As this year 2025 draws to a close, we feel like taking stock. Not a financial assessment — those lines will be written elsewhere — but a human one. Because behind every coffee you receive, there are producers, cooperatives, contracts and commitments. And at this year’s end, at the heart of our campaign Direct Trade Africa, we wanted to introduce them to you.
Five origins, five stories
Our adventure began in April 2021 with Soleil du Cavally, in Côte d’Ivoire. This partnership, signed the very month of our founding, gave its name to our historic robusta and still represents the largest volume in our direct trade programme.
In 2022, two cooperatives joined the family: Terres de Nyungwe in Rwanda, with its 340 producer families farming above 1,700 metres, and Rives du Kivu in the DRC, whose Bourbon washed with Lake Kivu water has become a favourite among filter lovers. The year 2022 will also be remembered for a temporary logistics disruption in the DRC, which reminded us of the fragility of supply chains.
In 2023, we welcomed Les Hauts de Boyo in Cameroon, a honey process micro-lot deliberately kept at a human scale to preserve exceptional quality. Then in 2024, Route d’Antananarivo in Madagascar, our most recent partner, with whom we are considering a multi-year contract in 2026.
The rules of direct trade at Maison Soleil
Every partnership rests on three pillars: a multi-year contract of at least three years, a floor price guaranteed at least 30% above the world market price, and harvest pre-financing of 40% paid before harvest. These rules are not fair-weather exceptions: they apply to every cooperative, every year.
This year, our model was put to the test — and it held. As traceability became an industry-wide requirement, our head start turned into a differentiating asset. That is the whole meaning of our 2025 campaign: we were doing it before it was mandatory.
What you taste, what you support
By buying a Maison Soleil coffee, and especially by giving the Direct Trade Africa Gift Set, you are not just funding artisan roasting in Marseille. You are contributing to the visibility of five cooperatives, the durability of balanced contracts, and the recognition of a model the market finally seems to be validating.
We have not yet reached our vision of becoming France’s reference for direct roasting focused on French-speaking Africa by 2030. But as 2025 draws to a close, we are a little closer.
Thank you for standing with us.