Ingredient of the Week: Allegro Coffee

If you’re like millions of Americans, and chef Tom Douglas for that matter, you love waking up to a nice, warm cup of coffee in the morning. If that’s the case, Tom and chef Thierry Rautureau suggest checking out Allegro coffee, carried by Whole Foods Market.

Bonnie Meyer, the regional coffee and tea buyer for Whole Foods, tells Tom and Thierry that “Allegro’s premise is to source and follow the sustainable practices we have at Whole Foods.”

Allegro, which is a company Whole Foods purchased in 1997, prides itself on knowing who its suppliers are.

“We have buyers, and our mandate is we visit every farm that we purchase from,” Bonnie says, making sure your coffee comes from reputable companies.

“It doesn’t have to be fair-trade or organic,” she says, “but they do have to follow those guidelines.”

Whole Foods itself pays above fair-trade prices, she adds, and says they sit down with the farmers to make sure they can – and do – pay their workers a living wage, and make sure they can make a profit off of it.

Bonnie also says the price of coffee has been volatile recently. “There’s a lot of disease going through Latin and Central America, Brazil’s having a drought and Brazil and Colombia tend to to pick up the balance with coffee.” Demand has also increased, she says, as Japan and China have recently jumped on the coffee craze. “The demand is extremely high,” she says.

“We’re making sure we’re providing the best cup we can,” Bonnie says.

Whole Foods Markets are a proud sponsor of Seattle Kitchen’s Ingredient of the Week.