La Mora - Francisca Cubillo, Costa Rica

Torque is a roastery and coffee shop in City Heights, San Diego, founded by Nanelle and Andy Newbom after more than twenty years working nearly every role the trade offers — barista, roaster, green buyer, cupper, judge, miller, importer. The company exists to address a structural imbalance: coffee is a $400 billion industry, and roughly 5% of that value stays in the countries where it's grown. Torque's answer is proportional pricing. At least 20% of every bag's retail price remains at origin, measured against FOB so the figure can be compared to any other coffee in the world, with the share rising on larger bags because the roastery absorbs the bulk discount rather than passing it down. The origin price sets the retail price, so the 20% is built in from the start rather than sent back afterward. The books are public and the math appears on every coffee. Producer relationships are long-running — Edwin Martinez since 2004, Juan Diego de la Cerda since 2008 after a Cup of Excellence auction, Francisca Cubillo since 2009 — alongside newer partnerships in Ethiopia, Colombia, and Burundi. Roasting philosophy centers on sweetness, with the roast read from each lot rather than imposed on it. Some coffees are released in both a core and a "plus" profile, the latter extending the Maillard stage to draw out deeper body from the same green. Compositions arrange separately roasted single origins into a single cup — the Cocoa, Dark, Honey, and Gum Drops among them. On environmental impact, Torque declines to claim carbon neutrality through offsets, arguing that would appropriate the farmer's carbon, and instead targets what it calls being "carbon beautiful": fully recyclable packaging with no stickers or tape, post-consumer pulp mailers printed with soy ink, FSC-certified bamboo shipping boxes, and tree-free bamboo to-go cups.