Community. Authenticity. Excellence.
The Mission of Imperial is to distribute the finest coffee beans to customers with integrity and a unique commitment to quality. We supply coffee beans to consumers to be apart of keeping the culture and tradition of bringing people together over a great cup of coffee.
The heart of our coffee bean distribution business is to share and extend the culture of coffee with the whole world. We work hard to provide ethically sourced ( Fair -Trade) Arabica coffee to roasters, coffee shops and homes, right from the birthplace of coffee, Ethiopia. Coffee is international and without coffee beans there is no coffee culture. We exist to directly supply coffee beans to roasters and then those roasters can make it available to coffee shops to serve people with a delicious cup of coffee everyday. Coffee brings people together in beautiful ways. Whether it be to discuss business ideas, school projects, faith, family matters, first dates, and just life in general, coffee brings the community together! We are so passionate about cultivating an environment and space of UNITY among all people by keeping the true culture of Coffee, which is to gather every one. We want to narrow the gap and fade away the barriers of language and tradition, bringing everyone to a table with a cup of coffee and enjoying it with the harmony of a sip and a grip of peace.
As a company, we want to personally meet and build relationships with coffee roasters directly, without a middle man or broker involved. We are a direct extension of the farmers who source the coffee beans, and we want to shake hands with you and supply you with quality beans. We want to exceed client expectations with quality service that goes beyond a simple business transaction. Cultivating and maintaining meaningful relationships is a top priority among all of our goals.
OUR STORY
We are a family business of seven siblings working together to flourish the legacy of our parents. They established the Import and Export business in East Africa in the 1960's. It has been active in the trading business for more than 50 years and is mostly known for importing and distributing top quality products to the market. We expanded our business to the USA in 2016. This was around the time that our youngest born of the family migrated to the US and proposed the idea of coffee export to share our coffee with the rest of the world, which had also recently become a dream of mine!
The family agreed to work together and strengthen this idea so that it could become a reality. We stretched a network between all of us, as some of us reside in the US, others in the United Kingdom, and of course, Ethiopia. Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee and has a lot to share with the world, and the fair trade system enabled us to bring shipments overseas and supply to roasters, as there is high demand. One of my brothers is the overseer of the plantation and farmers back in Ethiopia.
There, we grow the beans and harvest them in due season, where trained farm workers then carefully pick the coffee cherries. They are manually processed prior to being sent off to the cleaning and forwarding warehouse. This is where the coffee beans are thoroughly cleaned, graded, and packed to export standard. Then, we cargo ship the bags overseas from Ethiopia, where our consumers are located (Africa, Australia, Italy, Canada, and USA).
My brother handles the entire process directly, from harvesting the beans, to packing and shipping. Once shipped, it’s all about connections with coffee roasters and learning about their business’ needs so that we as a company know how to meet their expectations. We supply coffee beans all year round and store them in our warehouse in Columbus, OH.
ABOUT ME
My name is Miriam Tesfai. I’m an immigrant, born and raised in East Africa. Where I lived, coffee culture was a big part of the community. Everyone would gather together to drink coffee regularly, to announce major events, to comfort one another, to participate in Bible studies, play games, tell jokes and discuss family and business matters. I migrated to the United States in pursuit of better life opportunities for me and my child, and in those early years of living in the US, I didn't have much of a support system. I would often find myself thinking about and missing the culture of gathering with others, especially for coffee ceremonies. Coffee is meant to be enjoyed, of course, and waiting through the process with patience is something that I have learned to value and love.
As an immigrant I faced many challenges. I was able to come across a cup of coffee, of course, but it was missing something; community. It lacked the people sitting around enjoying each other, the aroma of fresh coffee beans and the cultured taste in every cup. I missed the flavors and the warm environment around it and I started to dream. I dreamt that one day, I would be able to bring coffee beans from my country, directly from my family farm, to my new home here in the US. I started to fantasize about the reality of it and how wonderful it would be to share the culture and flavors of coffee grown in my hometown with my local community and even internationally. That dream led me here, to Imperial Import and Export, where we bring green coffee beans straight from Ethiopia to roasters across America.
My main priority is to stay true to the authenticity of coffee flavor and the powerful culture of gathering, and use the profit to support refugee and immigrant resettlement agencies who help immigrants settle into their new homes, so that they don’t have to go through the same struggles and hardships that I went through with my child. Being a foreigner can be confusing, mentally, and culturally challenging, especially in the first 2-5 years. By supporting organizations that help resettle refugees & immigrants, we are reducing the impact of being an alien. Additionally, I strongly believe that a cup of coffee and some good conversation can make anyone feel like they’re apart of a community.