Starting something means identifying a point in time and resetting your stopwatch to all zeros. Sometimes you need something additional - like a physical starting point, where a map or a compass might prove useful. Other times you just need a direction as much as sheer determination while you figure your way through. There are even times when past events force us to take action and, hence, choose a different path. Regardless of your motivation the ideal journey will have a destination, either final or temporary, where your vision hopefully meets reality. Along the way your best toolset will be a mix of patience, focus, ingenuity, resourcefulness, will power, light luggage, and good companionship. 

White Tale Coffee's journey started about a year ago. With an business idea in mind and a noble cause at hand (coffee) we set sail in search of great coffee with inspiring stories behind it. A beverage so ingrained in our daily lives, spanning across so many different cultures, proved to be a helluva good excuse to tap into our inner wanderlust while connecting growers with drinkers.

Our mission took a little while to emerge, but after a few group discussions it was clear that we had a competitive advantage in terms of cultural heritage - carrying the Colombian flag abroad is not always easy, but this time around it proved very handy. We also felt we had a unique perspective on the traditions surrounding coffee and the role it has played shaping the idiosyncrasies of Latin America in general. And last but not least, we felt there was a palpable gap in terms of connecting American consumers with the real, human stories behind their morning cup of coffee. Having a mission statement felt like a Fortune 500 type of thing, something we didn't feel quite comfortable with. However, we concluded that despite the cliché there was indeed a true sense of mission in our journey - sourcing great coffee, roasting it to perfection, and telling the inspiring tales behind those coffee beans. Ditto. Then what? A vision? Did we need a fortune teller to tell us where we would be in 5, 10, or 20 years? There's plenty of shamanism and witchery across the coffee country - Equatorial Africa, Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Haiti ... You name it! Turns out to be we realized we had a simple premise to start with, so why complicate it when envisioning our future? Becoming the connecting epicenter between coffee lovers and coffee growers sounded complicated enough. We decided to settle on that one.


Now that we have a mission, a vision, a sales tax license, a certificate from the Colorado Secretary of State saying we have all the legal documents to conduct business as usual (whatever that means), and some equipment as well as inventory we felt we would be nothing without an audience. A chicken/egg type of dilemma, but certainly a less gnarly one. We had enough nerve to include you in this mailing list in order to keep you posted not only on upcoming news, exciting products, and miscellaneous crap (just kidding) but also to share the tales we'll be collecting along our journey. Figuratively speaking, this newsletter will be the vessel where our tales will be continuously crafted; we'll be traveling around the world pretending to be the captains of our souls and the masters of our fates (good luck with that, my mom said); you, hopefully, will be our best companionship. 

Our goal is to connect our audience with our own (caffeinated) perspective by sharing the tales of legacy, courage, hope, rebirth, tragedy, determination, heritage, destiny, happiness and human ingenuity behind the curtain. Each farm, each family and - therefore - each bag of coffee beans has its own tale. Ours is still in the making and waiting to be told. A white, blank one indeed. We'd love to invite you to be part of it.

Sit down, grab a chair, brew yourself some coffee, and enjoy the trip.