African Kahawa Blend - Fair Trade Organic

Photo Credit: Matt Phalen  

Fair Trade Organic (FTO) Coffee

This is Fair Trade Robusta coffee from Karagwe District in the Bukoba highlands. Bukoba is in the northwest of Tanzania next to Lake Victoria and the borders of Uganda and Rwanda. 

This coffee is grown by smallholder farmers at altitudes of 1,500 - 1,800masl, with each farmer having an average of 2.3 acres of cultivated land. Most farmers intercrop with maize, beans, and fruit trees, providing good biodiversity, soil health, and shade canopy for coffee trees. Secondary processing is handled centrally by Kaderes. 

Kaderes was founded in 2007, however, dates back to 1997, when it was operating as a non-government organization (NGO), as "Karagwe Development and Relief Services" with a focus to empower the rural communities and improve their living conditions in the districts of Karagwe and Kyerwa.

Now acting as a coffee export, Kaderes works with more than 27,800 farmers (8,598 of which are Fairtrade/organic certified), organized in 8 cooperatives in the Karagwe and Kyerwa districts. As of 2019, it has expanded to Misenyi, Muleba, and Ngara districts. 

A very complex medium-dark roast of bright full flavor African grown coffees. Enjoy hints of toffee, caramel, chocolate, raisins, green apples, red fruits, and even hints of cherries and black currant with a soft floral finish. Coffee cherries are often processed by hand at the home of the farmers after being handpicked. Quality standards are high and farmers adhere to these strict standards with environmentally friendly processing, washing the beans and leaving in the sun to dry, then hand sorting and packaging.