THE NEVER GIVE UP CUP
POWERLESS? NOT WHEN YOU’RE DRINKING PEACE. HERE’S WHAT YOUR CUP CAN DO:
Coffee Can Be a Force for Good
Brought Electricity Up a Mountain
Guatemala: Manos Campesinas Co-op secured power lines for their community and leveled up their operation, establishing a modern coffee roasting, cupping and training center.
HELPED WOMEN ESCAPE ABUSE
Honduras: COMUCAP Co-op began with a radio show encouraging female listeners to escape abuse and financial reliance on their husbands. By cultivating coffee, this female collective gained strength, community, and the means to build secure lives for themselves and their children.
Preserved Indigenous Culture
Colombia: Arhuaco woman, Auroroa Izquierdo, founded ANEI Co-op to use coffee production to support local indigenous and farmer economies. Through eco-sustainable initiatives, they uphold the social, economic, and cultural rights and traditional structures of their members.
FOUGHT OFF A PLANT PLAGUE
Honduras: COMSA farmers escaped a plant disease epidemic by using innovative regenerative organic agricultural methods. Neighboring farms fell as COMSA coffee trees thrived, even improving yield and quality during the crisis.
FAIR-ER TRADE
Most coffee is bought through middlemen who pay farmers much less. Working closely with the same co-ops for years does better for all. Impact takes time.
Farmers deserve to be compensated fairly for their hard work, covering the true costs of production and enabling them to reinvest in their farms, foster innovation, and secure their livelihoods for future generations.
Our commitment goes beyond just providing exceptional coffee; it's deeply rooted in ensuring the well-being and sustainability of the communities that cultivate it. We've partnered with 95% of our farmer cooperatives for over five years and 50% for over a decade.
MAKE COFFEE, NOT CLIMATE CHANGE
Shade grown coffee like ours is grown in small, naturally forested plots. Not on large coffee farms that are high sun, water intensive, and chemically treated.
Here's why that matters:
MADE IN THE SHADE
CONSERVES WATER
Taller trees provide shade, protecting plants and retaining soil moisture.
PRESERVES HABITAT
Natural landscapes are alive with countless species—plants, animals, fungi, microbes—all connected in a delicate balance designed to keep earth thriving.
Saves Soil
Overtime, industrial farming depletes soil and increases the susceptibility of crops to disease. This begins a cycle of needing more and more chemical inputs.
NO SYNthetic Chemicals
Ecosystems are naturally nutrient-rich and pest resisting, boosted with natural fertilizers & insect repellents made by farmers from things like compost.
NO CLEARCUTTING
Industrial farms clearcut forests to plant coffee for short-term increases. Leading to long-term detrimental impacts on biodiversity and farmer income.
ALWAYS SHADE GROWN. NEVER SHADY.
INDUSTRIAL COFFEE
1. FIND A FOREST
2. CUT IT DOWN
3. PLANT COFFEE
PEACE COFFEE
1. FIND A FOREST
2. LET IT BE
3. PLANT COFFEE
3 cents per every pound of Peace Coffee sold goes back to fund carbon, climate & coffee initiatives
GLOBAL GIVEBACK
WE’VE DONATED HALF A MILLION CUPS OF COFFEE AND ALMOST $400K TO COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS
Local Giveback
1% OF ALL ONLINE PURCHASES BENEFIT THE NON-PROFIT OF YOUR CHOICE, AT NO EXTRA COST TO YOU
You Choose
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How Grow Ahead Makes a Difference
At Peace Coffee, our dedication to uplifting both our local community and farming communities around the world is deeply rooted in our core values, which is why we donate 1% of purchases made online to one of four organizations of your choice at no extra cost to you. And for Earth Month, we're doubling that commitment to 2%! One of those organizations is Grow Ahead, which was founded to address the critical challenges faced by small-scale coffee farmers as they confront climate change and food insecurity. These farmers, whose hands cultivate the coffee we enjoy every day, are on the frontlines of climate resilience yet often lack the resources needed to adapt to changing conditions. Rising temperatures, unpredictable rainfall patterns, and increasing pest pressures threaten both their livelihoods and the future of coffee production worldwide. How Grow Ahead Makes a Difference Grow Ahead combats climate challenges through community-led agroforestry programs that build sustainable farming systems, enhance biodiversity, and create more resilient landscapes. Their approach includes: Trust in Indigenous Knowledge and Practices: Placing trust in local knowledge and expertise is a radical shift in community development. That's why all Grow Ahead projects are planned, implemented,and maintained by local cooperatives and organizations; to ensure proper land usage and long-term success. Farmer-to-Farmer Training: Facilitating knowledge exchange between farmers to spread sustainable practices and traditional wisdom. These trainings empower farmers to implement agroforestry techniques effectively, creating a multiplier effect as knowledge spreads throughout communities. At