Responsibility
Being a responsible roaster goes beyond sustainability—it means ensuring that our producing partners earn a livable, profitable income. We have a direct trade model that includes the producers and cooperatives in the price making, and we’re able to use our experience and understanding of the market to increase the amount paid to them when we know it’s “cheap”. We believe in equitable relationships that prioritize long-term economic stability for the people who grow the coffee we buy.
While producers often have the smallest carbon footprint in the entire supply chain, we recognize our the need to minimize our own environmental impact. We’re committed to doing our part to protect the environment and contribute to a healthier coffee industry.
At Idle Hands Roasting Co., we believe that specialty coffee can be both exceptional and responsible. From the farm level to the final cup, we are committed to transparency, traceability, sustainability, and positive social impact. Our work begins by sourcing direct from producers and cooperatives, who typically carry the smallest carbon footprint in the value chain. In turn, we aim to do our part by minimizing our environmental impact at every step.
We work to reduce waste and reuse . The jute, hessian, and GrainPro or EcoTact bags used to transport our green coffee are repurposed in the roastery and at local nurseries, animal shelters, beekeepers and for park or public land clean-ups. If you're interested in using them, get in touch; we’d love to share.
Our retail packaging is made with sustainability in mind. All our coffee bags are fully recyclable (LDPE 4), and our labels are printed on recycled paper.
More than 90% of our coffee is roasted using a Loring S35 Kestrel roaster—a beautiful and energy-efficient roaster, that allows us to reduce our carbon emissions significantly. By roasting on the Loring, we save approximately 50,000 pounds of CO₂ each year compared to traditional drum roasting methods.
Transparency is central to our ethos. We are proud to be a data donor to the Specialty Coffee Transaction Guide (SCTG), an initiative that gathers and analyzes trade data from companies around the world to promote equitable and informed coffee buying practices for both coffee buyers, and importantly, coffee sellers. In that same spirit, we publish detailed price breakdowns for every coffee we source. Each product page features all the available information we’ve gathered—from farmgate and FOB pricing to contract types and number of bags purchased—because we believe that if we know it, you should too. This data is compiled into an annual transparency report, which you can explore in our 2024 Annual Report.
Idle Hands is based in Salt Lake City, situated on the traditional lands of many Indigenous communities. In recognition of this, we make an ongoing monthly payment to NARF, and another to the Navajo Water Project, an initiative led by Dig Deep that works to provide clean water to underserved Native communities in the Southwest. Access to clean water is a fundamental right, and we're committed to helping address this injustice.
Since 2024, we’ve participated and sponsored the Navajo Nations Coffee Festival.
Our commitment to community extends to the producers we partner with. In collaboration with Odyssey Coffees in El Salvador, we've supported the Growing Together Project, donating schoolbooks to rural communities and contributing to a collective effort among six roasters to raise funds for water infrastructure in a nearby indigenous village.
We know that sustainability is a moving target. As Idle Hands Roasting Co. grows, we remain committed to continually improving the value stream we operate within—making better choices, asking better questions, and holding ourselves accountable to the future we want to help create.
