“Thanksgiving Coffee is a great company to work for” For as long as I can remember these words have reverberated through the Mendocino community. Rotary heard it too and Thanksgiving Coffee Company was awarded the Rotary District 5130 Ethics in Business Award for 2021.

The Rotary contacted us to say that we had been nominated by a member of the community. Shortly afterward a woman from the subcommittee called to verify and asked several questions based on Thanksgiving’s ethics and practices. They must have liked our answers and we went on for a final vote by the Blue Ribbon Panel made up of local businesses. In the end, we won the medium division (16-20 employees ) for the Northern California district that stretches from the Oregon border to Petaluma, CA.

Based on the results gathered from 70 nominees who were asked about the mission, values, and the culture of their organization and the what and how of ethics in business, we were chosen as one of the lucky recipients. Watch our acceptance speech from the awards ceremony below!

Thanksgiving’s approach to ethics is justice, and to achieve justice you have to take action. For 5o years these actions have taken us down many roads.

As a certified B Corp we are in the company of over 4,000 businesses putting people and planet before profit.

The motivation to reach out from this tiny little coastal town and bring the big conversation of sustainability to the world came from our owners and their ethical leadership, here are a few highlights.

When the Fair Trade was formed, we were the second coffee company to certify and support the conscious consumerism, and shared value to eliminate poverty and enable sustainable development for farmers, workers, their families, and their communities around the world.

As president of the Specialty Coffee Association, our co-founder Paul Katzeff established the first “Environment Committee”, now called Sustainability Council.

The Unpaid Unrecognized Work of Women Project has given us insight into the economic justice needed for women farmers by giving more profits to improve the lives of their families.

The Clean Water Project helps to bring water filters into every home of the Namanyonyi Community of Shalom Interfaith Cooperative in Uganda. The filters are dual-purpose both helping to reduce the 50% death rate for children under the age of 5 from water-borne illnesses and curb deforestation from needing to boil water with wood fires. We are doing our part to change that.

Our Cause Coffee Program gives 20% for Good. The project began with the Song Bird Coffee supporting shade-grown coffee and has continued to evolve and grow over the past 23 years. To date, we have raised $500k.

The Bee Bold Alliance is working to restore biodiversity and local food security through pollinator protection by engaging youth, local businesses, and building infrastructure for pollinator sanctuaries.

“There is no doubt that the spirit of Thanksgiving has helped guide our business activities and ethics over the past 49 years. It is not a coincidence that we give back to producers and coffee growers some of the profits so that they may more fully benefit from their efforts. Living each day as we do, with Thanksgiving as part of our lives, has certainly given us “The Spirit”. So let the name of our company be accepted on its face value, and let the spirit of Thanksgiving be for each person to define for themselves.” Paul Katzeff, Co-founder of Thanksgiving Coffee Company.

We are grateful to Rotary District 5130 for honoring our business. Thank you for recognizing our work in the community and giving us the Ethics in Business Award for 2021.

What is a Single Origin coffee? Simply put, these coffees are defined by the place they come from.

Single Origin coffees are from a specific farm or group of farms that make up small cooperatives. You’ll find that most of our Single Origin coffees are light roasted since this brings out their unique aromas and flavor notes. This month, we’re sharing our Byron’s Maracaturra washed with you, grown by Los Piños Farm in Nicaragua.

Located in the northern region of Nicaragua is Finca Los Piños. This region produces approximately 83.80% of the national coffee production and has exceptional agro-ecological conditions. They are located in the community of Aranjuez, belonging to the department of Matagalpa. Los Piños farm is part of the El Arenal Natural Reserve, at an altitude of about 1400 meters, where the waters that feed the great Apanas lake are born.

The Corrales Family has four generations of coffee producers, preserving the best practices that have allowed them to achieve a distinctive and outstanding flavor. They continue to use the cultivation methods used by past generations, adding only organic products made on our own farm into the soil.

“Coffee is part of our lives and it has become the way we can express to the world our effort, respect and solidarity as a family.”

Not ready to join the Single Origin Club? Make a one-time purchase of Byron’s Maracaturra.

BUY NOW

• Farm: Finca Los Piños
• Altitude:1 ,500 meters
• Processing: Fully washed
• Varietal: Maracaturra

A momentous action for gender equality and economic justice came into being and called to mind the roots of fair trade. Thanksgiving Coffee Company had the privilege of being at its epicenter when it began eight years ago in 2013 .

