In 2016, Shane Buerster traveled to Zaruma, Ecuador with a group of other Mercer Business students in a program called Mercer On Mission. On this trip, the group's goal was to research whether or not coffee could be an economic alternative to gold mining in the El Oro region of Ecuador. While conducting interviews, the group worked with Arturo Peñarreta, a Zarumian government employee, who served as their tour guide during the interview process. After Shane returned to the United States, he kept in touch with Arturo through daily phone calls. Arturo suggested that Shane start a coffee business and begin importing Ecuadorian coffee, and thus, Z Beans Coffee was born. "Z" for Zaruma. Our Mission at Z Beans Coffee is to develop sustainable communities through Transparent Trade. But what does that mean? To answer this question, we break it down into three pillars: Community, Transparency, and Sustainability. Community recognizes our team in the States and abroad, our farmer partners, our customers, our business partners, and our impact on the cities and towns we have the fortunate opportunity to be a part of both domestically and internationally. We strive to be the connecting factor between teammates, customers, cities, and coffee farmers. Transparency represents honesty in communication to our teammates, farmers, and customers. Z Beans is built on hard work and trust. There are no secrets in our supply chain. Sustainability embodies our goal to create solutions not just for environmental purposes but for economic and operational sustainability as well—the assurance that our world, our team, and our partners are all able to push forward. Learn more about Z beans at https://www.zbeanscoffee.com/pages/our-mission.