Mother Tongue Coffee group photo

Who we are

Mother Tongue buys coffees from producers we know and trust that uphold the same values we do. Coffee is not a charity, it is a business - all of us in the value chain need to prosper in order to have a sustainable and profitable community. Mother Tongue pays better than fair prices to producers that are making a financial difference in the lives of the farmers and workers in producing countries.     

We hope that when you hear the name Mother Tongue Coffee, you can trust that the coffee you drink was ethically sourced and tastes great!

Meet Jen

Jen Apodaca started Mother Tongue Coffee in 2019, she has been roasting since 2005 for a range of well-loved businesses, including McMenamin’s, Intelligentsia, Blue Bottle, and The Crown. She likes to think of herself as a roaster's roaster. She is also a certified Q-Grader, former chair of the Coffee Roasters Guild of America, the 2019 US Cup Tasters Champion, and won second place in the 2022 Roasters Championship.

In 2017 she founded #shestheroaster - which is a visibility campaign that women do indeed roast coffee and also promotes and encourages women in the coffee industry to become professional coffee roasters.