STiR coffee and tea magazine

14 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 2, 2018 (April / May) Q&A Q A By Sherri Johns Tim Heinze STIR: Sourcing specialty grade coffee direct from the farm is common these days. How important is it for you to visit the farms that you buy from? What do you look for on a farm visit? What turns you away? Tim Heinze: This is a funny question to me be- cause I couldn't imagine just visiting the farms! For us, working with our partners here on the ground involves spending days, weeks, and even months together working together harvesting coffee, pro- cessing coffee, and striving to always improve what we are doing. It's not just about visiting, but actually working together long-term in a partner-type rela- tionship. The fact that we are so close to the farms [geographically] facilitates this even more. When we do visit farms and spend time there, what I look for has less to do with the actual fields and more to do with the people working the fields. There aren't many situations that turn me away. Call me a glutton for punishment, but I [always]- put in ital love a challenge. What can make these challenges much tougher is when you are working with the wrong people or working with people who aren't interested in a long-term, partnership — those only seeking to make a quick buck. Over time, I learned who genuinely cares for the en- vironment around them, cares for the people who work alongside them, and who takes pride in what they do…these are the people with whom we find a common bond and work best with. We never enter situations and begin throwing around our weight, but rather we establish a dialogue where we work together to understand the situation and determine where we can bring value. There is so much I learn from just sitting and talking with local farmers…I couldn't imagine doing it any other way! STIR: What is your definition of transparency and what does it mean to your business? Heinze: Transparency to me is defined as a way of conducting business that as an end goal seeks to bring value into the supply chain. Transparency is willing to share the good, the bad, and the ugly upstream and downstream to ensure healthy and beneficial communication. Transparency is mas- sive in our business, and I couldn't imagine doing it any other way. This is an interesting topic because transparency requires vulnerability, but at the same it also re- quires that the partnerships and relationships you have with people are committed and long-term. I have seen fickle relationships hamper and create potential for hiding facts and covering things up, whereas when both sides know they are commit- ted to long-term transparency disclosing of all in- formation is done more freely. STiR: The term "sustainability" is used in many contexts. What does sustainability mean to you? Heinze: Sustainability covers several areas for me. You have the environmental side which includes a commitment to doing what is best to ensure future generations have a better livelihood so that we leave the earth better than we found it. Some of the ways we pursue this is through waste prevention projects, use of organic fertilizers including coffee pulp, and working to create a more balanced, agroforestry system that incorporates a balanced agronomy. Sustainability also significantly includes the farm- ers themselves. We want to ensure a focus on grower centric sustainability that sees the liveli- Tim Heinze has sourced and graded coffee in Yunnan and the greater Mekong region (Laos & Thailand) since 2009. He is one of a very few certified Q-grader (CQI) and green bean purchaser who is fluent in Mandarin and local dialects. The Houston, Tex., native graduated from Howard Payne University where he met his wife, Molly. The Heinze family moved to China where he studied language at Yuxi Normal University. In 2010, he was hired by Hani Coffee Co., Ltd. (Kunming) where is c.e.o. He was selected to present at China's first international coffee exhibition in Pu'er. His insight, experience and passion provide a glimpse into the growing China coffee opportunities.

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