At Exploradora, we are committed to investing in premium coffee that supports the communities of our female growers around the globe. Further, we have made it our mission to put dollars back into communities in need right here at home.
Mother-Daughter Business
They say “Never go into business with friends or family.” Well, we didn’t listen.
After several visits to coffee country, Alison felt like there was an opportunity to showcase women growers and coops, especially considering their existence and rise in a largely male-dominated industry. Exploradora grew out of a desire to meaningfully connect women coffee growers with an audience of savvy, flavor-focussed coffee drinkers in North America.
Partnering with daughters Wade and Hollis, our mission is to bring attention to the amazing coffees that women are bringing to the market and give them a platform of their own. To that end, we exclusively source premium women-grown coffees.
Focus on Female Growers
Going back to its origins, coffee has been a male-dominated industry.
From the original plantations and coffeehouses, these were traditionally male domains.
All of our coffees are sourced from different women-run co-ops around the globe that also use their proceeds to create resources for schools, water systems and positive economic change.
Only in the last 20 years have we seen real strides for women as they develop footholds as growers, importers, roasters and retailers. Our goal is to celebrate the women who have been the trailblazers and spotlight the amazing coffee being grown by woman-owned coffee farms and women coops from around the globe.
Make an impact at home
A dollar of every Exploradora bag sold goes to our Blue Foot Fund, a monthly donation to Springboard to Opportunities. Springboard’s initiative, the Magnolia Mother’s Trust, provides low-income, African-American mothers in Jackson, Mississippi $1,000 cash on a monthly basis, no strings attached, for 12 full months.
While there have been several initiatives for a guaranteed income worldwide, The Magnolia Mother's Trust was the first to start this work in the United States and remains the only initiative that specifically targets extremely low-income, Black mothers living in affordable housing in the United States.
By working directly with families living in poverty and having them take part in the organizations planning for change, Springboard’s efforts ensure that folks are given ownership of the process and are empowered to advocate in their communities.
In the News
Exploradora Coffee: Scouting a new path in Coffee Production
Coffee is more than just a hot, delicious drink to sip while wearing pajamas in the kitchen or while fashionably dressed at a Parisian sidewalk café. Coffee is connection. It brings together friends, family and even strangers.
As founders of Exploradora Coffee, Alison Anderson and her daughter, Wade Johnson, decided to create a company and product that connects the people who drink it with the people — specifically women — who grow it and to those in need right here in the United States.
“Even in tough times, people tend to hold onto small indulgences like coffee and now they are brewing more at home,” Anderson says. “Coffee fosters a sense of community and connection with family, co-workers and friends. In a time of polarization, we are drawn to it and place extra value on things we may have taken for granted before.”
Spirited Artisan: Getting to know Exploradora Coffee
I enjoyed a dynamic conversation with mother-daughter proprietors, Alison Gray Anderson and Wade Johnson who founded Exploradora Coffee in 2020 as a creative outlet and generative Covid project that could positively impact the lives of a global community of women.
We covered a lot of ground in our hour together, a mix of personal connection and professional aspiration. Alison, whose day job is as a packaging professional, and Wade, a Yoga Instructor, who also whips political campaigns into shape, decided to join forces and launch a coffee company that raises awareness of the many women-run coffee farms of coffee country.
Local Coffee Company Exploradora Supports Women Across the Globe
You probably won’t be a bit surprised when I tell you that Alison Anderson, the wife of coffee connoisseur Dave Anderson of the Roastery of Cave Creek (which sells coffee to many of the city’s best restaurants), has coffee in her blood — not to mention her bloodstream.
Although she’s always had her own career, Anderson has traipsed around the globe with her bean-obsessed husband for years now, sniffing out the best organic coffees from Central America, South America, Africa and Indonesia and learning a lot about the coffee business in the process.