For 20 years Thanksgiving has purchased green coffee beans from the farmer co-operative Soppexcca in Jinotega, Nicaragua. Under the leadership of Fátima Ismael who believes that ‘woman’s independence can only be achieved through economic autonomy and awareness,’ Soppexcca became the first coffee farm to enact an initiative to pay women for their unrecognized work.

Thanksgiving Coffee Companies Co-founder Joan Katzeff wrote about her visit to Nicaragua in her post Women in Coffee part one.

This initiative was created with Etico, the Ethical Trading Company in 2013 and was part of the agricultural cooperatives, charities, and consumer companies they work with for one common goal – to raise the quality of life for those who most need it. In this case, the focus was on the unpaid work of women who make up 49.58% of the world’s population, yet are disproportionately represented among the most marginalized.

Despite making significant, often unrecognized, contributions to their local economies and to economic development, women face multiple and overlapping barriers in terms of access to education, information, decision-making power, or earning power.

To understand these limitations we need to look at how gender equality plays out in the economic landscape of the 21st century. When the GDP (Gross Domestic Products) was created in 1953, the global economy has only included transactions where money changed hands. According to a recent UN Report, the monetary value of unpaid care work is estimated to be 10 to over 50 percent of the GDP. An article from B of A reported in May 2021 this total was estimated to be $11 trillion per year.

If we look on a global scale it is estimated that 2/3 of the world’s work is unrecognized and uncompensated, and women do between 60-70% more of that work than men.

(For a great overview take a look at this video The unpaid work that GDP ignores — and why it really counts by Marilyn Waring.)

The Nicaraguan initiative aims to address the link between paid and unpaid work. For Thanksgiving Coffee Company this translates into an additional $0.10 per pound above the standard price paid for green coffee. As of 2021, this has totaled $30,000 paid into the women’s fund.

The Cooperative uses these funds to empower women by making organizational, financial, and educational resources available to them. Here are a few examples: Independence and security of having savings in their name, more women are joining the cooperative as full members, a positive example of development for youth and the next generation.

The groundbreaking Unrecognized Work of Women Fund is exactly the type of work that is built into the heart of our mission, to use coffee for social, environmental, and economic justice. The women of Soppexcca say it’s working, and we see the change. If you want to go deeper into the origin you can read the doctoral paper “Pricing Fair Trade Products to Include Unpaid Labour and Empower Women – the Example of Nicaraguan Sesame and Coffee Cooperatives” by Felicity Butler, Catherine Hoskyns, Nicholas Hoskyns.

When I was growing up in the Bronx in the 50’s my mom would stick three toothpicks into an avocado pit, balance the pit on the rim of a water filled glass, submerging the bottom half in the water. In a few weeks up would pop a plant with iridescent green leaves.

Today, 60 years later, I follow in my moms footsteps and plant coffee seeds in a 2 inch wide flower pot, wait 3 months for the seeds (beans) to pop up, and then nurture the seedling through three successive repottings into larger containers until the tree is 7 feet tall and producing thousands of beautiful red cherries.

Paul Katzeff, with his coffee tree full of ripe cherries.

Me with a three year old coffee tree. Note the small amount of the deep red cherries of the trees first crop sprinkled throughout the tree.

Last month I received a letter from Woody Hastings . I gave a him seedling coffee tree back in the summer of 2006 . He took the gift seriously.

He wrote to me last month and sent along these photos by way of a “tree progress report . His letter inspires this blog entry.

“Hi Paul,
I’m Woody, the guy you gave?/sold? a coffee plant to at SolFest 2006. You and I have crossed paths at SolFest ever since and I think a few times at GreenFest too.

Here’s what I look like…

June and Woody Hastings

Or maybe you recognize my wonderful wife June who works at Global Exchange.

Anyway, I wanted to show you a couple of photos of the fantastic coffee plant you gave me. It is now fruiting with about 20 cherries and I plan to roast them per your instructions at the last SolFest and have a cup of my own home grown, home roasted, home-brewed coffee! And the plant, which is about 3 feet tall…

Really just thought you might like to receive such a good progress report, and wanted to thank you for giving me this living thing that has brought me (us) so much joy and entertainment!

Happy New Year to you.
See you at SolFest!
Cheers,
Woody

PS, Almost forgot to mention, Mr. Coffee, as the plant is known, was dressed up with ornaments and served as our “christmas tree” this past December. What a hoot!

