the original beans team
The people behind Original Beans are coming together across countries drawn by a shared passion for sustainable farming, delicious food, and the conservation of our world’s threatened rainforest. Business Week has called Original Beans a company that is ‘making the world better through chocolate.’

The idea for Original Beans was born when a German conservation entrepreneur, a Dutch fair trade pioneer, and an American organic food marketer met in 2006.

The company’s vision follows in the footsteps of founder/CEO Philipp Kauffmann‘s family heritage. His direct forefather, Georg Ludwig Hartig, helped coin the term sustainability (“Nachhaltigkeit” in German) and in 1791 wrote that “any wise forest management must use the forest in such a way that generations thereafter can draw at least as much advantage from it as the presently living generation has.”

Read more about Philipp’s conservation and chocolate passion on Behind the Burner.

Original Beans’ Board of Directors consists of Josh Mailman, Pieter Borkent, Werner-Paul Boerma, and Philipp Kauffmann.

Original Beans’ Board of Advisors consists of Henry Tinsley, Mary Harris, David Siegel, and Jaime de Bourbon de Parme.