Influential coffee
This is the second coffee in our IMPACT series. IMPACT No. 02 is the new name – this coffee was previously known as Simply Organic. Although we have given this coffee a new name, it is still the same sweet and balanced coffee that we know and love.
This coffee is bought from our partners in Honduras – the Cafesmo cooperative. Like all other coffees from the cooperative, it is certified organic and grown with consideration for the nearby nature in mind.
Cafesmo have named this coffee Los Cipreses after the many cypress trees in the woods around the farm.
We are very impressed with the quality and taste of the beans. It is sweet and balanced with flavours of chocolate, honey, cane sugar, and lime.
The coffee growers behind Los Cipreses
Cafesmo purchased this harvest from a small group of farmers from a village called Gualchén in the mountains of Honduras. This small group of coffee farmers has over the last few years built their own cooperative - COCAFEGUAL - which Cafesmo reached out to for collaboration. They have bought 2 of COCAFEGUAL's best harvests and they are now helping each other by sharing knowledge, experience, and connections to strengthen the community in the Honduran coffee industry. Like the farmers in Cafesmo, COCAFEGUAL has also been certified organic after 3 years of hard work with documentation and approval.
The collaboration with COCAFEGUAL is an example of how Cafesmo continues to work to expand the community around good coffee from Honduras as well as support the smaller farmers who find it difficult to get in touch with the right roasters and partners.
COCAFEGUAL sent us the following greeting about their cooperation with us:
"It is a welcome opportunity for us to be associated with roasters in such distant lands. We strive to build equal, respectful relationships that bring joy to coffee drinkers around the world and prosperity and stability to our local communities."
Honduras is one of the poorest countries in South and Central America. More than 1 in 5 people in rural areas live in extreme poverty with less than $1.9 a day to live on.
The government of Honduras has tried to alleviate this poverty by raising the minimum wage in the country. However, this has made it difficult for companies and farmers to supply their products at a competitive price. The result is that there is a very large number of workers who do not have an official contract or work in poor conditions. It is in these situations that collaborations, community, and cooperatives are so important.
We have paid the cooperative $7.80/kg for this coffee (FOB). The market price at the time of the contract was $5.16/kg. In this case, we have paid 51.16% above the market price for the coffee.
