OUR STORY
We named our specialty coffee company “Merge” because we are two families from different cultures and backgrounds that have combined our talents and gifts to build something bigger than ourselves individually. In 2017 we purchased a tiny little 1lb roaster and dove headlong into learning the craft. After A year and a half we started selling online and eventually opened our first cafe in Harrisonburg, VA.
What started as friends having fun has blossomed into a passion for responsibly sourcing coffees from around the world and expertly roasting them. We now have 2 cafes in Harrisonburg, VA where we're devoted to serve our community well and educate people on how to get the best out of there coffee experience. You can find our coffee by visiting our two coffee shops in Harrisonburg, VA as well as other coffee shops, cafes and grocery stores across Virginia.
Here are just a few things that we believe in at our core:
COMMUNITY
Community is in our DNA and
we believe in integrating it at
all levels of our business. We believe
coffee is our way to help stimulate
relationships and facilitate dreams.
RESPONSIBILITY
We are a member of the SCA
(Specialty Coffee Association),
we meticulously & sustainably
source our beans and only
purchase coffee at fair pricing.
COFFEE SOURCING ETHICS
Relationships are the foundation of our green coffee sourcing practices. For each coffee we purchase we work to establish relationships with the farmers, attaching a face and a name to the people that grow the coffee, and to tell a story that allows our customers to connect to the farmers who grow the coffee they drink. Fair, quality-based pricing is important to us so that the farmers can build sustainability and infrastructure and not just cover costs. As our business grows, it’s important that we pay the farmers enough to grow their businesses as well.
While we highly value relationships, we are a small company, and as much as we’d love to, we cannot afford to have a full time staff traveling globally to manage every coffee transaction from start to finish. Instead, we’ve built direct trade relationships through a network of native buyers and importers who share our values and vision. This helps us build strong, lasting relationships with farmers and cooperatives around the world.
Through these relationships we’re constantly working to improve the way we source coffee for our customers to ensure it will be available to share for many years to come.