From The Source
Our little coffee roasting corner of the world has been committed to 100% organic and fair trade coffee for over 25 years, and we still wholeheartedly believe that it’s an essential ingredient to a healthy, sustainable future for the crop and the millions of folks that tend it globally. In our 25th year, we purchased over 1.2 million pounds of cooperative-grown, fairly traded, organic coffee from 14 coops spanning 9 countries.
In 2021, we invested nearly $40,000 in our supply chain through the Carbon, Climate, and Coffee fund. Add to that the $630,000 in fair trade and organic premiums as part of our commitment to pay industry-leading prices to farmers, and we see resilient, sustainable communities that benefit from long-term trading relationships. We’re proud to say that 95% of the 14 coffee cooperatives that we purchased from have been part of our coffee offerings for 5 years or more.
Our investment this year supported Hurricane relief (Eta and Iota) in Honduras and Nicaragua and Covid relief in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sumatra. In addition, we funded reforestation and agroforestry projects that will help coffee farmers combat climatic variability in Peru, Honduras, and Colombia. Since 2017, Peace Coffee has invested over $150,000 into the Carbon, Climate, and Coffee fund, which helps farmers better adapt to climate change and provides support to communities within our supply chain.
To Our Streets
We’re proud to be part of the Minneapolis business community for 25 years and since 1996 we’ve been privileged to support partners in our backyard in a variety of ways. Whether through direct financial support or through caffeinated contributions, we were able to support a large number of our most beloved local partners like RECLAIM, Cookie Cart, Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota, Open Arms of Minnesota, Every Meal, NAMI of MN, LifeWorks, and many more. We contributed nearly 150,000 cups of coffee and over $13,000 to these groups that have been working tirelessly to hold up our communities through another very tough year.
A Year Of Good
Though we envisioned our 25th year with a few celebrations and in-person parties so we could truly show our appreciation for the incredible community support, 2021 had other plans. So, our efforts to gather were turned into celebrating local organizations and donating what funds we would’ve used for those efforts directly to them. We put our energy into creating a few memorable products this year as well, like the introduction of Colombia Single Origin and our limited edition coffee, Party Animal, which celebrated 25 colorful years with a blend of coffees from Triunfo Verde in Mexico, the first country we purchased coffee from, and Comsa in Honduras, one of our most advanced and future-focused coops!
We had a little fun on April Fool’s Day with the release of Pooch Coffee! Also, for as long as Peace Coffee has been a B Corp (5+ years and 2021 included), we have made the “Best for the World” list for the “Community” area. Our staff community formed a J.E.D.I (Justice Equity Diversity Inclusion) committee that is working to implement practices and policies along the spectrum of our workplace. The first all-staff training happened in the last quarter of 2021, and the volunteer members of the committee presented their initial work to develop a mission and framework for J.E.D.I at Peace Coffee.
Looking Ahead to 2046
As we look ahead to 2046, we are fixed on the hope that our industry will make needed changes to survive and thrive in a changing climate. We want to advocate for coffee farmers and continue to convince coffee drinkers that purchasing organic, fair trade coffee is one of the key pieces to that complex puzzle. In the next 25 years, Peace Coffee will be marked by these simple tenets:
- Forming long term partnerships with farmer cooperatives and consistently purchasing their coffee at fair prices,
- Investing in our own community by donating copious cups of coffee to fuel good work and fresh ideas,
- Creating a culture of openness and freedom of expression in the workplace to promote diverse ideas and innovative problem-solving,
- Dedicating ourselves to the craft of artful coffee roasting and delivering fresh coffee by bicycle.
We dream about a future that is favorable for farmers and delicious for coffee drinkers, and we’re taking all of the love and support from our customers for the past 25 years and putting it into making that dream a reality, cheers to that!