Women-Run Coffee Businesses to Support This Women’s History Month: Part One

Last updated Mar 7, 2025

A list of women-led coffee companies to support this month and beyond.

BY EMILY JOY MENESES
ONLINE EDITOR

Featured photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona

March is International Women’s History Month—and while there’s always room to celebrate women in the specialty-coffee world, now is an opportune time to recognize the countless women at every level of the supply chain, and their indelible contributions to the industry.

Addressing Gender Inequality in the Coffee World

According to a report by the International Coffee Organization (ICO), women make up about 70% of the global coffee production workforce, but only 20%-30% of coffee farms are run by women. The organization also shares that, within coffee-producing communities, women also have significantly lower access to resources like land, credit, and information compared to men.

Gender inequality is also reflected at the café level: Around the world, women in coffee face underrepresentation, with café leadership and roasting roles disproportionately inhabited by men.

In light of these challenges, we want to amplify the women paving the way for more equality within the industry. Here are three women-run coffee businesses to support this International Women’s History Month and beyond.

Portland Cà Phê

Founded by Kim Dam, Portland, Ore.’s Portland Cà Phê exclusively offers coffee sourced from Vietnam, which Kim roasts herself. While her shop has found success amongst the PDX community, Kim shares that her vision doesn’t stop there: Through her work in coffee, she also hopes to create space and opportunities for other women in the industry.

Women-run coffee businesses: A white coffe bag is pictured laying on a table. The bag reads “Portland Ca Phe.” Next to the coffee bag are stray coffee beans. — Portland Cà Phê founder Kim Dam keeps her culture alive by offering coffee exclusively sourced from Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Kim Dam.

“The coffee roasting industry in Portland is pretty male- and white-dominated,” she says. “I can think of maybe a handful of BIPOC roasters and one other BIPOC woman roaster here in PDX.”

Women-run coffee businesses: Kim Dam is pictured wearing a white shirt and smiling at the camera with her hands in her pockets. In front of her is a table with a pain filter (a Vietnamese coffee dripper), a black water kettle, and a few stray coffee beans. — Kim Dam expresses gratitude for those who helped her get into coffee roasting, as well as her hopes to empower other women in coffee. Photo by Analy Lee, courtesy of Kim Dam.

“Although I officially started roasting (during) the summer of 2020, I’ve actively been interested in learning how to roast since 2018. It took me some time to find the right means to grow this passion,” she continues. “As I grow (my business), I would like to make myself easily accessible to other women who would like to learn more about roasting, sourcing, and (the Portland coffee industry) in general.”

Café Juayúa

Women-run coffee businesses: Linda Gonzalez is pictured standing next to a bed of dried coffee beans, looking closely at them as she sorts through the pile. Next to her is a man, who also looks at the pile of coffee beans. — Linda Gonzalez (left) sources coffee directly from her family’s farm in El Salvador. Photo courtesy of Linda Gonzalez.

Los Angeles’ Café Juayúa was started by Linda Gonzalez and her husband, Juan. The shop currently operates in El Sereno, a neighborhood on the eastside of L.A., and sources coffee directly from Linda’s family in El Salvador, who have been growing coffee in the small mountain town of Juayúa for several generations. Linda also creates all of the artwork for the shop, using techniques like block printing to create the beautiful coffee packaging that the café has become known for.

Women-run coffee businesses: A black coffee bag is decorated with intricate artwork, depicting a woman and leaves. Around the coffee bag is a variety of colorful items: a grapefruit, an orange, a pot of honey, coffee beans, dried flowers, and more. — Linda designs all of the artwork for Café Juayúa, drawing inspiration from the landscape of Juayúa and her family’s indigenous Salvadoran roots. Photo courtesy of Linda Gonzalez.

The Los Angeles native shares her main intention through her work in coffee: to alter people’s perception of the crop and where it comes from.

“(I want people to see) how many hands are involved (in coffee production)—how much work goes into producing coffee. You know, the people behind it, the history behind it, which is so rich and beautiful,” she says. “I think it’s definitely a transformative experience when you go down to the farm level and see how much it takes to get coffee out. So I want people to appreciate and have an open mind to learn about coffee, not only from El Salvador, but from around the world.”

Grand Paradé

Born in Kenya and currently based in Berkeley, Calif., Kavi Bailey started the coffee company Grand Paradé out of both a passion for the crop and a desire to empower people at origin—especially women.

Women-run coffee businesses: A table displays a blue banner that reads “Grand Parade: Coffee made for the dance of life.” On top of the table is an array of coffee-related items: to-go cups, coffee dispensers, cartons of milk, etc. — Grand Paradé hosting a pop-up in San Francisco, Calif. Photo courtesy of Grand Paradé.

At the heart of her work is her goal to fight insecurity amongst coffee producers, by providing them with fair wages and teaching them investing, bookkeeping, and sustainable farming methods to ensure long-lasting generation of wealth. “The ultimate goal of (coffee) farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and empowerment of human beings,” Kavi says.

Women-run coffee businesses: Kavi Bailey is pictured speaking on a panel at a coffee conference. She holds a microphone. Behind her is a big sign that reads “124th Session of the International Coffee Council.” — Kavi Bailey (right) shares her intentions to empower women at origin. Photo courtesy of Kavi Bailey.

Through Grand Paradé, Kavi has been able to work with coffee farms in many parts of the world, including Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Colombia, and Guatemala. Many of the farms she sources from are women-run: Click here to explore Grand Paradé’s complete collection of women-produced coffees.

Stay Tuned

In the coming weeks, we’ll release part two of this article, where we’ll showcase more women-owned coffee businesses making a difference in the industry.

As always, you can read Barista Magazine in paper or digital format. Read the February + March 2025 issue for free with our digital edition.

And for more than three years’ worth of issues, visit our digital edition archives here.

Source: Barista Magazine