Mister Coffee, June and Woody's Coffee Tree

I wrote back…….

Woody,
I wonder if I can put your letter and photo on our website so other people can learn and see your success with the coffee tree, I am proud of you. You found the magic within you. I Thank you for the photos. You will need about 30 beans (15 cherries) for a cup of coffee. about 12 -15 grams) What is your cycle ? When does it flower and when are the cherries deep red? Where do you live?
Paul

Woody replied,

Hi Paul,
Feel free to use whatever I sent you for your website, plus the following info too if you wish. If memory serves well, I think I first noticed the flowering in mid-summer, cherries emerged in the fall, and started turning red in December. Judging by the pace at which they are all turning deep red, I will have harvested them all before the end of February.

I live in Noe Valley, in the geographic center of San Francisco, west of the Mission, east of Twin Peaks. We have a tall east-facing window in our living room and that is where Mr. Coffee spends most of his time. You had told me that they like morning sun, and he gets a lot of it there. On nice warm days we sometimes put “him” out on our deck that gets a lot of sun. Only problem with that was that one day we put him out when it was very hot and a few of the leaves “burned.” The soil I potted it in is a mix of bagged planting soil and other soils from various plantings, plus a small amount of worm castings. I’ve fed it diluted worm tea from my worm bin about once every two months. I think that helped a lot. Since I have 20 cherries, it will be one strong cup!

Mister Coffee Dressed up for Christmas

I think the one thing we have been mystified by is how the blossoms could have been pollinated. I was happy to see the blossoms and figured they would just drop and produce nothing. So surprised and gratified to actually get cherries, but how does that work? Self-pollinating?
Best Regards,
Woody

Continue this blog with my Tips for growing coffee trees at home successfully.

Read The Full Series

Part I: The Beauty of Growing Coffee Trees in Your Home

Part II: All you Need to Know About Growing Coffee Trees At Home

Part III: Caring For Your Coffee Tree

Antique bourbon Arabica varietals, prized for their rich sweetness and subtle expressions of soil, climate, and terroir are farmed at Dukunde Kawa. The farmers careful stewardship of their trees throughout the year yields heavy harvests of juicy red coffee cherries, which are the starting point for great coffee.

Draped like a patchwork quilt over a steep winding ridge, the two thousand farms of the Dukunde Kawa Cooperative stretch over 10 kilometers of meandering hilltops and slopes. Each small farm is home to a family, and on their small plots, often an acre or less in size, the family produces beans, potatoes, plantains, and the economic lifeblood of their community, coffee. This community of farmers—collectively known as Musasa after the area’s main town—produces one of the most elegant coffees in the world.

During the harvest, each of Dukunde Kawa’s 2,000 members brings freshly harvested ripe cherries to one of three washing stations. The cooperative staff sorts the whole cherries by hand to ensure that there are no poorly ripened or damaged fruit. The cherries are then depulped—their skin is stripped from the fruit—and then allowed to ferment for 12–18 hours depending on the day’s temperature. Following fermentation, the fruit’s flesh separates easily from the bean inside, and is removed as the beans are passed through a winding series of washing channels. The beans are then placed on elevated drying racks where they are turned by hand to ensure even drying, covered during the intense mid-day tropical sun to prevent them from losing moisture too quickly, and monitored until they reach a stable moisture content of 14%.

The Coffee—Deep chocolate notes, juicy hints of orange, plum, and the sweetness of maple syrup.

(We support Coffee Lands Foundation with an additional premium of $.01 for every pound of green coffee purchased)

• Co-op: Dukunde Kawa Coop
• Region: Gakenke
• Altitude: 1,600 – 2,000 meters
• Processing: Wet / Washed
• Varietal: Bourbon

Ethiopia is known as the birthplace of Arabica coffee. This incredible coffee is sourced from family-owned farms organized around the Worka Cooperative located in the southern district of Gedeb, Ethiopia. It encompasses the highest altitude of coffee cultivation area in the entire country of Ethiopia, resulting in a stunningly complex and dynamic flavor profile.

The Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (YCFCU), is an umbrella organization established in 2002 to support a sustainable coffee supply from cooperatives in the Gedeo ethnic region of Ethiopia.

There are twenty-six cooperatives affiliated with the YCFCU totaling nearly 45,000 members in the districts of Yirgacheffe, Gedeb, Wonango, Dilla Zuria, Bule, and Kochere. To grow a sustainable coffee community, the YCFCU has invested in school construction, electrification projects in remote areas, and road and bridge improvement projects.

