Meet Our Coffee Partner: Hacea Coffee Source

Whenever new green coffee samples arrive here at Little Bear HQ, we go through a pretty formulaic routine before we evaluate them. First we'll enter all the coffee into our backend system, then we roast all the coffees with our Ikawa using one of two default profiles we've built specifically for how we sample roast. Once the coffees are roasted we let them "off-gas" anywhere from 12 to 48 hours before we finally cup them, and that's where the fun part starts!  

Cupping is where things get interesting… You see, while cupping in and of itself is inherently formulaic, here at Little Bear we also hold space for several other contradictory things. Things that are both logical and emotional, objective and subjective. While we have to objectively look at the quality of the coffee for what it is, simultaneously we have to ask ourselves, "Is this importer, exporter, farm, and/or producer someone we can see ourselves fostering a long-term working relationship and friendship with? How does this coffee make us feel? Would we be stoked to get these coffees every year potentially?" Our goal is always to "dig deeper and not wider," and to us this means prioritizing our existing relationships over chasing the next new and shiny thing. 

One such relationship we've been so excited to foster is with Jared Hales, co-owner of Hacea Coffee Source. Jared has become one of our "besties," and in the latest edition of our "Meet Our Coffee Partners" series, we sat down with Jared to ask him a couple of questions about himself, Hacea and of course all things coffeeeeeee.

Hacea Coffee Source X Little Bear Q&A

Our interview with Hacea’s Co-founder Jared Hales

Hey Jared, why don’t you tell our readers a little bit about yourself!

“I started working in the coffee industry in 2008 as a barista at a small independent coffee shop where I had a great trainer who taught me modern standards for preparing coffee. After a couple of years I took the position of store manager until I came across a local coffee importing business. I was absolutely enthralled by seeing the green coffee from all over the world stacked up to the warehouse ceiling. It really put into perspective how big the coffee industry is and how each part of the supply chain is connected. I just had to be a part of the bigger global picture so I showed up to the importing company after work each day until finally they had an opening as a delivery driver and warehouse worker which I took immediately. From there I learned how to sample roast and cup coffees, eventually passing the Q Arabica Grader course and becoming responsible for all coffee sourcing and education. After 7 years of building relationships with producers and roasters, I started Hacea Coffee Source with my family to continue sourcing coffee for roasters in my own way.”

So, what prompted you to start Hacea and how did the name Hacea Coffee Source come about?

“After investing so much time with producers and roasters, I wanted to continue working with everyone in my own way. The emphasis being on financial sustainability for everyone involved while bringing a straight-forward and transparent approach to coffee buying and selling. 

To come up with the name my family and I collectively wrote down more than 250 names that we felt could communicate what we do and how we do it. Unfortunately almost all of the best names were already taken by other coffee companies! My brother had the idea to incorporate the family name that coffee plants are categorized into: Rubiaceae. From there we put our own family initials in front and modified it a bit into “Hacea.” Following it with “coffee source” was always the plan to separate ourselves from the typical approach in coffee importing and instead positioning ourselves as a broader source in the coffee industry.”

How would you describe your buying practices and how has this philosophy benefited you/ your producer relationships? 

• How would you say these things differ from other importers? 

• Have these differences allowed you to create a niche in the market?

“Our buying philosophy is first and foremost to create win-win-win business relationships so everyone involved in our business, from grower to roaster, remains profitable and financially healthy. Because of this, pricing comes from the producer-up rather than the typical New York market-down. We must be paying prices above the cost of production at the farm level to ensure that farms can continue to operate and reinvest in themselves. 

This approach is surprisingly challenging in the “C Market” dominated industry. It means finding like-minded producers and roasters who value what we are doing and want to take part in it. Once these connections are established, they are incredibly strong and resilient which I believe is the reason we have survived one of the most tumultuous five year periods (pandemic, two frosts in Brazil, never before seen tariffs).”

How has rising cost and tariffs affected your business and long term how do you see these things changing the landscape of specialty coffee?

“Rising costs are bound to happen when we talk about coffee in terms of cost of production but the biggest challenge for us is to come up with the cash to pay for coffee once it is harvested. As the importer, we pay for all of the coffee up front when it leaves the country of origin. We are then releasing small amounts of coffee to roasters on a monthly basis while we pay down our loans that were used to pay for the coffee. 

The abrupt and constantly changing nature of the recent tariffs has proven to be much more challenging but for similar reasons. To give an example, In March we had committed to buying coffee from our vendor in Brazil for an August ship date. We secured our financing to purchase the coffee and then in April a 10% tariff was announced. Suddenly we had to secure an extra 10% just to cover the tariff bill. Then in July, as the shipment for August was being prepared, we are told that the coffee will now incur a total of 50% tariff. This means we have to come up with 40% more cash in the next two months just to cover a tax bill. The volatility is mind boggling.

I see this changing the landscape of “Spot coffee” for a long time. Because of how we work with roasters, most of the coffee we bring in is already allocated or contracted to specific clients. This reduces risk for everyone from producer to roaster but leaves us with very little coffee available in the US to sell spot. I think this model of reduced-risk through forward contracts will begin to be implemented by larger importers as the risk to bring in coffee for spot sales becomes even higher.”

This year you partnered with us to source our first container from India, in your own words how would you describe this experience and what are you most excited about in regards to these coffees?

“This is also my first time purchasing coffee from India! The web of connections that led me and Jacob to meet and then from there be introduced to Ashok and Pranoy in India is something that I absolutely love about the coffee industry. The shared trust between everyone has been really awesome and I am looking forward to seeing where it can go! The quality of the coffees from Ratnagiri and Kerehaklu have already been changing perceptions here in the US so I am excited to continue to break down preconceived notions and show people here how good coffee can be from Indian producers.”

What would you say has been the most challenging aspect of importing coffee and on the flipside of that what has been the most rewarding?

“It has been a tough 5 years. The strain on shipping and logistics as well as the rapidly changing coffee prices have definitely been the most stressful part of importing coffee but I still love it for the same reasons that originally drove me to find myself in this part of the industry! Having the connection to diverse and talented people all around the world is something very special. Even though we all come from different continents and cultures, hold different religious and political views, or even speak totally different languages, we can all come together to connect through coffee.”

If you could change one thing about the coffee industry what would it be and why?

“Cost of production-based pricing from the farm-up. Without a farm-based price model, we will continue to see growers leave coffee farming behind.”

Through our “Coffee Partners" blog series our goal is to highlight the intentionality that we, and so many others in our industry, have made to conduct our businesses as transparently and ethically as possible. Without people like Jared and his family at Hacea Coffee Source, we wouldn’t be able to do our part in bringing these special coffees to our community! 

Thank you for taking the time to read this post, we hope this insight gives you a deeper appreciation for some of the coffees we have on our menu.