After a terrible cup of joe in the office, a founder decided to bring African coffee traditions stateside

Kahawa 1893 prioritizes small producers and premium beans, while also offering consumers a virtual pot' to support its suppliers

When she was a child growing up in Kenya, Margaret Nyamumbo learned about a custom that took place on her grandfather's coffee farm: every few weeks, the women who worked there would gather around a table and drop money into a large pot. Anyone who had contributed had the right to later retrieve funds in the form of a small loan.

This so-called table banking" system, which is a custom in Kenya, helped women involved in the coffee trade support one another. Kenyan women, who historically are denied land ownership and therefore the ability to take out loans, provide 90% of labor on coffee farms but own just 1% of the land.