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Williamsburg Coffee & Tea Company 888 / 565 - 1400
Mail Order-Socially & Environmentally Responsible Coffee
SER: Peru
$9.75
Fairly Traded, Organic & Bird Friendly
La Florida Chanchamayo Organic coffee comes from the slopes of the Andes Mountains in the Chanchamayo region of Central Peru. Just up the valley from the small town of Villa Rica, this area marks the beginning of the real jungle, near the Amazon forest. Concerned about the increasing number of toxic agrochemicals being introduced into rural communities, La Florida implemented a program to encourage organic growers to continue using traditional growing methods. Today, there are 183 certified organic producers participating in La Florida’s organic program. These members are now training their neighbors how to improve their harvest using sustainable agriculture methods. Thanks to the commitment and excellent coordination of the cooperative’s founding members, La Florida continues to realize their development dreams.
The cooperative La Florida, was founded in 1966. Initially the cooperative consisted of 100 farmers who hoped to combine and market their coffee at better prices and thereby attain a greater level of development. Today La Florida has over 1500 producer associates, all small coffee farmers, representing 36 communal groups, including Peruvian Sierra colonies and indigenous communities. La Florida is named after one of these mountain colonies.
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SER: Guatemala
$9.75
Fairly Traded, Organic & Bird Friendly
Atitlán coffee comes from a region in the Western Highlands of Guatemala named for its picturesque volcanoes and beautiful lake. Grown in fertile volcanic soils by a small farmer cooperative rich in Indian tradition, La Voz que Clama en el Desierto (The Voice that Cries out in the Desert) has been certified organic since 1992.
The Guatemalan highlands produce some of the best and most distinctively flavored coffees in the world. La Voz's coffee arabica trees are cultivated under a rich shade tree canopy that includes many trees native to the region that provide home to a diversity of migratory bird species. The Tipica and Bourbon varieties produce a well balanced coffee with a snappy fruity and smokey aroma.
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SER: Papua New Guinea
$9.75
Fairly Traded
The Agoga plantations are located on the eleventh kilometer west of the rural township of Kainantu, a town on the Okuk highway. The main road services the highlands of mainland Papua New Guinea. Agoga is composed of 2,000 family, clan and village members. Each member has been involved with the production of coffee his or her whole life. They cultivate 129.50 hectares of Blue Mountain arabica species coffee at an altitude of 4,500 to 5,500 ft. Coffee is the only cash crop in this region.
Agoga is part of a cooperative method of sustenance known as the “Wantok System” that has been part of Papua New Guinea culture for thousands of years. It is one of the oldest and most effective social systems known to modern man.
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SER: Mexico
$9.75
Fairly Traded, Organic & Bird Friendly
Mexico’s Chiapas Organic coffee comes from the Sierra Madre region in Southern Mexico. This region is characterized by poor infrastructure, unemployment, a high rate of illiteracy, and low life expectancy. In response to these adversities, community church leaders founded co-operative ISMAM in 1986. ISMAM is an effort to secure a just price for local coffee and to help sustain natural resources. ISMAM’s members are almost 99% indigenous from Mam, Mache, Tzotzi, Tojolaba, Jacaleco, and Tzeltal origin. The traditional knowledge and technologies of these people lead the basis of their organic methods they employed today including the use of composts and natural fertilizers. All of ISMAM’s coffee is grown at high altitudes ranging from 4,800 feet to 5,400 feet. The native Mayan farmers on the volcanic highland grow all the coffee in the old style preserving the tropical forest, protecting flora, and fauna, and avoiding any chemicals and pollution. ISMAM’s farms, milling, and transport operations have received six independent organic certifications. They have been accredited as Shade Grown coffee by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center.
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SER: Bolivia
$9.75
Fairly Traded, Organic & Bird Friendly
Our Bolivian coffee comes from the Co-operative AECAR (Asociación Ecologica de Caficultores Rosario entre Rios). Funded in 1987, AECAR is made up of 164 small farmers averaging 3 acres of land per farmer. This “Typica” and “Bourbon” coffee is cultivated in the mountain regions of Bolivia at an altitude of 4,900 - 6,000 feet above sea level, principally from colonies such as Central Illimani, Villa Caturapi, Collasuyo, Buen Pasto, Magallanes, Alto Ascensión and Chuma. AECAR members work very hard to constantly improve their organic farming and cultivation practices and by extension, the quality of their coffees. Their main mission is to protect the environment and at the same time maintain the economic balance necessary for the subsistence of each farmer. They have built raised bed patios for coffee drying, started their own nurseries, and brought in coffee technicians to further organic agricultural training. These efforts and the unusual micro climate combine to offer a heavy-bodied coffee with distinctive acidity that tingles the senses of the tongue as well as the imagination.
