Ethical. Sustainable. Delicious. And LIMITED!
Exquisite coffee varietals from 10 countries should be sufficient to satisfy the most discriminating coffee connoisseurs. But it isn’t. And it shouldn’t have to be, since approximately 70 countries produce coffee beans.
During this past year, we talked about introducing new, one-of-a-kind coffees into our offerings. Now, we are happy to announce that we are kicking off our fourth year of business with the introduction of a Fair Trade, Organic coffee from the highlands surrounding Lake Kivu in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
This bean comes from the newly created Sopacdi Coffee Co-op, an organization joining more than 3,600 farmers from different ethnic groups. They produce a top national grade — Kivu 2 — fully washed Arabica bean with notes of tangerine and maple syrup.
The conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo is believed to be one of the bloodiest since WWII on New York Times. According to the co-op’s website, many of the farmers had to leave their land for their own safety; an average of 1,000 coffee farmers were murdered each year. Those who chose to stay had to sell their coffee to smugglers or smuggle it themselves into Rwanda, both dangerous options.
The Sopacdi Co-op aims to promote reconciliation among the different ethnic groups through the revitalization of coffee production and distribution, to help farmers meet their “… basic needs — nutrition, housing, schooling and healthcare.” (Joachim Manganga, President of Sopacdi)
Sopacdi’s female members receive a price premium for their coffee.
solidarity and price premiums enable them to provide for their families. One woman wrote: “With our first women’s coffee premium we purchased salt and soap. This was a joyous occasion.”
And while my goal is to bring you exceptional coffees — previously unavailable in our marketplace, coffees that rock in the coffee world — it is a joy to find one that just might change the world for these women, children and men.
We will roast & cup our first batch for our coffee friends Saturday Jan 19th at 10 a.m. This is open to anyone who would like to join us.
Bill Bloom has created this special label, featuring one of the farmers, along with an informational numbered “hang-tag.” The Congolese coffee will be roasted to order and sold in half and one-pound units -$10/18.
