Born in the Rainforest



      WAFI started in 2019 when I was working in the commodity markets at a trading firm in New York. I watched how much these firms and traders were making despite never seeing any of the commodities they were actually trading. I do not blame them. When you are that focused on having a good book, it does not always matter why or what you are trading.
But something struck me one night.


     I was lying in bed recalling great memories of my grandfather,  the first one up every morning, making coffee and hot chocolate. He would hardly say a word, but his smile spoke volumes. Looking back it, I feel like that smile was trying to tell me something, as if he knew this would be part of our life again some day. And here I was, decades later, working with the very crops that helped shape our family.


Long the Basis



     My joy was present because deep down I knew the livelihoods of these traders and portfolio managers were rooted in places like my own roots and heritage. I wore that on my sleeve. Part of me is extremely grateful for that time on the desk because I do not know how else I would have been invigorated to pursue coffee and cocoa.



The Day the World Stopped



      In April of 2020, the real work began. My college roommate Shane was sitting in his apartment. I looked at him and said, “Dump all of our holdings, we are getting into commodities.” His look was both excited and exhausted…  maybe because it was an avenue he had been trying to have us take, and at the same time frustrated that we were pivoting from a plan we had spent years building. We decided it was time to plant our first coffee nursery. Coffee was no longer just a crop trading on a screen. It was a seed in the ground.


The Initiative of All Initiatives



      Despite having heritage in coffee and cocoa, Shane and I knew nothing about farming. At the time, my cousin David was traveling across Liberia — from Bong County to Lofa County, to Nimba and Ganta,  meeting farmers and putting us in contact with them.There were times we would FaceTime for hours over months, picking their brains, learning, understanding, going through trial and error. Some of these farmers had been working the land for 50 to 60 years. We knew we needed their guidance.
Those early moments remain some of our fondest. We were eager to learn, and the elder farmers were eager to teach. We began buying coffee seedlings from farmers who believed their livelihoods were disappearing. Liberica coffee, the native species, had little to no market demand. When we came along, many thought it was too good to be true. Some believed it marked the beginning of a revitalization.
      I remember one farmer faintly speaking to his wife and family in the background while on the phone with us:
“I told you… I told you coffee will come back.”
In that moment, I knew this was bigger than just growing coffee. It was about working hand in hand with farmers to bring forward the one thing we truly know, our value to the world through coffee and cocoa.

From then on, it has been WAFI as we know it.


It Is WAFI Forever



What do we stand for today? Stewardship.
In a world where the commodities we grow have become simply a means to an end, it is deeper than that for us, like always say:

WE ARE NOT A COFFEE COMPANY.

   We are farmers that happen to sell coffee.
Our work existed long before marketing, trends, or the idea of coffee as a hip product. And it will exist long after. What sets us apart is our roots, a marriage to the land that will never fail. The hours we put into harvesting, sorting, roasting, and bagging are nothing short of care and love. It is our greatest honor to share our goods with you.The work is far from over. In truth, it will outlive all of us.

 

As we continue building, we’ve left something small, use REBIRTH25 when you order. As a token of our appreciation