Thursday, November 26, 2009

Community Development in Cameroon


Last summer I had the great pleasure to meet Matti Foncha, a true global citizen, who has an import business based in Atlanta, and has been helping farmers in his native Cameroon organize cooperatively to bring their crops to world markets. Matti's vision for equitable trading is summarized here.
At Kimberton Whole Foods, this coffee is our first experiment with Direct Purchase from coffee farmers. We're helping pre-finance the 2010 harvest, an approach that helps stabilize the local economy, and gives farmers a chance to help their famlies and each other during the growing season, now underway.
We learned about this opportunity from Mocha Joe's, a coffee roaster in Brattleboro, VT. They've sent their own folks over there to help train the farmers to grow, sort, and process for the specialty coffee market. They've also organized local roasters (like us!) around this project, and are helping create resources and funding for new processing mills in Cameroon, to be farmer-owned.
Cameroon is the only region in West Africa with the altitudes and soils to support high-grade Arabica beans. The coffee is very robust and interesting, a unique combination of buttery chocolate notes with an earthy spiciness. We're offering it as a French Roast.
I have exactly one 130# bag in stock from the 2009 harvest. I think I can get more if customers clamor. This is a great coffee, and the 2010 crop promises to be even better.

1 comment:

  1. Great article, thx! Yes drinking Cameroon Boyo Coffee is changing lives one cup at a time. Also, the coffee taste great. Again, thx for your support.

    Yaseen Samaad

    ReplyDelete