. >> reporter: coffee is 30-year- old jacob elster's life. he co-founded crop to cup four years ago after working on social projects with coffee farmers in africa. the company buys coffee directly from growers in uganda and burundi who practice sustainable farming. it then sells the product directly to coffee houses like ipsento and to consumers over its website. videos let customers see who's behind their coffee. and that personal relationship helps the farmers command higher prices for their crops. the concept is called traceable or relationship coffee and elster says it's a win-win for everyone. >> not only does that allow us to get coffee profiles that are more in tune with what the market wants, but the process is very engaging and it highlights some of the differences of what we provide versus the commodity coffee importer. >> reporter: the untied states imports over 130,000 tons of coffee a month. it comes from roughly 60 nations and most of it is traded like any other commodity >> by the time a cup of coffee like this gets to a consum