POULSBO — While most coffee drinkers just want their favorite beverage to wake them up in the morning, Stacy Marshall hopes people who drink her blends will realize they are also helping the world become a better place.

Marshall is the president of Grounds for Change, a socially- and environmentally-aware bean roastery that just moved into the Agate Pass Industrial Park on Highway 305 in late March.

Marshall and her husband Kelsey spend about 10 hours each week roasting, packaging and shipping their triple-certified coffee beans, which are organic, shade-grown and fair-trade certified.

After working in Costa Rica on coffee-cooperative farms about three years ago, the couple experienced the labor that went into creating their favorite beverage.

“It was an eye-opening experience for us,” Marshall said. “It was hard work — really hard work — steep terrain.”

The two witnessed farmers carrying 60- to 70-pound bags of the fruits that bear the coffee beans on their backs and the process the beans went through before being exported.

“Roasting — it’s such an amazing process,” she said.

After their experience, they decided to jump on the caffeine bandwagon with a twist — selling their favorite beverage while also helping those who grow through fair trade laws.

“The fair trade coffee is a bit more expensive, but it provides (farmers) with a livable wage,” Marshall said.

Two percent of the company’s sales go to “1 percent For the Planet” — 1 percent to the Fair Trade Federation and 1 percent to the Northwest Shade Coffee Campaign.

From the bean farmers to the Agate Pass Industrial Park warehouse, the entire process is certified by fair trade and fair labor laws, Marshall said. She also insists that organic and shade-grown issues are inseparable when growing coffee beans.

While organic means to grow without the use of unnatural chemicals, shade-grown means to grow organically under the canopy of trees, such as fruit-bearing trees. The trees serve a dual purpose as the fruit feeds the farmers and their families, while naturally mulching the soil for the bean plants.

“We’re trying to bring the most (politically correct), sustainable coffee we can,” Marshall said.

The Marshalls initially launched Grounds for Change about a year ago on their property on Bainbridge Island in a 100-square-foot building they called “The Coffee Cottage.”

However, support from friends, family and local businesses increased the company production and the Marshalls found themselves using their own house to accommodate the company’s growth for packaging and storing beans. Finally, they decided to find a new location for the business.

“It has been amazing — it has grown beyond our expectations,” Marshall said.

Their sales have increased “ninefold,” she added, and they are receiving five to seven inquiries a day on their Web site, compared to the one or two they would receive once in awhile.

The beans, which come from Central and South America, Indonesia and Africa, are sold to cafes, restaurants, caterers, espresso stands and the general public locally and around the country, including Alaska, Arizona, Iowa and South Carolina.

The Web site also educates coffee drinkers on where their coffee comes from and the latest trends in the industry. Besides selling beans, the Marshalls also sell handwoven pine needle baskets from Nicaragua, handmade mugs from Guatemala and organic cashews from the Honduras.

Local coffee lovers don’t have to search out their favorite caffeine bar for the coffee, as Marshall welcomes the public to the Highway 305 office and roastery to purchase beans directly from them.