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SER: Costa Rica
$9.75
Organic & Bird Friendly
One of the best coffees in Costa Rica is Lomas Al Rio Organic Coffee. This coffee is cultivated in the rich volcanic soils of the West Central Valley of Costa Rica in the town of Palmares, in Alajuela province. The Lomas Al Rio project is composed of 135 to 140 small and medium growers from various zones and regions: San Jose de la Montaña (Herendia Province), Tres Rios (San Jose), Barva and Santa Barvara (Heredia province), Aserri (Terrazú region), Palmares (hometown), and finca La Paz in San Ramon. Early quality control assures that every cup brewed from Lomas Al Rio coffee has incredible flavor. How can we be so sure? Coffee growers follow strict regulations to certify their coffee as organically grown. Chemical-free land produces full healthy plants to provide 100% organic berries: the first step in a complex process.
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SER: Colombia
$9.75
Fairly Traded & Organic
Colombia’s premiere organic coffee comes from the Central Mountain Range of the Colombian Andes in south Cauca in Popayan. This regional organic coffee project is directed by COSURCA which is composed of 615 impoverished families all dedicated to agriculture. The capacity to increase productions is limited by the lack of funds needed to incorporate new and sophisticated technology. COSURCA was legally founded in March of 1993. It covers nine communities from the Macizo Colombiano in southwest Cauca at elevations ranging from 3,250 - 4,000 ft above sea level. This area includes the communities of Almaguer, Argelia, Balboa, Florencia, La Sierra, La Vega, Mercaderes, Patia, and Sucre. They implemented this Organic Coffee Project with the goals of making their economy more viable and improving their community living standard. Each member is required to modify their production by incorporating the use of new technology while complying with the organic regulations. This has reduced production costs as well as some of the intensive manual labor required by each family member. The project has increased productivity per hectare. This year they will produce around 121,000 kilos of organic coffee certified by ECOCERT International.
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SER: Nicaragua
$9.75
Fairly Traded & Organic
Wiwili coffee comes from a small farmer group called La Providencia located in Northern Nicaragua on the edge of the Rio Coco, at the foot of the Kilambé Massif Mountains. The highest zones of the Kilambé produce some of the best and most distinctively flavored coffees in the world. La Providencia’s coffee arabica beans are solar dried or dried on decks that use solar powered driers and their pulping mills do not contaminate the regional water source. This is important for the people who work and live there and also for the many species of plants and animals that rely on the Rio Coco for their water. Grown at an altitude of 3,500 to 4,500 feet above sea level, Wiwili is graded Strictly High Grown (SHG). La Providencia is a cooperatively managed farmer group. The associate farmers produce coffee on small plots of land that are individually owned and maintained. Ripened coffee is harvested by family members and other coop associates. La Providencia takes great pride in its ability to control quality and use safe, sustainable methods to process their coffee. They are certified organic by OCIA, and are listed on the fair trade registry to ensure the farmers a fair price for their hard work.
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SER: Ethiopia
$9.75
Fairly Traded & Organic
Ethiopia’s finest organic coffee comes from a farmer group called Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (OCFCU). Founded in June of 1999, OCFCU is a union of 34 small cooperatives benefiting 22,734 smallholder farmer members. Historically, Ethiopia is the oldest recognized country of coffee’s origin. The species is found in its wild state under spontaneous conditions in the southwest rainforest. The growing region ranges between 5,000 and 6,500 ft. Coffee in this southwest region is know as Highland Coffee as the average altitude is 1,750 meters (5,750 ft). Ethiopia possesses one of the largest and most complex self-perpetuating ecosystems comprising the most varied plant species. Three major farming systems are recognized and practiced: Forest Coffee which grows under a forest canopy with very little human interface, Small Farm/Cottage Coffee, the most prevalent, comes from small farms and is shade grown and often intercropped, and Plantation Coffee which is the system that utilized modern coffee planting and processing practices. OROMIA is Forest and Small Farm / Cottage Coffee.
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Prices Subject to Change Without Notice.
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