In late November 1995, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) invited a small group of Mexican farm leaders to Minneapolis to discuss the U.S. Farm Bill. At the end of the meeting, Luis Hernandez from La Selva, a Mexican coffee cooperative, complained that despite all the talk, he hadn't sold a single coffee bean. He looked at IATP and said, "You guys should be selling organic fair trade coffee."

Fast forward just a bit and, in December 1996, the first shipping container of coffee landed: 38,000 pounds of conventional and organic coffee from Chiapas. IATP created a company, Headwaters International and later our brand name, Peace Coffee, and the rest is history. After the first container, we bought a partial container of Guatemalan Peace Coffee. A portion of the "profit" went to support Guatemalan peace efforts in collaboration with Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Rigoberta Menchu.

In 1997, IATP incorporated TransFair USA and signed the first contracts with U.S. companies roasting fair trade certified green beans. It was the beginning of a new market for fair trade products in the U.S. that continues to grow and expand to new products.

In 1999, a second full-time employee squeezed into a tiny office. The Peace Coffee brand was consolidated and some of the key things about our company began to take form: To further our commitment to the environment, both social and ecological, we adopted the policy of bicycle-powered delivery whereever appropriate.

That same year, we joined forces with a tiny handful of other passionate 100% fair trade coffee roasters to found Cooperative Coffees and start importing our beans directly. Using our collective buying power, we were able to expand our buying connections and forge relationships with an ever-expanding roster of farmer co-ops.

Since our beginnings in a basement office, Peace Coffee has expanded into a green building in the heart of south Minneapolis that houses both our offices and roastery, where we roast five days a week to provide super fresh, fabulous coffee. Our location along the Greenway bike path gives us speedy bike delivery access to points all across the Twin Cities.

From here, Peace Coffee continues to grow. It seems fitting that our company evolved out of the conversation between policy analysts and coffee farmers: we pride ourselves on evolving how we do business while staying true to our passion for good coffee and thriving local communities everywhere we do business.