Equator Coffees

Finca Sophia, a coffee farm co-owned by Equator co-founders Helen Russell and Brooke McDonnell, recently placed 2nd in the Geisha Washed category and 5th in the Geisha Natural Category at the Best of Panama 2024! 🎉 Co-owner Willem Boot (left) and Farm Manager Kelly Hartmann (right) were on hand to accept the awards.

As a proud queer founder of Equator Coffees, I’m thrilled to celebrate Pride Month and honor our LGBTQI+ roots. This is a time to reflect on our journey, celebrate our community, and reaffirm our commitment to positive change and inclusivity. 🏳️🌈 Being an LGBTQI+ entrepreneur, I understand the power of standing in our truth and using our influence to make a difference. Our mission goes beyond serving exceptional coffee; it’s about creating spaces where everyone feels welcomed, supported, and empowered. In honor of Pride Month, 5% of sales from our Pride Tiger t-shirts and $1 from every pour-over coffee sold in cafes will be donated to Rainbow Railroad, an international nonprofit that helps LGBTQI+ individuals escape violence and persecution in their home countries and domestically. Now more than ever we have to stand together and support our community. Pride is also a time for celebration! This month we’re excited to host Tour d’Equator: Pride Ride 2024, an Instagram live with the founder of Boichik Bagels, Emily Winston, and to help kick off the San Francisco Pride celebrations by serving coffee at their Pride For Breakfast event. At Equator, our commitment to the queer community is woven into the fabric of who we are–not just during Pride Month, but every day of the year. We continually work to ensure that our cafes serve as safe spaces for everybody. We make an intentional effort to work with and uplift other LGBTQI+ founded companies. We work with queer artists on artwork for our campaigns and we select LGBTQI+ organizations for our giveback programs, such as the LYRIC Center for LGBTQI+ Youth. Join me in honoring Pride this month and every month as we continue to support, empower, and celebrate the LGBTQI+ community. Together, we can create positive change and build a more inclusive world.  🌈🌈🌈

"This unique site is home to Equator Coffees, located inside the historic Round House building, where customers stop for a cup of coffee and a front-row seat to one of the world’s most iconic bridges." A fun read by SFGATE about our location at Round House Cafe and the history behind the building! https://lnkd.in/gbJi3ASp

"Design work speaks to us in so many different voices, with shades and subtlety and intentionality that continues to delight and surprise. This story offers all that in a big way." Thank you to Sprudge for the love on our new packaging design! https://lnkd.in/ge6nfQ4K

Investing in our people and growing the next generation of coffee professionals remains a top priority of ours. In 2023, we continued to invest in our employees through: • Online onboarding courses on anti-harassment, unconscious bias, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. • Paid coffee education classes that cover topics such as an introduction to coffee, the impact of extraction percentages, water quality, roasting, the sensory lexicon, latte art, how brew method changes flavor profile, espresso preparation, triangulation, and brewing variables. • An expansion of onboarding and training in Spanish language. • Paid time off for employees to volunteer at a nonprofit of their choice such as Marin Foster Care Association and Adopt a Family of Marin. • Establishing Juneteenth as a paid company holiday starting in 2024. • Paid time off to vote.  • Paid professional development such as the Q Arabica Course and Exam, Coffee Roasters Guild Retreat, SF Coffee Festival, HR conferences, and Speciality Coffee Expo. • Over 10,000 free courses available to employees via Paylocity’s Learning Management System and our Employee Assistance Program on topics from leadership development, to health and wellness, and beyond. • Paying 100% of health care premiums for enrolled employees and lowering the deductible by $650. Learn more about our company culture and values in our Impact Report: https://lnkd.in/g-zBRe5j

We’re proud to have donated over $65,000 through our giveback program for valued organizations both locally and globally in 2023. These programs include our Chefs Collection where we partner with award-winning chefs to craft incredible coffees for great causes, our Cup For A Cause program where we donate $1 from every pour-over coffee sold at cafes, and our Seasonal Campaigns where we make a 5% pledge to give back to the producers of the core coffee in each blend. For a complete list of our 2023 donations and beneficiary organizations, head to our Impact Report: https://lnkd.in/g-zBRe5j

Reflecting on an incredible Specialty Coffee Association Expo in Chicago that was filled with great coffee and collaboration. Thank you to our amazing partners at Breville, La Marzocco, Fellow, and Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Inc. for hosting us at your booths! ☕ Looking forward to next year!

As a B Corp certified organization, we remain dedicated to continuous improvement and accountability, striving to set the standard for excellence within our industry. Our annual impact report is now live and we are so proud to share it with you all. We invite you to join us in celebrating the growth we made together in 2023. The sustainability work that we do is a team effort and it cannot be done without your support. Read the report here: https://lnkd.in/g-zBRe5j

We've launched two of our Ready to Drink cold brews at all California Sprouts Farmers Market locations! 🚀 Introducing our new Regenerative & Fair Trade Espresso Roast, alongside our Hint of Vanilla. Discover these consciously crafted RTD cold brews on shelves at any Sprouts location within California.

That's a wrap on our first booth ever at Natural Products Expo West! Our team had an incredible time showcasing that coffee can be a force for good. We had a blast connecting with others over samples from our espresso bar, sharing our consciously crafted Ready to Drink Cold Brew - including the debut of two new flavors, and hosting a Dirty Chai Happy Hour with our B Corp friends at TCHO Chocolate! #expowest2024