Today we’d like to introduce you to Brittany Mann.
Brittany, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
We (Darren and Brittany) were exposed to the heartbreaking situation of many vulnerable children around the global when we visited international orphanages as young people. When we met in college, we talked about how we could help these precious children through growing our family by adoption. We didn’t have an exact plan but just knew that if there was a child in need and we could help meet those needs, we would be ready and willing.
Besides academics, Darren learned how to roast coffee from his very poor, coffee connoisseur friends in college too. (They actually used to hide in their floor’s utility closet to roast because they were worried about breaking the dorm’s rules!) He personally roasted coffee for himself after graduation and gave some to family and friends, who always encouraged him to sell it. He had to sell his first roaster when we moved to Wuhan, China as teachers at an international school, and then we moved to Hong Kong, totaling five years living in Asia. We fell in love with the culture (and food!) there, as well as saw first-hand the need for families to say “YES!” to precious souls waiting in orphanages all over China. We watched our ex-pat friends adopt a sweet son and as we learned more about the process of adopting from China, knew that we could welcome a precious child into our family as soon as we were able. Fast forward to 2017, with a move back to the States and a toddler, we now qualified to begin the adoption process. On two teachers’ salaries, the cost of adoption (about $35,000) seemed overwhelming, but through the generosity of adoption grants, fundraisers, and even complete strangers, God provided every cent we needed! We welcomed our precious son, Titus, into our family in November 2018, a year to the day we started the process.
Two days after he was placed into our arms, we had the privilege of visiting his orphanage on Thanksgiving Day, where we were able to personally thank his amazing nannies for loving him before we could. Our hearts also broke for all the children we had to leave behind, each one equally deserving of the love and support of a family too. We knew that we’d be starting the process of adoption a second child as soon as we were able, which was May 2019. When we were brainstorming ways to make money for our second adoption, we thought why not turn Darren’s hobby of coffee roasting into a business! Everyone loves coffee and needs to buy it…so why not make it a “coffee for a cause!” Along with bringing awareness for family preservation and adoption, we love also helping people learn more about the benefits of freshly roasted coffee and match people to their perfect cup of joe. We were supposed to bring our second son home in June 2020, however, due to Covid, we are still waiting for China to open up so we can bring him home.
A little bit about our business’s name…
Before beginning the adoption process in 2017, I (Brittany) read the book “Bound by Love” (by Linda Droeger) about our adoption agency’s founders Josh Zhong and Lily Nie. There is a part in the book where she leans over one of the hundreds of silent babies lying alone in a crib and she whispers “hao bao bao.” My heart quickened when I read that, as I knew what that meant in Chinese: “precious baby.”
As we began our adoption journey for our first son, many people asked that we start a social media page for them to follow our journey and I thought it was a perfect way to summarize our hearts’ desire: to help a precious child in need. When we decided to start the coffee business in 2019, we knew we needed a name. Since our Facebook page was already named “Hao Bao Bao,” we thought why not add “Coffee” to it! We love how people walk by our coffee trailer and immediately ask “What’s a ‘hao bao bao’?! “And we are able to easily share a little bit about the Chinese language and our coffee’s mission.
Since our second adoption was quickly fully funded through coffee sales and again the generosity of others in late 2019, we started partnering with other adoptive families and organizations working towards family preservation. We donate $1 from every bag of coffee we sell and a portion of our tips from events. Since September 2020, we have a partnered with a total of 21 families and three charities to raise over $12,000 (and counting!). We are so grateful to “pay it forward” to these precious families, just as so many others have generously given to us!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
When we started our coffee roasting business, we assumed we would be just selling to family and friends. We weren’t prepared for the excitement of others who wanted to share our coffee and encouraged us to sell online, as well as at farmer’s markets. We are teachers, so everything business-related, from finances to marketing to social media, has been a learning curve! Thankfully, we have some family and friends who have been so supportive and have helped us on our way. Our biggest struggle was balancing working full-time and managing our growing business on the side. We started selling our coffee at Sanford’s Marketplace at Magnolia (farmer’s market in Historic Downtown Sanford) every Saturday, where we have met so many dear friends and now, we also help in the managing of the market. After three years of juggling three jobs, we decided though that something had to give, so Darren decided to leave his teaching job to take our business full time this summer. It was a tough decision, but we are excited for this opportunity he has to grow our business…and we are excited to have Daddy around more!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Hao Bao Bao Coffee?
We have been a part of many mediocre and/or frivolous fundraisers, where people buy things out of guilt or the quality of items are less than ideal. We were determined from the start to sell the freshest of coffee at a reasonable cost, all the while helping everyone affected by the sale, from the coffee farmers to the children and families we are partnering with. We roast-to-order our coffee, so nothing sits on shelves, because the highest quality of taste and most nutrition come right after a bean is roasted. We strive to bring a wide selection of beans from various countries to suit everyone’s palate and we only work with small-batch farmers and traders who have excellent transparency records. We are especially proud to source beans from Yunnan, China, as these beans are difficult to find, but so unique, with tea and fruity notes. We love that we can personally support the hard-working farmers of our children’s birth country, as well as introduce Yunnan beans to coffee lovers who have never tried these sweet beans before!
Each month we partner with a different charity or adoptive family to donate a portion of our profits. We have an application form for adoptive families and ask each family to also apply to Connected Hearts Ministry, a grant fund that helped our family and has a heart to walk adoptive families through the fundraising process. Connected Hearts does not take any money for themselves, so we love that all the money donated goes directly to the families for adoption expenses. We also have partnered with two family preservation charities, Love Without Boundaries, to help fund heart surgery for a precious little boy in China, and Open Hearts for Orphans, to help meet the basic needs of families in Uganda so they can stay together. We strive to be transparent about our giving by posting daily updates of our donation total on our social media and our monthly total on our website. It gives us such great joy to give and we always share with others how they too can give to these amazing causes!
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
We have gotten to know so many other small business owners and love hearing their stories and passion about their craft. Our biggest encouragement is do something you love and share your “why” with others! Your enthusiasm will be contagious and people will want to get on board. Also, it’s been a personal blessing for us to be able to use our business to give to others. If you can find a way to “give back,” then it makes your hard work so much more meaningful and motivating!
Pricing:
- Indonesia Sumatra $13.00 (16oz)
- House Blend $13.00 (16oz)
- Organic Colombian $15.00 (16oz)
- Decaf Organic Mexican Chiapas $15.00 (16oz)
- Wholesale orders (email haobaobaocoffee@yahoo.com for price list)
Contact Info:
- Website: haobaobaocoffee.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hao.bao.bao.coffee/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HaoBaoBaoCoffee
