Our Ethos

Our Ethos

Ode to Coffee

Half the world has surrendered to you

The other half are either ignorant of your magic

Or have turned ascetic and

Refused to succumb to you

Of all of man’s ingenuity in

Extracting pleasure and nourishment

From the Mother earth’s breast

You stand out to be the one

to inspire a fierce faith

Of unquenchable sort

You have overshadowed the lord of light

As for the faithful Daybreak means you and not the sun

Sadhguru

Ethos is how we express our values through coffee. They define and drive how we connect, create, and collaborate.

Ethos is how we express our values through coffee. They define and drive how we connect, create, and collaborate.

Friendship

We are a network of friends united by a shared commitment to harness the spirit of coffee. Friendship reminds us that sustainability is not transactional, but relational.

Reflection

Coffee is an invitation to listen more deeply: to ourselves, to others, and to the places we are part of. In that space, reflection becomes a gateway to intentional action.

Hospitality

Coffee has welcomed us into homes, farms, and communities around the world. We carry that spirit forward, approaching coffee as a practice of hospitality rooted in service.

Patience

We choose to move at the pace of trust. We commit to long-term relationships that honor people, communities, and landscapes. True impact grows slowly.

Interdependence

Coffee connects us to the more-than-human world, where plants, soil, water, and biodiversity are part of our shared story. It roots our work in the living systems that sustain and renew life.

about image 3

Our Team

We are a collective of friends, using coffee as our medium, a way to connect people, places and purpose. Our strength lies in facilitating collaboration and in a shared commitment to protect our planet.

Our Team

We are a collective of friends, using coffee as our medium, a way to connect people, places and purpose. Our strength lies in facilitating collaboration and in a shared commitment to protect our planet.

Overview

We start by understanding your market, audience, and goals. This includes competitor analysis, brand audits, and interviews to get a full picture of where you stand and what needs to change.

Our Team

We are a collective of friends, using coffee as our medium, a way to connect people, places and purpose. Our strength lies in facilitating collaboration and in a shared commitment to protect our planet.

Saurin Nanavati

Saurin Nanavati

Co-Founder

Co-Founder

For more than two decades, Saurin has followed coffee’s pathways across landscapes, cultures, and communities. Through this work, he explores how intentional acts of exchange and care can connect distant people and places to foster a shared sense of responsibility. For Saurin, sustainability is not a problem to be solved, but a practice of weaving awareness with agency and action. Through Ethos, he challenges the notion of coffee as a supply chain, revealing it instead as a living system shaped by the values and relationships of the people who participate in it.

As a Designer-in-Residence at Carnegie Mellon University’s Transition Design Institute, Saurin explores coffee systems through research and education. Using coffee as both subject and method, he creates experiences that help students see themselves as agents for systems change. His work is guided by a fundamental question: How might coffee help us better understand ourselves, deepen our connections with one another, and cultivate a greater sense of responsibility for the planet we share?

TDI Researchers
Stories from the spirit of coffee | TEDxCMU
Linkedin
saurin@ethosagriculture.com 

For more than two decades, Saurin has followed coffee’s pathways across landscapes, cultures, and communities. Through this work, he explores how intentional acts of exchange and care can connect distant people and places to foster a shared sense of responsibility. For Saurin, sustainability is not a problem to be solved, but a practice of weaving awareness with agency and action. Through Ethos, he challenges the notion of coffee as a supply chain, revealing it instead as a living system shaped by the values and relationships of the people who participate in it.

As a Designer-in-Residence at Carnegie Mellon University’s Transition Design Institute, Saurin explores coffee systems through research and education. Using coffee as both subject and method, he creates experiences that help students see themselves as agents for systems change. His work is guided by a fundamental question: How might coffee help us better understand ourselves, deepen our connections with one another, and cultivate a greater sense of responsibility for the planet we share?

TDI Researchers
Stories from the spirit of coffee | TEDxCMU
Linkedin
saurin@ethosagriculture.com 

Frederik de Vries

Co-Founder

Co-Founder

Over the past decade, Frederik has worked across the global coffee sector, partnering with businesses, nonprofits, funders, and producer organizations to tackle complex challenges. Through this work, he has learned that lasting change rarely comes from technical solutions alone, but requires honest reflection, intentional collaboration, and the courage to rethink business as usual.

At Ethos, he designs and facilitates experiences where diverse actors can reflect, build trust, and navigate complexity together.

Linkedin
frederik@ethosagriculture.com

Sjoerd Panhuysen

Co-Founder

Sjoerd is a researcher at Ethos Agriculture with nearly two decades of experience working on sustainability in the coffee sector. With a background in sociology and development studies,he has worked across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, bridging field-level programme implementation, advocacy initiatives, NGO coalitions, and engagement with the European coffee market. This breadth of experience has given him a nuanced understanding of how global market dynamics and structural inequalities shape the everyday realities of coffee producers.

