MEET OUR FARMER PARTNERS
We partner directly with small-scale coffee farmers around the globe to bring the best fair trade and organic beans back to our roastery.
Farmer Partners
SCFCU - Ethiopia
Founded in 2001, the Sidama Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (SCFCU) represents 53 cooperatives and over 70,000 small-scale farmer families in southern Ethiopia. SCFCU provides financial, technical, and marketing support to its members, producing approximately 10,000 tons of organic arabica coffee annually. Shade-grown under indigenous trees and enset, their washed coffee is known for bright acidity, fruity flavors, and balanced body, while natural process coffee offers rich, full-bodied profiles with candied fruit notes. Learn more
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COMUCAP - Honduras
COMUCAP, or the Coordinadora de Mujeres Campesinas de La Paz, is a cooperative located in La Paz, Honduras. The cooperative was founded in 1993 to provide women with economic independence to support their families and help break the cycle of domestic abuse. This cooperative provides loans to members so that they can purchase land in their own name. Learn more
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COSURCA - Colombia
COSURCA is a secondary-level cooperative currently comprised of eleven producer associations, one cooperative, and three territorial entities or municipalities from the Southern Colombian Macizo mountains in the center and south of the region of Cauca. Since its inception, COSURCA has followed seven core values: Solidarity, Cooperation, Responsibility, Honesty, Hard work, Social Engagement, and Respect for individuals and Nature. Currently, COSURCA is providing accompaniment and support in the technical, organizational, commercial, political, and judicial development of 1500 small farmer families, with an emphasis on organic and fair trade coffee production, food security, and self-sufficiency for communities through the production of staple crops, as well as the production and commercialization of tropical fruits for pulp and juices. COSURCA exports fair trade coffee to small and medium wholesale coffee roasters but also manages its own line of wholesale roasted coffee for the domestic market. As a fundamental tenet of its philosophy of economic development, COSURCA strives to be as inclusive as possible by engaging ethnic minority groups and women in the different projects it implements in its communities. Learn more
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Triunfo Verde - Mexico
Triunfo Verde, S.C. is a cooperative organization comprised of over 500 organized small farmers dedicated to organic farm practices in the buffer zone surrounding the El Triunfo biological reserve. Through ecologically friendly practices, they seek to foment conservation, offset land and resource degradation in the area, and promote the recovery of natural resources and local biodiversity. Its mission is to improve member livelihoods by selling high-quality organic coffee in markets that value and reward the effort behind growing an ecologically friendly product at a fair price. As environmental stewards, Triunfo Verde seeks that its members remain actively engaged in environmental education. Through their technical and agronomic accompaniment, farmers receive the necessary training and education to develop their households into productive campesino enterprises capable of generating sustainable economic development in communities. All business operations, from the collection and commercialization of coffee to technical assistance, financial and productive assistance, community development, and product diversification, are managed inclusively and democratically. They advocate for gender and racial equality and religious freedom as founding principles of this cooperative. Ultimately, the organization’s mission is to develop and demonstrate that agriculture can be compatible with rational resource use, promoting the social and economic development of underserved communities. They aim to improve humankind’s relationship with nature through feasible and ecologically sound means, with social justice at its core. Learn more
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ANEI – Colombia
The Association of Indigenous and Campesino Agroecological Producers of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía del Perijá ANEI was founded in 1995 by Aurora Izquierdo, the first indigenous woman of the Arhuaco tribe of the Yewrwa community to obtain a university degree. She studied in the capital of Colombia, Bogotá, with the objective of organizing the local economies of our indigenous and campesino communities. Aurora Izquierdo utilized coffee as a tool to secure the cultural permanence of those indigenous communities in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía del Perijá, in the north of Colombia, through the implementation of eco-sustainable programs and projects that fortify organizational processes. These processes reclaim the social, economic, and cultural rights of members, and promote food safety all at the same time contributing to the world with an excellent natural product, organic coffee grown in harmony with nature. The production and commercialization of ANEI’s organic coffee is implemented in a context of harmony and respect for Mother Earth. Learn more
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Sol Y Cafe - Peru
