ANDREA ILLY

Quality is the only business plan that does not expire.

Coffee has over a thousand aromatic compounds — more than wine, more than any other beverage. It is the most chemically complex thing most people consume every day.

Sustainability is not charity. It is the only viable business model for the long term.

We had many opportunities to be acquired. Each time, we said no. The brand cannot be separated from the values that created it.

My grandfather invented the machine. My father made the science. My job is to make the science matter to the world.

If you pay the farmer well, you get better coffee. If you get better coffee, you build a better brand. The ethics and the economics point in the same direction.