COMSA specifically, along with planting shade trees, they also aim to train over 1,200 farmers on these techniques. Climate Resilience Funding: Connecting small-scale farmer organizations with the resources they need to implement large-scale agroforestry projects. By crowdfunding these initiatives, Grow Ahead ensures that farmers can take climate action into their own hands. Peace Coffee and COMSA Baby coffee plants at COMSA's Experimental Farm Our relationship with COMSA (Café Orgánico Marcala, S.A.) in Honduras represents the perfect intersection of our values and Grow Ahead's mission. As a cooperative of over 1,500 small-scale coffee farmers in the Marcala region, COMSA has been a Peace Coffee partner for years, providing us with exceptional organic coffee while pioneering innovative organic farming methods. When we visited COMSA recently, we witnessed firsthand how their commitment to agroforestry and organic practices has transformed the landscape. Farms that once grew coffee in full sun now flourish under a diverse canopy of native shade trees, creating microclimates that protect coffee plants from extreme temperatures and drought. These shade trees don't just benefit the coffee—they restore biodiversity, sequester carbon, and provide additional food and income sources for farming families. Grow Ahead's new project with COMSA will expand these successful practices to more farmers in the cooperative, focusing on enhancing shade-grown coffee production through the planting of 160,000 trees and supporting plants. The project will also include farmer trainings on agroforestry implementation, ensuring that these practices continue to spread throughout the region. To learn more about COMSA, check out this page on our site, and to learn more about Amir’s trip to visit COMSA where we got to see firsthand all the amazing work they’re up to, check out this blog post! Do Your Part This Earth Month All month long, we’ve doubled the amount we’re contributing to our partners from 1% of all purchases to 2%, at no extra cost to you. If you want to support Grow Ahead’s mission, be sure to select them before checkout to help fund their new agroforestry project with our friends at COMSA! When you look at your morning cup of Peace Coffee, consider the many hands that brought it to you: the farmers who planted and harvested the beans, the cooperative members who processed them, and the roasters who carefully developed the flavors you enjoy. These same hands are now planting trees, building resilience, and creating a more sustainable future for coffee. By supporting Grow Ahead, you're joining hands with these farmers in their vital work. To learn more about them, head to their website and be sure to give them a follow on Instagram and check out their website! Join hands with farmers and help build climate resilience and a more sustainable future for coffee!
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Cultivating Change with Food 4 Farmers
At Peace Coffee, our dedication to uplifting both our local community and farming communities around the world is deeply rooted in our core values, which is why we donate 1% of purchases made online to one of four organizations of your choice at no extra cost to you. And for Earth Month, we’re doubling that commitment to 2%! One of those organizations is Food 4 Farmers, which was founded in 2011 to address food insecurity in coffee farming communities during what are called “thin months,” which is a period lasting 5-8 months each year when their coffee income runs out before the next harvest. Volatile coffee prices, rising costs of sustainable farming, climate change, and limited access to nutritious food contribute to persistent food insecurity, making it difficult for these families to consistently put healthy meals on the table. Their mission is clear: ensure coffee-farming families can access nutritious food year-round, transforming seasonal vulnerability into long-term resilience. How Food 4 Farmers Makes a Difference The Villa Linda community of women sell their homegrown produce at ACODIHUE's Community Food Exchange Food 4 Farmers combats food insecurity through community-driven programs that build sustainable local food systems, diversify income streams, and encourage environmentally friendly farming practices. Their approach includes: Home Gardens: Enabling families to grow their own nutritious produce, decreasing food insecurity. Currently, 620 active home gardens that provide year-round access to healthy food are being managed by coffee-farming families. Beekeeping: Generating additional income through honey sales while enhancing pollination and biodiversity. Bees play a crucial role in pollinating coffee plants, resulting in higher yields and improved quality of coffee crops—and honey also is a great substitute for processed sugar, which helps nutrition! Agroforestry: Integrating beneficial trees into coffee farms, improving soil health, protecting against climate variability, and providing new sources of income through fruits and timber. So far, Food 4 Farmers has helped distribute and plant nearly 38,000 trees