Located in the province of Jaen, in the rural department of Cajamarca, Peru, Sol & Café was founded in 2005 with support from Caritas Jaen, a Catholic social service and humanitarian organization, member of the Caritas Internationalis. This cooperative moved quickly to acquire the necessary organic and fair trade certificates in order to sell directly into North American and European coffee markets. Its initial 27 producer base groups have grown to more than 60 producer associations, bringing together some 1,000 farmer families. Sol & Café continues to share an office space in the Caritas complex in Jaen, where it maintains a warehouse and quality control lab. Cooperative Coffees began working with Sol & Café in 2012, importing their members’ coffee with unique characteristics of jasmine floral fragrances, sweet tropical fruit, honey vanilla, and caramel flavors, balanced with crisp acidity and a creamy, full body. Sol & Café has quickly become a solid and integral member of the Coop Coffees’ producer partner network, with its excellent communication, coffee quality, and services to its members. Learn More
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Fero Cooperative - Ethiopia
Located in Wonsho Woreda in Southern Ethiopia, the Fero Coop joined the Sidama Cooperative Farmers Coffee Union (SCFCU) in 2005. They are their largest and most productive member and act as leader in the region in water conservation and composting. They have also won many awards for the cup quality of their coffee. In 2014 filmmakers from The Perennial Plate accompanied us on a trip to meet with members of SCFCU. The result is this short film that takes you through the heart of the coffee lands in Sidama. Listen closely to hear the Amharic word for coffee, buna, repeated over and over in a beautiful tribute to the role of coffee and cooperatives in the farmers’ lives. Learn More
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COMSA - Honduras
Founded with a vision to innovate and improve coffee-growing for the farmers of the region, the cooperative COMSA (Café Orgánico Marcala) has done just that. In the Southern mountains of the country, they are continually finding new ways to grow coffee through sustainable and organic means. Their farms thrive as community leaders explore the use of innovative practices like applying fermented solutions of micro-organisms to boost the plants’ health; some even drink it themselves! COMSA dedicates many resources to strengthening its organization through educational programs for its members. For example, a women’s group raises animals and tends a rich cornucopia of vegetable crops to diversify their families’ incomes and supply the local community with healthy, organic produce. Learn More
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Permata Gayo - Indonesia
Far on the northern end of Sumatra, high in the Gayo Mountains, several producers cultivate a coffee that is utterly unique. Years of civil war plagued this region, causing many farmers to abandon their land and flee to the neighboring city of Medan. However, after a powerful tsunami hit the coastal region of northern Sumatra in 2014, the most devastating of its kind in modern times, and the peace accords were signed, ending a generation of violence, farmers began returning to their land to grow these exceptionally delicious beans. Learn More
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CENFROCAFE - Peru
Located in the high jungle of northern Peru, CENFROCAFE farmers take pride in their organic practices with a strong emphasis on the preparation of compost with coffee pulp, best use of other organic waste and reproduction of microorganism mixtures. From technical assistance and quality control workshops for their farmers, to economic and leadership training for the young people in their rural communities, CENFROCAFE works not only to support the commercial endeavors of its members – but also to facilitate the development of their communities as a whole. Learn More
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Pangoa - Peru
Tucked away in the central Amazon region, just east of the Andean mountain range, you’ll find the Cooperativa Agraria Cafetalera Pangoa headquarters. Pangoa has experienced a long and colorful history underscored with both good and hard times. Founded 40 years ago by a group of 50 farmers, they once had membership above 1,700 farmers. That number declined dramatically during the late 1980s as strife in the region led many farmers to leave their land to escape violence. With peace on the horizon, more farmers are coming back and Pangoa’s membership has evened out with nearly 700 farmers. Pangoa represents our second longest trading relationship and stands as an example of the benefits that well-managed cooperatives can give their members. Learn More
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PROCOCER - Nicaragua
PROCOCER is located in northern Nicaragua, very close to the Honduras border. They have spent the past few years renovating many of their farms affected by age of trees and climate change. They are also working hard to diversify products and economic activities, in order to improve the well-being of their member families while conserving the ecological balance and natural beauty of their region. Learn More
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Manos Campesinas - Guatemala
Located in the western highlands of Guatemala, near the southern border of Mexico and about 70 miles from the Pacific Ocean. The volcanic soil, altitude, and tropical climate provide ideal conditions for growing delicious coffee in harmony with the land.
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