Firstly, we have Vera Li from Cafe Elements, a green coffee bean buyer company in China that sources its beans from Colombia, Brazil, and Ecuador. Cafe Elements started as a personal desire for Vera to change the narrative of the coffee industry in China, as she was formerly in the medicine industry. With her 15 years of travel experience from China to South America, she always brought coffee with her to China, but things changed when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Vera Li from Cafe Elements
During the lockdown, Vera Li realized how difficult it was to get the coffee she had become accustomed to down to China, with some of them not tallying with what was being said on the packaging, with false origins or false information being given. In doing her research, she discovered that multiple bottlenecks caused these to happen.
She knew something had to change, and she was the driver of this change. Immediately after the borders were reopened, she formed a team to travel down to South America to learn, find, and understand the ethics of good coffee from these countries. Vera knew that her company was going to be sincere about bringing good coffee from South America, and till today, they stand by that.
“We think the most important thing is to be honest and to be trustworthy and trustful for the customer here.”
Vera has seen the hard work of coffee farmers and understands how important it is that they are respected and valued for their valuable work. She has seen how much respect and good feedback mean to them and the coffee beans being produced.
Over time, a huge interest in the coffee scene has grown in her. Starting from a background of simply loving good coffee, becoming a coffee aficionado, and now starting a company to bring authentic coffee to other coffee lovers, Vera notes how the interest is still there.
She loves the diversity in coffee, as it has different aromas, flavors, textures, tastes, and many more. Since she found good coffee, she has been opened to a new world.
