The Tour
On November 2nd, 2023 our Agora Team had the exciting honor of touring the roastery of our newest coffee partner, Nossa Familia. Based in Portland, but founded by Brazilian native, Augusto Carneiro, Nossa Familia is the first B Corp-certified coffee roaster in the state of Oregon. An early established pioneer in the PNW coffee industry, Nossa Familia showed our team how they have grown their devotion to sustainability, as well as how they’ve added to their charitable initiatives, impacting hundreds of lives in numerous parts of society. During our tour we learned about where their coffee is grown, how their coffee is roasted, and their newest ways for how they give back.
The Coffee
Nossa Familia mostly sources their coffee beans from the founder’s home country of Brazil, and Guatemala, and many of the blends are even named after his family members. From experience, our Nossa Familia guides told us how their coffee beans are farmed on acres of beautifully landscaped land, and how their Guatemalan origin trips are to die for! Our guides then explained how each of their beans are specially roasted to ensure there is “no-second crack,” or in other words, that each bean is roasted just enough to release its full flavor profile without overdoing it. This method is favored by high-end roasters who prize lighter blends that allow the bean’s natural flavors to shine through. To better understand what this means, we tasted the Full Cycle Signature blend (medium roast), the Camila’s Organic (medium roast), and the Mathilde’s French Roast (dark roast) to see if this method was all it’s cracked-up to be. Our team was delighted to find that this was in fact true, and for the first time, some of us non-expert coffee drinkers were able to guess the tasting notes of the coffee! The distinct flavor profiles in each blend were discernible, and most notable in the lightest roast – Full Cycle.This testament made it easy to recognize the quality and precision of Nossa Familia’s roasting process.
Coffee Roasted & Delivered with Sustainability in Mind
Nossa Familia’s roasting process truly shows their dedication to sustainability. The machines they use to roast are the most environmentally-friendly roasters on the market. This coffee innovation recycles the hot air from the roaster drum and eliminates the need for an afterburner, consuming significantly less energy and using 80% less emissions than a standard roaster. Their team also shared about their latest energy saving initiative– their all electric fleet of delivery vehicles. These electric vehicles are used to transport or pick up coffee beans as well as make deliveries among other things, exemplifying the company’s holistic approach to energy saving in each facet of their business. Nossa Familia has been setting an impressive benchmark for the coffee industry and are only growing in their long term pursuit of sustainability.
How They Give Back
From saving gas to saving lives, the founder Augusto Carneiro’s love for biking puts a (coffee) cherry on top of their clean travel endeavors. Their signature coffee blend, “Full Cycle,” symbolizes the commitment they have to encouraging and fostering ways to promote positive life practices through cycling. They contribute 50¢ from each Full Cycle bag sold to nonprofits dedicated toward improving the world via bicycling. In addition to this give-back initiative their holiday blend “Festa” embarks on a special mission. This one set to uplift the women who cultivate the organic-certified coffees they roast. By donating .50¢ from each bag of Festa sold, Nossa Familia’s goal is to help these women acquire a new mechanical coffee cherry de-pulping machine. This investment will not only make lives much easier, ensuring enhanced processing, but it will provide a more promising future for these farmers and their families. These two coffee blends truly encompasses the company’s involvement in the ‘full cycle’ of coffee, from farm to cup, and the relationship they have at every step in the supply chain.
Nossa Familia’s innovative approach to sustainability, and their active involvement in the community and the society at large, made us even more eager to partner with them and share their brand with our clients. At Agora, we’re excited to offer Nossa Familia’s most popular blends, the Full Cycle, the Camila, and the Mathildes blend. It’s clear that the goal of Nossa Familia Coffee isn’t just to produce a cup of coffee; it’s to craft creative culinary blends that burst with flavor and nod to each cycle of the process.
If you are interested in serving Nossa Familia’s coffee in your office breakroom, reach out to us by filling out this form or giving us a call at (206) 588-4300. We are happy to help offer a variety of office refreshments including coffee, tea, snacks, kegs, and a variety of beverage machines to make the breakroom complete.