The 62,004 hectares of coffee farms produce an annual average 9,000 tons of Yirgacheffe, 3,000 tons of Sidamo washed coffee and 24,000 tons of sun-dried coffee. We are excited to continue working with YCFCU to bring you some beautiful Ethiopian Coffees!

(We support Coffee Lands Foundation with an additional premium of $.01 for every pound of green coffee purchased)

Under the dense tropical forests of Sumatra’s northern Gayo Mountains, the Gayo Arabika Mahkota Indonesia (GARMINDO) produces one of Indonesia’s finest coffees, formerly named the ASKOGO cooperative.

Our Sumatran coffee was grown by members of the family-owned farms organized around the Gayo Arabika Mahkota Indonesia cooperative (GARMINDO), located in the Takengon highlands of the Aceh province on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. This region of Indonesia is also referred to as the Gayo land because the coffee farmers are from the Gayonese ethnic group.

GARMINDO currently has 760 members organized in 13 villages. They are all located in the regencies of Aceh Tengah and Bener Meriah. ASKOGO members grow their coffee from 1,000 to 1,500 meters above sea level.

The GARMINDO co-op offers regular training activities to each of the farmers in their co-op, in order to improve the quality of their coffees, learn new harvest techniques, and implement more beneficial farming practices. This group was founded in 2008, and has continually improved their coffee in the subsequent years. We have been purchasing coffee from GARMINDO (formerly named ASKOGO) since 2015.

We support Coffee Lands Foundation with an additional $.01 premium for every pound of green coffee purchased

• Co-op: Gayo Arabika Mahkota Indonesia- GARMINDO
• Region: Aceh Tengah and Bener Meriah
• Altitude: 1,000 – 1,500 meters
• Processing: Wet Hulled
• Varietal: Bourbon, Catimor, and Typica

Mahina Mele means “Moonsong Farm” in ‘Olelo Hawai‘i, the language of Hawai‘i. Home to Kollette and Jason Stith, and their three children, it is also one of the only producers of organic coffee on the island of Kona. Rich with sweet notes of macadamia nut, chocolate, and vanilla, this coffee is sure to remind you of the sweetness of life in the island of Hawai‘i.

“We arrived on the Big Island In June 2005 eager to see the coffee farm we purchased, sight unseen. Our first visit to our new home was stunning. While we had an idea of what we might find, we were thrilled to see the lush overgrown coffee trees and a macadamia nut orchard.

Our passion soon became cleaning the land. Using only organic practices, solar energy, and water catchment our farm soon became an oasis for birds, camelions, and all plant life. The coffee appreciated the attention and soon ripened with vibrant with red plump cherries. The rich volcanic soils of Hawaii and tropical climate allowed the coffee to thrive.”

— Kollette and Jason Stith, Mahina Mele Farm

• Farm: Mahina Mele Farm, Stith family
• Region: South Kona
• Altitude: 520 meters
• Processing: Washed and Sun Dried
• Varietal: Kona Typica

Working as family units, the farmers of the Guaya’b Cooperative carefully handpick each day’s ripe fruit and attend to the processing of their coffee on their farms in small-batches. Rich volcanic soils, antique bourbon and typica varietals and dense shade come together in the farmers’ hands to produce small volumes of exceptional coffee. A classic example of their Huehuetenango appellation, the farmers’ coffee has a rich cherry sweetness, lush floral notes, and a deep wine-like body.

Guaya'b Civil Association is an 617-member cooperative of smallholder farmers in the municipality of Jacaltenango, department of Huehuetenango, Guatemala. The farmers grow coffee under a dense forest canopy that doubles as the winter home for dozens of species of migratory birds as well as local flora and fauna. It wasn’t always this way. When coffee was introduced to this remote region 40 years ago, it was promoted as an alternative to subsistence agriculture, and farmers were taught to clear forests to make way for this new cash crop. Fortunately, these farmers are closely connected to the health of their land, and have re-established their once logged forests providing much needed shade and diverse ecosystems in which coffee thrives.

