Bean & Bean is focused on Female Equity in Coffee. Women make up more than 70% of coffee labor — from farmers to baristas — but are paid substantially less and have fewer workers’ rights than men. Bean & Bean has a conscious commitment to source from female producers whenever possible. Right now, more than half of Bean & Bean coffee is from women-led or owned coffee farms. The producers are fair trade and organic certified, to guarantee that all workers receive a livable wage, no exceptions. Bean & Bean believes in supply chain transparency and is direct-trade when possible. That means they have a real relationship with their coffee producers. (Like, they actually know each other and keep in touch via text and zoom.)
Founding Story
The duo behind ethically sourced Bean & Bean is mother Rachel and daughter Jiyoon, both certified Q graders (a.k.a. coffee sommeliers). Jiyoon’s parents, who immigrated from South Korea in 2000, opened their first coffee shop in New York City in 2008 and pioneered the first-ever Queens, NY coffee roastery.
Today, Bean & Bean has 4 locations. Each coffee is sourced, cupped, and curated by the mother-daughter duo. That’s why they have survived three major obstacles — the 2008 financial recession, the COVID-19 pandemic, and their first brick and mortar being right next to a Starbucks.
Not that it’s been easy — Jiyoon was pulling double duty as a Harvard Business School MBA candidate in the mornings and a coffee connoisseur at night, experiencing the shutdown as a crash course in saving a family business. After graduating in 2022, Jiyoon was selected for the prestigious James Beard Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership program of 2023.
