Higher Grounds Trading Co was founded in 2001 in Traverse City, Michigan, by a team whose path to coffee began with a year living and working alongside the Maya Vinic cooperative in Chiapas, Mexico. That experience became the foundation for Michigan's first 100% fair trade and organic certified coffee roastery. The company is an owner member of Cooperative Coffees, an importing cooperative of 24 specialty roasters across North America that sources directly from small scale organic farmers worldwide. Every coffee is roasted in small batches five days a week at the Traverse City facility, with each lot cupped on arrival to determine its ideal roast profile. Higher Grounds channels proceeds into water projects, emergency relief, and educational programs in the farming communities it works with.