Our story
Our story
A conversation in Helsinki. 2019.
Matthew Kern and Kevin Kainulainen met as humanitarian logistics students at Hanken School of Economics. Over coffee in the university canteen, the conversation moved from coursework to a simple observation: Helsinki had a serious lack of quality coffee. Both were particular about what they drank. Both were studying the mechanics of global supply chains. The connection was obvious.
They graduated in the summer of 2021 and within weeks they were sourcing. No roastery, no warehouse, no team — just a direct line to the farms and a clear standard for what the coffee had to be.
Dash Coffee launched operations in August 2022 after returning from Rwanda.
Kevin exited the business in 2025. Matthew continues as sole owner and operator.
The problem with coffee
Coffee is one of the most traded commodities in the world. It is also one of the most exploitative. 25 million people make their living growing coffee. The farmers who do the hardest, most skilled work in the entire chain are routinely paid prices that don't cover their production costs.
Matthew had spent three years studying global supply chains. He knew exactly where the problem was — and he knew it wasn't inevitable. It was a choice the industry kept making. Dash was built around making a different one.
GOING DIRECTLY TO THE SOURCE
Rather than buying through brokers, Matthew travelled to the farms. Rwanda first. The goal was simple: find the best coffee available, meet the people growing it, and pay them what it was actually worth.
What he found were skilled professionals — women, largely — running operations with precision and dedication, producing exceptional coffee that the market chronically undervalued.
Dash was built around changing that. Not through donations or charity, but through the oldest mechanism in trade: pay a fair price for something exceptional, and do it every single time.
Where we are now
Dash Coffee roasts in Helsinki. We source from women-led farms in Kenya, Rwanda, and Costa Rica. Every batch meets SCA 86+ minimum. Every producer is known by name. Every payment is 55% above Fair Trade minimum.
Over two years of national competition, the results have been consistent:
🥇 1st Place · Best Espresso · Helsinki Coffee Festival 2026
🥉 3rd Place · Best Filter · Helsinki Coffee Festival 2025
🥈 2nd Place · Best Dark Roast · Ruokamessut 2025
🥉 3rd Place · Best Light Roast · Ruokamessut 2025
Four placements. Two years. Three different coffees.
The sourcing relationships Matthew built on those first farm visits are still the foundation. The standard has not changed. The farms are the same. The coffee keeps getting better.
Going beyond
Coffee is one of the most traded commodities in the world.
We're using it to move money
to the people who actually grow it.
THE COFFEE IS READY
Grown by women farmers in Kenya, Rwanda, and Costa Rica. Roasted in Helsinki. Now it's your turn.