The Farms we work with
Our passion is coffee and the farms we work with at different origins. We set up in 2006 and in relationship with farms and villages soon realised the poorest and most vulnerable were the ones most easily slipping through the system. We work directly, and buy directly from these farms and villages. We offer complete transparency of the whole process, not just traceability. It is easy to trace a source but information on how much producers are paid and what conditions they have is elusive. We know the names of the producers we work with, and can tell you exactly how much they are paid.
We buy direct from the farm returning a much larger proportion of the price to the people who do the work to produce our great coffee. It fulfils two key beliefs we hold that ethical business does not have to compromise on quality, and doesn’t have to be significantly more expensive for the consumer.
It does however mean harder work for us and sticking to our principles.
Brazil
Isaltino & Ivan Caixeta (brothers) along with their families, run the Vira Mao Farm in central Brazil where we first stayed in June 2010 to establish a sustainable trading relationship. Whilst there we were able to talk about quality and ethics and why they were close to our hearts, and found a family living out similar values, passionate about great coffee, the care taken in producing it, their workers and the environment. The farm is now currently managed by Isaltino’s son Athos (pictured with Jack.)
You can see some of the photos we took whilst visiting, and returning most years since we have grown a strong friendship with this family.
We get very excited about the potential of working with these great people, this farm, and the amazing Brazil coffee beans. It’s a favourite!
Tanzania
Machare has been leased and rehabilitated by people with a passion for fine gourmet coffee and the preservation of Kilimanjaro’s unique environment.
The Management
Owned by a cooperative, but leased, revived, developed and managed, this farm employs many of the cooperative members throughout the year, and many, many more during the harvest. Inspired by the passion and vision of Bente, the team care for the environment and the workers with exceptional diligence and generosity.
The Environment
The farm is committed to upholding sustainability in all its practices. They are converting to organic and 100 % of the area is already free of insecticide/fungicide and herbicide chemicals. Amongst other things, the farm has reduced water usage by over 90%; uses biofuel for machinery; preserves the habitat through shade-grown coffee; minimises the use of chemicals; and has created a tree project to maintain eco-balance on the famous mountain, something you can be a part of.
Colombia
Our Colombian coffee comes from our new and developing relationship with Francisco and his family at La Primavera. We are so excited to have established this direct trade relationship with Francisco, to be able to work with him to invest in his farm, the environment and his community.
La Primavera Finca is a relatively small organic family farm, in the Cudinamarca region. More than 25% of the land is laid fallow to rainforest where a huge number of bird species thrive. The coffee is organic, bird-friendly and shade-grown.
The huge marshlands nearby in this high altitiude region, creates a micro climate of low cloud and unique indigenuos trees, with high humidity and high rainfall – which can help the crop, but hampers the drying process at times! They support ten families all year round, and many more during harvest. In addition they have invested in their own dry mill on the farm itself to help ensure quality of process, to add value, and help diversify income.
After Ian’s first visit he reflected that he had “never seen a farm so committed to eco system preservation, to shade grown coffee and to harmony with it’s environment.”
Cameroon
In Cameroon we’re working with Matti Foncha, a coffee farmer himself, he also has a role representing his region and fellow farmers to develop trading relationships in Europe and North America. In fact, Cameroon Boyo coffee is the brainchild of Matti Foncha, who brought together a group of micro-scale coffee farmers from the Boyo region located in the Northwest of Cameroon.
Traditionally, farmers from the region would have their own ways of processing their coffee and would then mix the different beans together to be able to sell in larger quantities. This led to an inferior tasting coffee. They could have opted to go down the fair trade route but instead Matti encouraged them to unite together and share both the profit and risk of their own business.
By forming the Cameroon Boyo collective the farmers now work together to process their coffee in the same way which has drastically improved the quality and quantity of their beans. Matti now travels around the globe selling directly to companies like ours. By cutting out the middle men, farmers receive more money. They call this the “More Than Fair” system.
Guest Coffees
Occasionally we will have some guest coffees available. Sometimes they are sourced from the farms we work with, sometimes we will be sent a remarkable coffee from our friends in the coffee industry (with full traceability) that we just have to share with our customers.