in coffee-farming communities, substantially contributing to both food security and ecological health! A Story of Change: Alcides Hurtado at Campo Bello Alcides Hurtado, 70, coffee farmer At 70 years old, Alcides Hurtado embodies a lifelong commitment to his family, community, and farm in the remote village of San Jose Piendamo, Cauca, Colombia. For 13 years, he and his wife, Maria Mercedes, have been members of the COMEPCAFE cooperative, which supports over 1,400 predominantly Indigenous and Afro-Colombian families. Their 9-hectare farm, “Campo Bello”, has not only been a source of coffee but also a platform for transformation. When Food 4 Farmers partnered with COMEPCAFE to rebuild local food systems, Alcides’ eagerness to learn and share made him a natural leader. Already practicing agroecological methods, he embraced new training and turned Campo Bello into a demonstration farm for sustainable practices and traditional crops. Alcides built a thriving home garden that now produces bananas, avocados, citrus, tubers, and more—providing food security for his family of seven and enough surplus to sell. In 2023, when COMEPCAFE launched the Solidarity Market to connect member farms with local buyers, Alcides was one of the first to join, earning an average of $267 per month in extra income, which helps cover household essentials and fuels continued investment in his farm. Alcides now shares what he’s learned with other farmers, strengthening food sovereignty and income diversification across the region. Campo Bello serves as an inspiring example, encouraging neighboring farms to embrace similar sustainable practices. Do Your Part This Earth Month We invite you to be part of this positive change. From now until April 22 (Earth Day), every purchase on our website can directly help Food 4 Farmers with their goal of funding a season of vegetables for 70 coffee farmers! To learn more about them, head to their website and be sure to give them a follow on Instagram and Facebook to stay up to date with their initiatives! Together, we can end hunger in communities around the world. Join us in growing a healthier future for coffee farmers!
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A World-Class Coffee Farm Visit
Hey, everyone! It’s Amir, Peace Coffee’s Social Media and Marketing Specialist! Earlier this month, I had the absolute pleasure of visiting our friends at the COMSA Cooperative in Honduras, along with several others representing roasteries all over Canada and the United States, and I’m really excited to share more about it! The first thing you have to know about COMSA is that they are a world-class coffee cooperative. Being that this was my first visit to a coffee-growing community, I kept hearing throughout my trip that they set the bar incredibly high. They’re a dedicated group of farmers, ecologists, and other experts who tirelessly experiment to push boundaries in order to grow more efficiently while ensuring their practices are what is best for their farms. How They Do What They Do Ripe and unripe coffee cherries on Karla Portillo's farm. At the core of everything they do is a philosophy they call the “5 M’s,” which aims to not only remind farmers about how to be stewards of their land but also inspire them to develop themselves into better community members. Here are the 5 M’s: 1. Matter Organic matter like compost and plant residue that enriches the soil with nutrients and structure. 2. Minerals Naturally occurring elements like volcanic soil or rock dust that boosts plant health without the use of chemical fertilization. 3. Microbiology Beneficial fungi, bacteria, and other microorganisms that break down organic matter and protest crops. 4. Molecules The formation of complex organic compounds like amino acids and proteins that arise when soil biology is thriving with help from the previous three M’s. 5. Grey Matter The farmer’s instinct, creativity, and commitment, underscoring the human element in the process. I learned very quickly that these pillars of their philosophy are not just buzzwords but they’re truly a way of life. And for me, the inclusion of grey matter as the 5th M highlights that their commitment is not only to developing and shaping farming techniques, but also to developing the farmers, their families, and the community. I got the chance to see so much incredible innovation, from their new state-of-the-art anaerobic fermentation tanks and their experimental lab where they were cultivating fungi as an organic pest control measure, the international school where kids are taught in languages like French and Japanese, their recycling facility where they turn plastic waste and litter into fence posts, and so much more. And all of it showed plainly that COMSA means business. Coffee Is A Family Business Third-generation coffee farmer, Karla Portillo. To understand how the 5 M’s truly come to life, you need not look any further than one of the many farmers we got to meet and whose coffee we personally enjoy at Peace Coffee—Karla Portillo! Her farm originally belonged to her grandparents, and she’s currently in the process of