Now, a new generation of farmers works to cultivate coffee and a variety of other cash and subsistence crops to increase incomes, and to protect the health of the land. Thanks to their partnership with our importer, Elan Organic Coffee, Guaya’b has perfected the art of picking, depulping and fermenting their coffee to produce deep, juicy, and full flavored coffee with a truly distinctive character. In fact, the farmers’ coffee is so unique that they periodically run into trouble with ANACAFE, Guatemala’s national coffee marketing wing, which tries to subdue Guaya’b’s flair and replace it with a more generic cup profile produced by less-inventive processing methods.

Not content to merely develop members’ coffee production, Guaya’b has a pilot organic honey project, which also helps to increase coffee yields thanks to improved pollination.

• Co-op: Asosicacion Guaya’b Civil
• Region: Huehuetenango
• Altitude: 1,300 – 1,600 meters
• Processing: Wet / Washed
• Varietal: Bourbon, Typica, Caturra

Byron Corrales is a visionary farmer, campesino leader, and pioneer in the application of biodynamic farming practices to coffee production. Twice he’s won top honors for this magical coffee: Maracaturra, a special variety found only on his small family farm in Nicaragua. The coffee is a unique hybrid of the heirloom varietals Maragoype and Caturra (Bourbon). It was developed and is grown exclusively by Byron Corrales for Thanksgiving Coffee Company. It is a truly exceptional coffee that’s more akin to its cousins in the highlands of East Africa than its neighbors in Central America.

Each coffee carries the subtle differences in taste imparted by soil, variety, and processing, but all exemplify the classic Nicaraguan character: juicy apricot aromatics, rich cashew nuttiness, and a deeply toned sweet cacao finish.

“I was 7 years old when my grandfather taught me to plant my first coffee tree. I liked to look at sun coming through the trees, to share the lessons my grandfather taught me about the growth of plants, and watch the rain fall and surrounded by the scent of the earth. I listened to the song of the birds and rode my horse to school every morning. 42 years have passed in my life since then and I want to transmit our family’s art, our work of many years, discovering the flavors we’ve learned to bring forth from our mountains, expressed in this cup by way of respect for our environment and the songs we sing every day in our coffee farm.

I talk every day with my plants, and they ask me who will consume each bean of our production and in this moment when you are tasting our coffee, I want to talk with you and tell you in silence that you are contributing to the conservation of our planet, that this cup has come from the Arenal Forest Reserve, that its flavor that you’re tasting on your palate is the expression of life and the life energy of all the living beings who live in our community. Now we are together in embraced by this moment celebrating with joy the responsibility of protecting the future of our generations.

The cup of responsibility is a song of love.”

— Byron Jose Corrales Martinez, 2008

• Farm: Finca los Pinos, Corrales Martinez Family Farm
• Region: Arenal Forest Reserve, Matagalpa
• Altitude: 1,500 meters
• Processing: Fully Washed and Sun-Dried Natural
• Varietal: Maracaturra

Perched on the slopes surrounding the Arenal Forest Preserve, the eighty farming families of Cooperativa Solidaridad produce one of Nicaragua’s finest coffees while stewarding precious forest ecosystems.

The Cooperative’s members grow coffee under a dense canopy of banana, guava, and tropical hardwood. Each farmer harvests juicy red cherries by hand and then carefully removes the sweet fruit using hand-turned depulping machines. The day’s harvest is fermented, then washed and dried before being brought to the Cooperative’s office in the town of Aranjuez.

Each coffee carries the subtle differences in taste imparted by soil, variety, and processing, but all exemplify the classic Nicaraguan character: juicy apricot aromatics, rich cashew nuttiness, and a deeply toned sweet cacao finish.

Thanksgiving Coffee Company is proud to have purchased Cooperativa Solidaridad’s coffee since the mid-1990s, when co-founder Paul Katzeff visited during one of his many visits to Nicaragua. The relationship that he established is our oldest ongoing partnership and has been the proving ground for many of our ideas. After dozens of visits through the years, we’ve learned more than we’ve taught; today our relationship continues to deepen with the trust and strength built by our shared history.

• Co-op: Cooperativa Solidaridad
• Region: Aranjuez
• Altitude: 1,450 – 1,650 meters
• Processing: Wet / Washed
• Varietal: Caturra, Catuai, Bourbon

In the mountains of Northern Nicaragua, 38 base cooperatives composed of 2,700 small farmers grow and sell coffee together as the Promotora de Desarollo Cooperativa de las Segovias (PRODECOOP). The vast majority of the farmers are in the Esteli, Madriz and Nuevo Segovia regions. Of these farmers 30% are women-owned farms. On average they export 30,000 bags each year — about 50% of which are Certified Organic and most are working with the Caturra and Bourbon varieitals.  

