December 2021: Yield Coffee Roasters | Cincinnati, OH

Operating out of a nondescript garage-turned-roastery north of Cincinnati, Ohio, you can't help but sense one thing: these people get it. Technicians in roasting, humanitarians in sourcing, and disciples of a philosophy that is hard to come by in an industry beholden to cutting costs at the expense of anything and everything along the supply chain. 

The good women and men of Yield Coffee Roasters are guided by a beautifully simple but prescient phrase that would make any Madison Avenue copywriter jealous: "Drink coffee that matters." 

Yield is about relational coffee. They view the farmers and producers from whom they source their beans as partners, not transactional pawns in the global commodity coffee market. Oh, and profits? They invest 10% of them in sustainable development projects in coffee-producing countries, like bringing clean water and sanitation to a village in Uganda. As if that's not impressive enough, they do all of this while paying 250 - 350% of market rates.

We had the pleasure of making the trip down I-71 to spend the day talking coffee with Andrew Lentz, who leads wholesale and production operations for Yield. We invite you to listen in on our interview with Andrew, and look forward to bringing you content like this every month. Here are a few clips, and you can access the full interview at the end of the post.

Enjoy!

 BG: So, "relational coffee". What does that mean?

 BG: This one brings us back to playing video games in our dorm room. If you could build your ultimate coffee, what would it be?

 BG: You've got 24 hours in Cincinnati, OH. How are you eating, drinking, and hanging out in the Queen City?

 BG: Any tips for making a better cup at home?

 BG: Full interview with Andrew