Coffee Exchange is a classic neighborhood café.
We are unique in that we roast coffee on the premisis daily, in small batches of twenty pounds or less to make the artful adjustments that keep a great coffee great.
 The taste of high grown arabica coffee is highly conditioned by weather, soil conditions and cultivation practices. The one-size-fits-all approach of large automatic roasters often flattens these sensitivities, creating a muted, unexceptional flavor.
 We believe in preserving the integrity of every coffee we roast by ensuring its most prominent taste characteristics are enhanced by the roasting process.
Sustainable Coffee
Bill and Charlie Fishbein, and their parents, Mel and Rose, started Coffee Exchange in Providence, RI in 1984. In 1988, twenty years ago, about the time Bill was founding Coffee Kids and when there were only two or three organic coffees available, Coffee Exchange proudly purchased and served them, even though the price was higher – and the reputation lower – than conventionally grown coffee.
Organic Agriculture pretty much defines sustainability. By preserving and enriching the environment in which they work and raise their families, organic farmers act responsibly by not using synthetic fertilizers and pesticides and thereby protecting the land, air and waterways of their community as well as the future health of their families. As great tasting organic coffee became more available over the next twenty years or so, so did our commitment to purchase and roast as much high grown organic Arabica coffee as we could find. Similarly, certified Fair Trade coffees came on the scene
in 1998.
The Fair Trade movement uses a market approach and social conscience to promote global change through consumer support. Fair Trade ensures that a fair price is paid to the coffee farmer – a price that is set higher than global market conditions of supply and demand would normally dictate – and that the independently run small-farmer cooperative receives assistance in organic and sustainable agriculture, pre-financing for their coffee, educational and infrastructure improvements.
Presently, over 95% of the coffees we sell are both Organic and Fair Trade. Those that aren’t are either Transitional Organic or Transitional Fair Trade (a 3-5 year certification process), Kenya AA (Organic and Fair Trade certification is not permitted by the Kenyan Govt.) or some decaffeinated coffees. |
We extend the notion of integrity when we buy green coffee.
 Whenever possible, we buy Certified Organic coffee. It is better coffee, both in terms of flavor and the social, environmental and physiological health of the communities where the coffee is grown and of the people who grow, care for and harvest the crop.
 Similarly, we support the Fair Trade process and sell Fair Trade coffees.
We see current depressed coffee prices as a severe problem for the coffee industry as well as for coffee drinkers. The need to artificially boost income to coffee growers is one step in a long line of steps necessary to help a population that is being forced out of a way of life by arbitrarily low prices.
 These low prices are determined not by quality, but simply by supply and demand for the entire industry. In this process, farmers in Colombia and Guatemala, and in Kenya and Sumatra, are paid only what the going rate IS, not what their coffee might be worth. Fair Trade provides coffee farmers with credit, increased income, education, and a sense of industry support at this time of special need.
Coffee Exchange is committed to finding sources of shade-grown coffee, grown without clear-cutting rain forest and preserving desperately needed habitat for many endangered species.
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There is a special place in our collective heart for the soul of the coffee industry – and that is with Coffee Kids.
Coffee Kids is an international non-profit organization founded in 1989 by Bill Fishbein, co-owner of Coffee Exchange.
 The mission of Coffee Kids is to improve the quality of life for children and families who live in coffee-growing communities in Central America and Mexico.
By creating programs that are locally-directed, community-based, and founded on the principles of sustainability, Coffee Kids helps to reduce dependency on coffee as the sole source of income. Coffee Kids establishes community banks that provide women with access to low-interest credit to begin or improve their own small businesses. In addition, scholarships have been awarded to hundreds of students in Costa Rica that enable them to continue their education. Coffee Kids works to educate consumers and coffee-related businesses about the prevailing conditions in coffee-growing communities and enlists their financial support for its programs.
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