Blue Bottle Joins World Coffee Research Checkoff Program
Securing the future of coffee
Blue Bottle joined World Coffee Research's (WCR’s) Checkoff Program in 2021, ensuring half a penny for every pound of coffee we purchased through qualifying importers supported the organization's research and development work. Beginning in 2022, WCR introduced a fixed-rate membership model by which Blue Bottle contributes to similar effect. In our first year, qualifying purchases under the Checkoff Program accounted for 95 percent of Blue Bottle's global coffee supply, with two importers matching donations for 22 percent of our volumes.
Aquiares, in Costa Rica, is a 129-year-old farm and F1 hybrid trial site that sits high on the slopes of Turrialba Volcano. Photo credit: LM Salazar, Crop Trust
As shared during the 2020 release of Blue Bottle's Costa Rica Coffee Set, of which a portion of the proceeds benefited WCR, the organization invests in coffee quality, farm productivity, and farmer profitability.
Together, Blue Bottle and WCR are working to secure the future of coffee. As an industry-driven research body, WCR is uniquely positioned to shape the coffee sector beyond Blue Bottle's own supply stream while developing the types of high-quality varietals and grower recommendations that can benefit Blue Bottle producers, along with farmers globally.
An F1 hybrid variety candidate being tested at Aquiares farm with efficient use of cubic space and productive secondary branches. Photo credit: World Coffee Research
Sustainability is at the fore of WCR's agenda. The work of a partner like WCR is vital, given estimates that 75 percent of today's available, unforested land suitable for Arabica farming will be lost by 2050 due to climate change; that coffee farming will need to shift 37 meters higher in elevation per decade; and that 14 percent of land currently planted with Arabica will lose economic viability by mid-century. Smallholder farmers will be hit especially hard by these impacts.
We are proud to be a sustaining member of World Coffee Research.