The cooperative has a commitment to the wellbeing of their members and provides services such as marketing, cooperative development including technical assistance, training, credit funds, improving coffee quality and social projects to promote food security and gender equality.

Their vision is for “Work based in the family and for the family.” The quality of their products, service and environment plus social development is equal to the quality of life for their families. PRODECOOP’s motto is “Behind every cup of coffee, there is a family.”

We’re proud to purchase coffee from this cooperative — their coffees are featured in some of our most popular blends!

• Co-op: PRODECOOP
• Region: Esteli, Madriz, Nuevo Segovia, Nicaragua
• Altitude: 1,500 – 1,700 meters
• Processing: Wet / Washed
• Varietal: Caturra, Bourbon, Catuai

Situated on the highlands of Central Kenya is one of the largest fully farmer-owned, Fairtrade certified coffee society in Kenya, The Othaya Farmers Co-operative Society Limited (FCS). The OTHAYA society was registered in 1956 with 250 farmers and has since grown to over 15,000 members who generally farm half acre plots averaging 250 coffee trees. This is where our Kenya Peaberry comes from and is one of the award-winning roasts from our 2017 Roaster of the Year.

Many aspects make OTHAYA extraordinary, especially their strong social unity. They have a holistic approach to their business management and a progressive view towards quality control throughout their supply chain. The society has a full spectrum of support for their farmers from nursery, farm store, workshops and factory managers are routinely trained on wet mill best practices. OTHAYA also has cupping facilities and society staff cup samples of every lot delivered during the harvest season.

“Peaberries are sought after by coffee connoisseurs for two main reasons: the small size and rounded shape of the beans means they roll around in a smooth and fluid motion inside the coffee roaster for an even and consistent roast. The other major benefit of peaberry beans is that they have been carefully selected, which is essential for optimal quality, regardless of bean shape.” - Jacob Long, Roastmaster

• Co-op: OTHAYA
• Region: Nyeri, Kenya
• Altitude: 1,400 – 1,800 meters
• Processing: Wet / Washed
• Varietal: SL28, SL32, Ruiru 11, Batian

SINGLE ORIGIN

The Society of Small Producers for Coffee Exports (SOPPEXCCA) supports farming families in Nicaragua. Nestled in the mountains above the regional capital Jinotega, the farmers of SOPPEXCCA grow coffee under the protective shade of bananas, mangos, and mahogany, and alongside dense forests providing home to dozens of rare orchids and winter habitat for hundreds of migratory songbirds.

The SOPPEXCCA coffee cooperative was founded in Nicaragua in 1997 with the intention of improving the lives of its members and communities in the Nicaraguan coffee industry. They represent 654 families and is recognized around the world as a leader in the movement to empower small-scale farmers, especially women and youth. During the harvest, coffee is carefully picked, then depulped and fermented overnight before it is washed, and sun-dried. Careful attention to the subtleties of processing and the farmer’s pride produce sweetly floral coffee, with a rich nutty depth and a distinctive sweetness reminiscent of dried apricots.

In addition to the Fairtrade premium we pay for this coffee, we give to a special fund for the "Unpaid Work Of Women" for SOPPEXCCA.

• Co-op: SOPPEXCCA
• Region: Jinotega
• Altitude: 1,200 meters
• Processing: Wet / Washed
• Varietal: Bourbon, Typica, Caturra

Perched atop fertile mountain ridges in the foothills east of the Andes, 300 farming families produce one of Bolivia’s sweetest coffees under the shade of lush jungle canopy. These farmers are members of ASOCAFE, a cooperative founded in 1990 in an effort to improve the quality of the area’s coffee and, consequently, price and income for farmers.

Caranavi province is the heartland of Bolivia’s coffee production. Rivers that flow from glaciers 4,000 meters above carve deep valleys and create an ideal landscape for the cultivation of exquisite coffee. The farmers of ASOCAFE grow prized varietals on their small farms and transport their carefully hand-picked coffee to central processing stations, where, under the watchful eye of the cooperative’s staff, the ripe cherries are depulped, fermented, washed, and sun-dried.

• Co-op: ASOCAFE
• Region: Caranavi
• Altitude: 800-1,800 meters
• Processing: Wet / Washed
• Varietal: Typica, Caturra, Catui