For us as a family business, one thing is clear: We take responsibility for nature and the people in our supply chains. That's why we are continuously developing our sustainability commitment in the coffee-producing countries and have launched our Tchibo Coffee Program with the goal of promoting positive development in all our purchasing regions – particularly for improving the economic situation of farmers and adapting to climate change. We do this for all our products – regardless of whether it's Feine Milde, Eduscho, Qbo, Cafissimo, Barista, or Raritäten – regardless of the type of coffee used and the price at which it is sold. In this way, we are making our contribution to preserving coffee cultivation and acting in the interests of the farmers, Tchibo, and our customers. We do everything transparently! To this end, we work with the non-profit organization Enveritas, which verifies our work. Our goal is that by 2027, all Tchibo coffees will come from responsible sources. We are currently at around 20%, and the trend is rising rapidly.

By 2027, we will only offer responsibly sourced coffee.

For us, responsibly sourced means a continuous transformation process towards sustainable cultivation. This transformation process includes for us:

Sustainable cultivation means to us:

Alarming situation*

Coffee is an agricultural product that currently faces serious challenges in its countries of origin: By 2050, the cultivation areas for coffee could be halved, while drought and dryness could lead to significant crop failures. The consequence for the farmers is an income that is too low, which exacerbates problems such as child labor and illegal deforestation. In addition, the use of environmentally harmful chemicals is increasing in order to compensate for crop failures or to combat pests. To meet these challenges and to be able to offer our customers high-quality and responsibly produced coffee in the long term, there is a great need for action.

*CIAT Study2021: Growing Coffee in the Face of Climate Change (coffeeandclimate.org)

Our previous approach

Twenty years ago, we started promoting sustainable and yield-increasing cultivation methods on coffee farms. Our approach so far has been:

What we have learned

In recent years, we have found that especially tailored programs that address specific problems, like our Tchibo Joint Forces!® projects, bring about positive changes. We have also noticed that farmers are more likely to accept training offers and projects if they are actively involved in their design. Based on these findings, we have changed our approach. Instead of preparing all farmers for certification, we now focus on the development of tailored programs that are developed together with the farmers and concentrate on tackling the biggest challenges.

In short: We're all about making an impact! With our coffee program, we focus on customized programs and collaborative partnerships based on equal footing.