For Sjoerd, coffee serves as a lens through which to examine broader challenges related to inequality, environmental change, corporate influence, and governance in global trade. He established the Coffee Barometer to promote transparency and foster informed dialogue across the sector. His recent research focuses on the economics of smallholder farming and the ways coffee communities adapt to the growing pressures of climate change.

Linkedin
sjoerd@ethosagriculture.com

Sjoerd Panhuesen

Sjoerd is a researcher at Ethos Agriculture with nearly two decades of experience working on sustainability in the coffee sector. With a background in sociology and development studies,he has worked across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, bridging field-level programme implementation, advocacy initiatives, NGO coalitions, and engagement with the European coffee market. This breadth of experience has given him a nuanced understanding of how global market dynamics and structural inequalities shape the everyday realities of coffee producers.

For Sjoerd, coffee serves as a lens through which to examine broader challenges related to inequality, environmental change, corporate influence, and governance in global trade. He established the Coffee Barometer to promote transparency and foster informed dialogue across the sector. His recent research focuses on the economics of smallholder farming and the ways coffee communities adapt to the growing pressures of climate change.

Linkedin
sjoerd@ethosagriculture.com

Co-Founder

Eric Rukawaya

Co-Founder

Eric is an elite coffee trainer and trade facilitator whose career has helped shape the Rwandan coffee sector. He works closely with producer organizations to build the next generation of coffee leaders, focusing on strengthening quality, expanding access to international markets, and deepening the capabilities required for long-term success in Specialty Coffee. In a rapidly evolving global coffee market, Eric empowers communities not only to adapt, but also to lead with confidence.

Eric is widely recognized for his ability to translate between local realities and global market expectations. His approach is both technical and relational, grounded in the understanding that lasting transformation for coffee communities requires facilitation. Moving between coffee farms, processing stations, and ports, he connects the full chain of relationships that brings coffee to life. At the heart of his work is a deep commitment to ensure that more value flows back to the small-scale farming families who form the foundation of the coffee industry. Through his leadership, the East Africa Coffee Lab has become more than a training space, it is an ecosystem for collaboration, experimentation, and shared learning.


Linkedin
eric@ethosagriculture.com

Eric Rukawaya

Eric is an elite coffee trainer and trade facilitator whose career has helped shape the Rwandan coffee sector. He works closely with producer organizations to build the next generation of coffee leaders, focusing on strengthening quality, expanding access to international markets, and deepening the capabilities required for long-term success in Specialty Coffee. In a rapidly evolving global coffee market, Eric empowers communities not only to adapt, but also to lead with confidence.

Eric is widely recognized for his ability to translate between local realities and global market expectations. His approach is both technical and relational, grounded in the understanding that lasting transformation for coffee communities requires facilitation. Moving between coffee farms, processing stations, and ports, he connects the full chain of relationships that brings coffee to life. At the heart of his work is a deep commitment to ensure that more value flows back to the small-scale farming families who form the foundation of the coffee industry. Through his leadership, the East Africa Coffee Lab has become more than a training space, it is an ecosystem for collaboration, experimentation, and shared learning.


Linkedin
eric@ethosagriculture.com

Co-Founder

Sjoerd Panhuesen

Co-Founder

Sjoerd is a researcher at Ethos Agriculture with nearly two decades of experience working on sustainability in the coffee sector. With a background in sociology and development studies,he has worked across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, bridging field-level programme implementation, advocacy initiatives, NGO coalitions, and engagement with the European coffee market. This breadth of experience has given him a nuanced understanding of how global market dynamics and structural inequalities shape the everyday realities of coffee producers. For Sjoerd, coffee serves as a lens through which to examine broader challenges related to inequality, environmental change, corporate influence, and governance in global trade. He established the Coffee Barometer to promote transparency and foster informed dialogue across the sector. His recent research focuses on the economics of smallholder farming and the ways coffee communities adapt to the growing pressures of climate change.

Linkedin
sjoerd@ethosagriculture.com

Eric Rukawaya

Co-Founder

Eric is an elite coffee trainer and trade facilitator whose career has helped shape the Rwandan coffee sector. He works closely with producer organizations to build the next generation of coffee leaders, focusing on strengthening quality, expanding access to international markets, and deepening the capabilities required for long-term success in Specialty Coffee. In a rapidly evolving global coffee market, Eric empowers communities not only to adapt, but also to lead with confidence.

Eric is widely recognized for his ability to translate between local realities and global market expectations. His approach is both technical and relational, grounded in the understanding that lasting transformation for coffee communities requires facilitation. Moving between coffee farms, processing stations, and ports, he connects the full chain of relationships that brings coffee to life. At the heart of his work is a deep commitment to ensure that more value flows back to the small-scale farming families who form the foundation of the coffee industry. Through his leadership, the East Africa Coffee Lab has become more than a training space, it is an ecosystem for collaboration, experimentation, and shared learning.


Linkedin
eric@ethosagriculture.com