Earth is awesome. And we have to save it because it’s the only planet with coffee.
Coffee grows and tastes better under shade. We multicrop with citrus trees to encourage biodiversity and soil retention.
We’re constantly looking for ways to be more Earth-friendly, and since coffee is our main gig, it all starts with the bean. The recent rise of specialty coffee has seen more attention paid to how coffee is processed, the environmental impact of growing methods, and the quality of life of the people who work in coffee at origin. We’re proud to be part of a trend that supports tastier coffee, happier people, and a healthier planet.
For this Earth Day, we’d like to talk about Haiti, a country that’s close to our hearts and our cupping table. A beautiful country that grows beautiful coffee, Haiti has been nearly completely deforested due to colonialism, exploitive economics, and poverty. Deforestation causes soil erosion, which harms agricultural production. At the Haiti Coffee Academy coffee nursery and model farm, we cultivate varieties of coffee trees that are suited to Haiti’s environment and help prevent soil erosion. In addition to the coffee plants, local farmers are given training to help them conserve water and other resources.
Besides striving to source planet-conscious coffee, we also believe that everyone on Earth deserves access to water. At the top of the hill on the Haiti Coffee Academy farm, we have a water-catcher that collects rainwater. We are able to divert the water to our coffee processing area, but we use an eco-pulper (which uses less water to knock the fruit off the coffee seed) so we don’t need much water on the farm. We divert the rain water to a dispenser located on the side of the main road near the entrance to the Academy. This dispenser is accessible to anyone and everyone passing by the farm; community members can come retrieve the water anytime as they need it.
To honor Earth Day this year, we’re contributing $1 from every order at www.lacolombe.com to the Haiti Coffee Academy. Order anytime through Sunday, April 24th, and you’ll be contributing to Earth-conscious coffee-growing in Haiti.
Happy Earth Day, earthlings!
4 comments
Done. Check. Great idea. 2 questions-What is the proper way to open a bag of your coffee, so that I do not spill it all over the kitchen? Are there maps sold with those cool pins, so that we can track all of the coffees we taste by geographic location (and teach geography, stealthily, to our young one)?
Kinda related to Earth Day-The latte milk foam art, the leaf: Did they use a stencil?
I bring groups to Haiti and would love to tour your facility. What’s your location exactly? Phone number?