Honduras - Coffee Kids
When we look for new coffee, we always have a few goals in mind. As a specialty coffee company, we are looking for a high-grade crop with exceptional and ethical growth, production, and selling practices. We are also always on the hunt for relational connections. Recently, we began looking for a fresh harvest from Honduras and reached out to our partners at InterAmerican Coffee.
We prefer to have direct relationships with farmers rather than buying through larger importers because we believe that we can see the greatest impact in and through relationships with producers and cooperatives. However, importers often do have a similar heart and conviction to ours, which is certainly true of InterAmerican coffee in their support of the Coffee Kids program in Ocotepeque, Honduras. Through InterAmerican, we’re able to come alongside and meaningfully support young coffee producers in Honduras.
Nothing thrills us more than supporting initiatives that are determined to see passionate ideas come to life and thrive through effective projects, accomplishing the vision they set out to achieve. This is why we’re honored to support the Coffee Kids program in Honduras, which is currently made up of 109 young coffee producers. Without access to larger markets, coffee farmers are often limited to selling their coffee to a local buy-house at lower than profitable prices. The Coffee Kids program has created a way for younger coffee farmers, men and women, to make a living wage on their crop while simultaneously offering the farmers entrepreneurial and agricultural training.
The goal is to empower young farmers to create and maintain thriving businesses by investing in them and by expanding their understanding of the coffee industry as a whole. By offering seed money to young producers, the Coffee Kids program is able to help get community businesses off the ground that otherwise would sit idle. Investment alone would be a nice sentiment, but the program goes further by mentoring the community members. Through these mentorships, young producers are given hands-on, personal training to improve their crop, to maximize their business potential, and to sharpen their abilities as coffee professionals. The program serves a worthy goal based upon the notion that if we are going to achieve something truly special, we are going to have to work together.
Our purchase of this wonderful, crowd-favorite Honduran coffee not only goes to support the Coffee Kids program but it also goes directly to the producers. From every pound of coffee purchased through the Coffee Kids program, a 10-cent premium is given back to these producers on top of their per/lb. profit. We firmly believe that who we buy our coffee from matters; accordingly, as a consumer, who you buy your coffee from matters. Together, we can help families, like those in Honduras, realize sustainable growth.
