Year's end....a few reflections

Its countdown to the end of 2009, and an apt time to reflect on a year of good things.

For Peoples Coffee it has been a year of building our great team of people. For the first time since opening in 2004 we had a team planning day at the start of the year, deciding what was important and what needed attention. Alongside the requisite budget building and financial planning, one of the big things that sparked our team's passion back then in March and throughout the year was the need to become a stronger Fair Trade coffee company; to build the quality of our core values and deepen them.

For such a committed team I am so very grateful. In the business of business I sometimes lose sight of why Peoples Coffee began - through Fair Trade to support and partner with the small coffee farmers of the world on whose produce we rely. Having your own staff pull you up on the vision of the company and keep it forefront, is inspirational to me - on a par with visiting the growers themselves.

To continue to strengthen our bonds with coffee growers, two trips to origin were made this year. Rene Macaulay, our veritable roaster and blogger visited Mexico, Guatemala and Nicaragua in January with Trade Aid - And I just returned from grower visits in Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania. Each of these trips don't just give us great travel yarns and pictures, they deepen our understanding of the issues that play out in the global coffee trade and give us a healthy dose of coffee farmer reality. Despite the carbon miles, we can't think of any better way to make the direct connection with what is really happening on the ground.

And I trust it has been a good year for our customers! It is good people like you that are making the difference with your buying power.

After visiting eight of our eleven countries of coffee origin, the message that coffee farmers without fail ask us to share is: "Please ask the coffee drinkers of New Zealand to buy more of our coffee and to pay more for it". This is our challenge at Peoples Coffee alongside sharing their stories with our customers.

Amongst the hope for better prices is the thanks coffee farmers never neglect to impress upon us:

"We are sending our kids to school - it is a wonderful thing for the people. Because of coffee we have seen alot of change in our village. We have schools, we have a health centre, we have clean water. We care for the quality of our coffee because of this and need also the price to improve as we improve the quality. Thank you for coming, we really appreciate you very much for being here."

- Meles Demeke - Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union - Ethiopia November 2009.

And to all of our customers in Wellington and wider Aotearoa, we pass this thanks on to you.

Till 2010 - Matt Lamason and all the team at Peoples Coffee.

Tags // 2009, Fair Trade, Origin

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