Fairtrade/Ethical

Colombia, The Land of Coffee

• 500,000 coffee growing families make up the Coffee Industry in Colombia.
• 95% of Colombia’s coffee producers have coffee plantations in an area smaller than 2 hectares (5 acres).
• Colombia, the perfect balance of rain, altitude and quality of the soil.
• Handpicked selected beans.
• Our Coffee is Colombian Coffee Growers Federation certified. CCGF ensures the Fairtrade and Ethical practices that benefit the Colombian Coffee growers.

The Colombian Coffee’s people

Did you know that the coffee Industry in Colombia is owned by over 500,000 coffee growing families who have plantations in an area smaller than 2 hectares (5 acres)?  The reduced dimensions of their coffee plots have allowed maintaining an essentially family oriented activity to the Colombian coffee growing industry. Thus, the people of coffee in Colombia believe their family are their most important priorities, and are very keen on protecting and maintaining a strong set of family values.

Around coffee in Colombia surged a number of social networks with a diversity of cultures and features, including different indigenous, afro descending communities and the heirs of the settlers of white or mestizo origin, all of them with diverse cultural manifestations between the regions. These are people whose music, accents, and even their language vary significantly, with Caribbean or Andean influence, which contributes with this marvellous coffee idiosyncrasy that distinguishes the great family of Colombian coffee growers.  Without leaving aside their particular culture, Colombian coffee growers have left their differences aside to be able to work together in obtaining common objectives, and have learned to develop a spirit of collaboration difficult to replicate in other industries or other countries. Thus, the people of coffee in Colombia have developed a community spirit and of collective action which is also part of their most cherished values and that has allowed them to develop a very particular institutional framework and ambitious Sustainability That Matters  programs.

This spirit of collective action to search for solutions to common problems was forged as from the arrival of coffee to Colombia. Starting in the XIX century producers saw the necessity to search for better conditions of access to international markets and aspired to obtain stability in their incomes. Additionally, Colombian coffee growers required technical assistance, adequate credit lines, and storage facilities to make their activity viable. Because of their relative isolation due to the high Andean peaks, the coffee growers also needed somebody to represent them to improve their capacity of negotiation against foreign companies that dominated the export market. The importance of these concerns is better appreciated if one takes in account that at that time the domestic coffee price could be equivalent, at times, to just  50 % of the price paid by international traders. It was in that context that coffee growing community leaders decided to create an institution that would combine a business vision with the search of public benefits.

Thus, the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation was created in 1927 as a private, non for profit trade organization, whose main objective was to defend the income of coffee producers. Thanks to the effort of their Federation, the cultural diversity of the producers was not translated in substantially different methods of production and cultivation, guaranteeing that behind the product they would always apply the best quality standards and the best science and technology, which has allowed Colombian Coffee to develop policies of guarantee of origin. Thanks to their Federation, the Colombian coffee growers have conformed one of the biggest social networks in Latin America and maybe the biggest rural NGO in the world, confirming once again that coffee is much more than a beverage.

The existence of more 500,000 coffee growers also shows the importance that coffee has for the economic and social wellbeing of Colombians. On the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation 70th anniversary 1997, University of Maryland’ professor Mancur Olson whose Works on collective action and the fall and rise of nations are considered seminal in economy and political sciences, described the scheme that got together Colombian coffee growers as an unique case in the world. This opinion describes the singular character of the institution that Colombian coffee growers have created.

Unlike what has happened in the case of other coffee grower’s guilds and associations in the world, the Federation has been a key factor in the development of a system to provide a superior quality coffee bean and to guarantee that all coffee growers participate of the economical benefits that derive from it. In the first case, the Federation has built since many decades ago a set of mechanisms to elevate and preserve the quality of the beans.  Also, the Federation has been keen in developing Colombian coffee demand generation initiatives. Among these it is worthwhile mentioning the Juan Valdez® brand character and the 100% Colombian Coffee Program. In the second case, the Colombian experience demonstrates that institutions can solve the asymmetries and difficulties that are present in certain markets such as the ones faced by Colombian coffee growers, where big buyers have a bigger negotiating power and a better information than small producers isolated in their regions of origin.

In short, the values of the coffee people in Colombia include their honest work, permanent effort and dedication, culture of quality and an interaction between their family tradition and the modern world; these values are present in the Juan Valdez character as well as in each inhabitant of the Colombian coffee growing areas, and that have played an important role in the dynamism of their regions. The coffee growing families, united by their principles of democratic participation, solidarity, commitment, search for their common good and sustainable development, conform a social and strategic capital, and a model of peace for Colombia. This coffee culture has passed from generation to generation and today youngsters follow this life model, as a guide for the future.

Rainforest Alliance Certified Coffee: The mission of the Rainforest Alliance is to protect the ecosystems, as well as the people, fauna and flora that are affected by the usage of the soil, through the transformation of various commercial practices and consumer behaviour.

The Colombian Coffee Grower’s Federation received in 2006 the “Rainforest Alliance prize for Corporate Sustainability” in recognition for its commitment and continuous efforts in promoting the sustainability of coffee communities and the preservation of the environment in Colombian coffee regions.

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