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Kris Carlson launched Kansas City-based Coffeekris in 2025 as a sourcing-curation business connecting coffee roasters with green coffee from a network of importing partners. Carlson told Daily Coffee News that sales exceeded 10 containers in the first year, surpassing her cautious goal of one container.
Kris Carlson says her Kansas City-based green coffee business, Coffeekris, sold the equivalent of more than 10 containers in its first year, far exceeding the one-container goal she had set when launching in 2025. In an interview published Oct. 21 by Daily Coffee News, Carlson described a sourcing model that connects roasters with coffees from 11 importing partners through a single point of contact.
Carlson calls her role a “sourcing curator” rather than a conventional importer. Coffeekris represents specialized importing companies and helps roasters find coffees across their portfolios. The importers compensate Carlson for making the connections, she said, while roaster clients pay the same prices they would if buying directly from those importers.
The partners offer coffees from origins around the world. Carlson said she favors companies led by women and people from historically underrepresented groups, while keeping the portfolio broad enough to serve different purchasing needs. She said clients can buy from a few bags to commercial volumes, and described ethical conduct and respect for everyone in the trading system as non-negotiable.
The reported sales figure is Carlson’s account in the interview; the article does not provide independently audited sales records. She said she began with a cautious expectation of selling the equivalent of one container during the first year, then exceeded 10. Carlson also acknowledged that running the business has not been easy and said she has more to learn.
A Different Route to Green Coffee
Coffeekris offers roasters a single contact for multiple importers, potentially reducing the effort involved in comparing coffees and building relationships across suppliers. Its compensation arrangement, as Carlson describes it, separates her service from the price charged to roaster clients: importers pay for the connection, while clients pay the importer’s direct price.
The model also places transparency and supplier relationships at the center of the business. Carlson says she tells clients which importers she works with and where coffee comes from. Whether that approach can continue as the company grows, and how it performs across changing market conditions, are not established by the interview. The early sales figure suggests demand, but does not by itself show profitability or long-term stability.
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Carlson’s Path Into Sourcing
Carlson’s experience spans more than a decade in cafes, roasting, wholesale, green coffee sales and sourcing. She began as a barista at Take Five Coffee + Bar in Overland Park, Kansas, then joined Kansas City-area roaster Revocup Coffee Roasters. She later worked at Mighty Peace Coffee, an importer focused on the Democratic Republic of Congo that has since ceased operations, and at Anthem Coffee Imports.
Those roles took her into green coffee selection and relationships with producers and exporters across Latin America, East Africa and Asia, she told Daily Coffee News. Her current partners include Swift Coffee Sourcing, Optimist Coffee Traders and Benchmark Coffee Traders, among others. Carlson said her experience taught her about both the coffee trade and the people who participate in it, shaping her stated interest in a more equitable system.
Her career has also included industry participation beyond day-to-day sourcing: Carlson competed as a Glitter Cat Roaster, volunteered as a stage manager for the U.S. Coffee Roasters Championship and received a 2022 Diedrich Roasters scholarship through the Coffee Roasters Guild.
““Unlike most brokers, I’m transparent. You know exactly who I’m working with, why, and where the coffee is coming from. There’s no gatekeeping knowledge.””
— Kris Carlson, speaking to Daily Coffee News
Sales and Growth Still Unverified
The interview does not include independent verification of Coffeekris’s sales, financial statements, or a breakdown of sales by customer, origin or importing partner. Carlson’s “more than 10 containers” figure is her account of first-year sales; the source does not specify whether it refers to shipped, contracted or otherwise measured volumes.
It is also unclear how many roaster clients the business serves, whether the 11-partner portfolio has changed since the interview, or what growth Carlson expects next. The source reports Carlson’s views on gender inequity in coffee, but the supplied interview excerpt ends before her full answer about what happens when someone reports mistreatment, so that part of her comments cannot be detailed here.
The Next Stage for Coffeekris
Carlson did not announce a new product, expansion plan or specific sales target in the interview. The immediate next steps for readers to watch are whether Coffeekris’s 11-partner network grows, how it serves roasters with different order sizes, and whether the company releases further information about its volumes or business performance.
For now, the published account provides a snapshot of a young sourcing business and Carlson’s approach to connecting roasters with importers. Any assessment of its longer-term reach will depend on subsequent company updates and reporting beyond the first-year sales figure she shared.
Key Questions
What is Coffeekris?
Coffeekris is a Kansas City-based green coffee sourcing business founded by Kris Carlson in 2025. It connects roasters with coffees offered by a network of importing partners.
How does Coffeekris make money?
Carlson told Daily Coffee News that the importing partners compensate her for connecting them with roasters. She said roaster clients pay the same prices they would pay when buying directly from the importers.
How many importing partners does Coffeekris have?
The interview reported that Coffeekris’s portfolio had 11 importing partners at the time of publication.
How much coffee did Coffeekris sell in its first year?
Carlson said first-year sales exceeded the equivalent of 10 containers. She had initially hoped to sell one container. The interview does not provide independent sales records or clarify how the volume was measured.
Source: rss
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