Growers

Don Wilfredo - Nicaragua

Don Wilfredo is the first coffee farmer I ever met.

Actually his full name is Wilfredo Haslan - the whole 'Don' thing escaped me when I was very new to Spanish and did not realise it meant 'Sir' - a sign of respect. A learners mistake.

As well as being the first coffee farmer that anyone from Peoples Coffee has ever met, it was the first journey to origin - to a country that grows coffee. I knew very little Spanish, was traveling alone, and yet this was to be the journey that convinced me Fair Trade was a movement that we needed to make a central part of our business as a coffee roaster.

And so the whole idea of naming our first espresso blend the name of the first farmer in our Fair Trade journey seemed apt, if not fitting. Don Wilfredo is indeed everything the little story we tell on his poster promo. He is a humble, warm, respected and committed coffee farmer.

He has approximately 5 acres of coffee - and is passionate about organic and sustainable farming. All his coffee is grown under the shade of rainforest and banana leaf shade. Like many small lot coffee farmers, you can find a veritable feast of other fruits and vegetables interplanted among his coffee trees.

Life on his family's small finca (farm) is simple. At 4am each day his daughter rises to mill the maize they harvested and dried earlier in the year. Adding water to the dry pieces of maize (corn) allows it to be turned into a wet, rough flour that tortillas are then cooked on a rough piece of metal plate over open flame. These tortillas, red beans and rice form most meals on Wilfredo's farm, sometimes supplemented with a little feta made the day before from one of their cows' milk. Meat, an expensive commodity is rarely eaten and saved for special occasions.

Don Wilfredo at the time in 2004 was president of his local cooperative which supplies Cecocafen - the union of his and other primary cooperatives, that market their coffee to roasters and buyers around the world.

In January of 2009, Rene Macaulay - Peoples Coffee head roaster went to visit the one of the co-operatives near Wilfredo's farm. Unfortunately he did not get to meet up with Wilfredo at this time - something we hope to do in the not to distant future.

Buy Wilfredo's smooth, full-bodied espresso blend

Tadesse Meskela - Ethiopia

Tadesse is a fierce advocate of Fairtrade from Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee. Tadesse has made it his business to get Fairtrade Ethiopian coffee into the world market using his position as general maanger of the Oromia Coffee Co-op. The 85,487 acres of the co-op is known for its high quality coffee, all of which is heirloom, forrest-grown, organic, bird friendly and small-holder produced.

Buy Tadesse's high caffeine, light, silky coffee

Jorge Xol - Guatemala

Jorge Xol became the treasurer of the APODIP co-operative in Guatemala when he was just 19. This role was a challenge, not least because he had little funds from the co-op to pay for his travel to town for meetings. When he first started there were 13 groups and around 300 members, although many didn’t understand or agree with Fairtrade business.

As a member of APODIP, however, Jorge saw substantial growth in the co-operative and witnessed the pride this created in the community. For ADODIP farmers, organic production costs are high and prices received barely cover these costs. Coyotes (middle men) can sometimes match prices paid by APODIP, making it harder for the co-operative to maintain all of its members. Jorge has seen the inner workings of APODIP before and after Fair Trade and thinks it is stronger now. He believes that with additional technical help all year round they could bring in a greater yield in their harvest.

Some years ago he started his own nursery from his own organic seedlings (very unusual and highly commendable) some of which is Maragogype, a special variety which commands a higher price. Since leaving the co-operate, Jorge has graduated as a teacher and married. He now works as a secondary teacher in the community of Paraiso Privado which he grew up in.

Mansela Mazariegos - Mexico

In 2005 Mansela Mazariegos watched the rain of Hurricane Stan drive through Mexico and soak the Chiapas Galeano valley. Coffee cherries bruised, bushes crumpled and Mansela, a single mother of four, watched her coffee income slip down muddy slopes and flow over rocky river beds. Through her fair trade co-operative Mansela is connected to disaster relief grants. While she plans to rebuild her field Mansela's also encouraging her co-op to develop programmes specifically for women in coffee. Mansela smiles because she's a co-op member. As one of the few women with membership Mansela knows it's her responsibility to care for and support her own people.

Pablo Caal - Guatemala

Pablo Caal was raised in a volcanic highland coffee community in Guatemala. His father is an integral part of the community leadership, and growing up Pablo listened to his father tell stories of diplomacy in a transitioning village. As Pablo grew his remote hillside village transformed. Villagers who were once divided  by competition for coffee sales created an organic fair trade cooperative, combining their coffee and making all of them partners in the sale.

After studying agronomy he wanted to put his new agricultural skills to use, and to follow his father's example of giving back to the community that he grew up in. He returned home to work for the co-op, offering technical support to the farmers of the Paraiso Privado community. At 22 years old Pablo smiles because he's proud. He's proud to be a model to his peers and community, but most importantly he’s happy his father is proud of him.

THEIR COFFEE IS IN YOUR HANDS

Artemio Hernandez - Mexico

Artemio Hernandez has cowboy sun-kissed skin, and Mexican grandfatherly wisdom. On meeting Artemio, the warm wrinkles to his face bring a smile to all as he welcomed us with gratitude.  He expressed a healing in the spirit of the community through our coming to meet them, by giving them the opportunity to share the hardship and problems they face. Artemio was so happy to hear that we loved and valued their coffee. We were humbled by this meeting and inspired to tell their story. For Artemio, growing quality fair trade organic coffee means hard work, but it also means respect. It's respect for him, for his family and for his co-op.

IT'S RESPECT, IN A CUP.