100% cost transparency

If we look at one kilogram of coffee from the 2023 harvest, the following picture emerges. Farmers receive EUR 5.74 per kilogram of green coffee beans. However, due to weight loss during roasting, we need to use approximately 1.2 kilograms of green coffee to produce 1 kilogram of roasted coffee, which means that EUR 7.17 of the EUR 27 you pay goes to the farmers. For each kilogram of roasted coffee, an additional EUR 1.64 is added for transport and processing in Malawi, import to Europe by ship, and transport from Antwerp to Germany.

Your coffee is roasted by our partner van Gülpen, one of the oldest and most renowned roasters in Germany. We pay an average of €4.42 to roast one kilogram of coffee. Added to this are domestic logistics, bags, and transaction costs of €2.05 per kilogram, as well as a surcharge for our indirect costs such as software, marketing, and tax consulting of €1.36.

What is missing from the cost breakdown? That's right, we have no personnel costs – precisely because we are all volunteers working for Kaffee Tikondane. Out of an interest in sustainable development, a connection to Malawi, and a love of coffee.

What remains is €6.41. This is our impact margin, which we use, for example, to pay for new harvesting infrastructure for farmers to improve the quality of the coffee. This item alone costs approximately €1.39 per kg of roasted coffee per year. We also pay donations to Humission e.V. to promote development in Malawi and future harvests with appropriate inflation compensation. While inflation in Germany was 2.2% in 2024, inflation in Malawi was 32.18%. That's enough to make anyone feel queasy.

We work on a 100% voluntary basis. This means that all profits are reinvested directly into coffee cultivation in Malawi or go towards the projects run by Humission e.V. Would you like to find out more about our projects? Then click on the button and you will be redirected to the association's website.