Ally Coffee’s Roots and Evolution
Ally Coffee’s roots go back to the coffee farms and roasteries of Brazil, where founder Ricardo Tavares envisioned sustainable coffee farms vertically integrated all the way to importing coffee to warehouses in other countries. Mr. Tavares knew coffee from the roasted side; he ran his father’s commercial coffee business, Tres Coraçoes, which roasts, grinds, packs, and distributes coffee for grocery stores across Brazil. Later, he invested in coffee farms to innovate production and processing.
With farms, logistics, and dry mills all vertically integrated within Grupo Montesanto Tavares, the final step was to import coffee directly from the farms into the United States, Europe, and other global markets. In 2010, Ricardo Tavares and partners Marco Figueiredo and Bruno Tavares established Mountain Coffee Corp in Plantation, Florida as an importer of fine commercial coffees from Brazil, specifically those grown and processed on the group’s own farms in Chapada de Minas in the Minas Gerais state.
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In January 2013, they brought on Ricardo Periera, now Ally’s COO, to launch the specialty division, and Ally Coffee was born. The vision was to offer specialty coffees and differentiated lots of different sizes to serve a diverse range of roasters interested in higher quality at all volumes. Ally has been adding new coffee origins to our portfolio ever since, building teams in the United States, Europe, and at origin and carrying an inventory of spot coffees in addition to directly importing coffees according to client specifications.
Ally opened its European operations in 2017, with a specialty lab and office in Gothenburg, Sweden in headed by Cris Mourao, and shortly after a commercial trading office in Lausanne, Switzerland. Today, Ally has coffee sourcing offices in Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Ethiopia.
Because Ally and Grupo Montesanto Tavares are rooted in farming, we see things from a producer perspective and approach the business of importing coffee, and the process of teaching coffee professionals, with a holistic understanding of how the industry operates on a global scale.
Today, through sourcing coffee, providing learning opportunities, and participating in coffee community events, Ally is moving the coffee industry forward. Ask us questions through the Contact form on our site, or see us at a coffee event near you soon!
