New Indigenous Coffee Roaster, Guatemala

Considering coffee from the local roaster or a national chain such as Starbucks versus coffee roasted in Guatemala by the indigenous people, there are three distinct issues: 1)The roaster represents the largest profit potential in the delivery of coffee. Shifting this revenue to the growers and their cooperativas benefits the indigenous financially. 2)The growers become more involved in processing a value added, finished product, rather than a raw commodity. 3) The transport of roasted coffee by air delivers an exceptional product and a high element of social justice.

The roaster makes the major money in the coffee market. By contracting the roasting in Guatemala and involving the indigenous people in the roasting, it is possible to pay the growers a more than "fair trade price" for their coffee and still offer a competitive price to the consumer. By paying a more than fair trade price for the coffee, we bargain for the highest quality beans from the more remote, higher mountain coffee regions, thus giving the villagers of these remote volcanic regions a greater understanding of their worth and a sense of competing on the basis of quality in a depressed world coffee market. Approximately 3% of our revenue goes towards research, development and facilitating the capacity of the cooperativas from whom we buy.

With a grant from the Guatemala Ministry of Agriculture, and partially facilitated by Earth Friendly Coffee's business model, roasting history and promoted by our Guatemala roaster, a consortium of 17 indigenous cooperativas purchased a roaster and established a roasting facility in Huehuetenango. It turns out that the Roasting Facility is an indigenous women's venture as well. Many of the women from the villages will learn to do the work of milling, roasting and packaging coffee and with time engage the collection, processing, shipping and export of their product. This represents a giant leap forward in involving indigenous people in the supply chain for their coffee. Our Guatemala partner and his people will initially do the roasting and supervise the processing to insure the quality of the work. Traditionally, it is the women of the remote villages that do much of the processing. This roaster gives them the opportunity to earn a substantially greater portion of the specialty coffee dollar. The roaster also helps their people gain a sense of the market, the quality requirements and greater access to the buyers of coffee.

Earth Friendly Coffee trades for the carbon offset to mitigate the carbon burden of shipping by air. We contribute to wind generation of electricity through Native Energy. The roasted beans that are flown by air weigh 1/3 less than if they were shipped before roasting. Flying the fresh roasted coffee standby, in effect further reduces carbon impact. Furthermore, the roasted coffee arrives fresh at the distribution point within a day or two, matching or exceeding the freshness of locally roasted coffee.

More to come