect with the beverage’s history, support a Black-owned business, and enjoy a delicious cup of joe. Here are 18 excellent options. When it comes to coffee, they have one available: the signature Guji Mane, a coffee from the Sidamo Guji region of Ethiopia they produced in collaboration with Ethnos Coffee Roasters in Memphis. Drink Cxffee Black, here. While they sell from a few locations around Oakland (including a coffee cart), their online shop is full of coffee from all over the world, including a few single-origin options. Drink Red Bay Coffee, here. In addition to an array of small-batch roasts of specialty coffees that include blends and single origins, they also sell specialty teas. You can also take the stress of running out of coffee out of your life by signing up for a coffee subscription through their website. Drink Blk & Bold, here. “As a third-generation farmer, it’s my pleasure to share with you this delicious kahawa that’s been cultivated in Kenya since 1893,” says founder Margaret Nyamumbo on their site. They source their beans directly from the farms and aim to empower the female coffee farmers specifically. Along with selling beans for home brewing on their website, the brand sells single-serve coffee bags, a uniquely innovative mode for brewing a single cup without the waste of mainstream single-cup brewers. Drink Kahawa 1893, here. According to the website, “Sip & Sonder is an entrepreneurial and creative hub that houses a coffee house and creative studio.” Online they offer two types of coffee beans and an array of loose-leaf teas for shipping. Drink Sip & Sonder, here. Today, they share that green coffee (as well as videos about the ceremony) and sell roasted varieties from across eastern Africa like Burundi, Rwanda, and Ethiopian coffees. They also have subscriptions available. Drink Boon Boona Coffee, here. Once again, subscriptions are available, which ship twice a month from North Carolina. They roast and ship the coffee in quick succession so it’s at peak freshness, making this a prime option if fresh coffee is your goal (though coffee is best when it has some time to sit post-roast). Drink Black & White Coffee Roasters, here. While they frequently sell out of their roasts online, when they are available they’re definitely worth an order. Origins include Colombia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Brazil, and their Founders Blend—which includes beans from Brazil and Papua New Guinea. Drink Portrait Coffee, here. They offer a mix of blends and single-origin options for single order or subsription, with a big expansion of origins coming soon that will include an Africano Fusion Heritage Blend and a new “Jam Session” espresso blend. Drink Three Keys Coffee, here. “The price of coffee from the farm is only a little over a dollar a pound. To our knowledge, a pound of the beans can get about 22 cups of coffee,” they write on the site. “It does not add up to how coffee in the U.S. could be so expensive and yet the farmers make so little.” Thus came Reveille, where they partner directly with farmers to ensure fair payments. They offer whole-bean and ground-coffee options for single-bag purchase or subscription. Drink Reveille Trading Company, here. “Despite so many setbacks, life was charging forward all around me,” he writes on the website. “There were adventures to be had, a legacy to leave, and so much joy to be shared. With this mindset, my dream of launching a coffee company grew clearer, the future brighter, and my morning cold brew ridiculously better.” Drink Brightland Coffee, here. Through the Black Acres Roastery Coffee Club, members get freshly roasted coffee shipped once a month at a 15% discount, with different options for what types of coffee. They also offer jugs of cold brew and “latte to go” for delivery to local addresses. Drink Black Acres Roastery, here. You can buy both whole beans and ground coffee from their online store, plus T-shirts touting your preferred order (“No sugar, no cream” to “Lotta sugar, lotta cream”). Drink Black Coffee, here. Beans from Ethiopia, Rwanda, Guatemala, Peru, and Colombia, plus some blends are available for order on their website, plus plenty of branded merch. Drink Vagrant Coffee, here. Founder Candy Schibli, who is also the head roaster, carefully selects and roasts coffees from the Americas, Africa, and Asia—all of which are available for purchase through the website. They even do bespoke blends and teach virtual blending classes, so anyone can learn the nuanced practice of blending beans. Drink Southeastern Coffee Roastery, here. Based in Mississippi, they focus on single-origin coffee, which is roasted to bring out that particular batch’s flavor profile. Currently, they offer Ethiopian, Sumatran, and Colombian beans along with their branded blends. They also stock and sell all the gear you’d need to brew a perfect cup. Drink BeanFruit Coffee, here. For those who are a bit further afield, you can still buy their sustainably roasted beans, for subscription or individual bag orders of coffees from the Americas and Africa. Drink Patria Coffee, here. Currently, they have coffees from the Sidamo and Yirgacheffe regions of Ethiopia—the latter of which is often considered as a potential origin zone for the coffee plant—and beans from the Jamaican Blue Mountains. Drink Sailor’s Brew Coffee, here.