renovating her home. Also, according to her, she’s able to reinvest in her farm thanks to customers buying her incredible coffees year after year. Her mentality—one where she’s always looking to improve the quality of her coffee and yield on her farm—is one shared by another farmer we visited, Oscar Alonzo. His journey to where he is now was, of course, different than Karla’s, but the common throughline between the two, in my opinion, is that they both are continually looking for personal growth alongside their farm’s growth. Pedaling Through Difficult Times Oscar Alonzo on his farm sharing his story. Oscar’s story is one with deep valleys—he says at one point he even felt suicidal— but then we found a piece of paper on his farm with a bike drawn on it. It stood out to him as a sign that he needed to pedal on, and then we carried it with him to the US for the Specialty Coffee Association Expo. There, he realized he was not just a coffee farmer but a business person too. When he returned from that trip, he chose to call his farm "Cual Bicicleta" after the metaphor he uses to keep himself moving—the bicycle. He told us that he sees life a lot like riding a bike. If you don’t continually pedal, you can’t stay upright and will fall over. He felt himself struggling to keep himself upright, but after shifting his mindset and making use of innovative composting techniques, he has been able to increase yields and find great business opportunities for himself.Both he and Karla are just two of the many examples of the hard-working and passionate farmers of COMSA who embody the 5 M’s to the fullest. And the cooperatives’s vision extends far beyond any individual farms as well! Turning Waste into Fence Posts Our tour group learning about COMSA's "plastic wood" production at their recycling plant. Central and South America have big problems with plastic waste and litter, so to manage this non-biodegrable material, improve soil quality by eliminating microplastics, and creating an alternate revenue stream where there would otherwise not be one, the folks at COMSA have invested heavily into a recycling plant where many tons of plastic litter like bottles are sorted, shredded, and turned into something they call “plastic wood”, mainly in the form of fence posts, which they sell. Along with selling the fence posts, when sorting the plastic, they separate out the plastics that is most desirable by other recycling plants for them to sell, allowing them to focus on recycling the plastics that other places would often not bother with recycling because it’s not as profitable. Again, it’s clear that their commitment to the health of their land is a huge priority, and achieving that while also making a useful and profitable product just adds to idea that COMSA is truely second to none when it comes to making things happen. Educating The Next Generation COMSA International School. Another big example showing the care they have for things beyond just the coffee is the COMSA International School. When I got the chance to visit, I was amazed by how nurturing the environment was for students. The youngest among them were learning in languages like French, German, and Japanese, and that was a huge surprise to me. I learned that these places are all markets in which COMSA is looking to grow in the future, which means their next generation of farmers will need to be fluent in those languages to do business. In fact, on the day I was visiting, I saw a teacher from Japan who was teaching little kids words in Japanese. And some of the older kids also maintained small plots on the schoolgrounds where they grew various vegetables as well, teaching them the importance of good farming practices. The wholistic approach they took to their education really impressed me, and I could tell the kids, including the youngest ones I saw, were also incredibly inspired and motivated by it as well. COMSA For The Win Baby coffee trees which will be used in the renovation of the farms of COMSA members. I feel like there’s so much more I could share about COMSA. From their incredible technological investments like their laser sorter at the dry mill which sorts individual coffee cherries ensuring only the best are processed, to their ambitious project aiming to plant 400,000 trees across all of their farms to improve yields based on research they conduct on their experimental farm, and so much more, COMSA is truely in a league of its own. If you want to see a highlight reel of some of my favorite moments from the trip, we posted a montage on our Instagram, which you can check out here, and definitely be sure to keep an eye on our social media profiles in the coming weeks and months for tons more content from the trip! Thank you to our friends at Cooperative Coffees for putting this trip together, and extra special thank you to the staff at COMSA for hosting us!
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Jackson's Brewing Protips
Q: How much coffee should I use per cup of coffee? This is a tough one to answer quickly, because no two coffee brewer manufacturers can agree on what a "cup" means, and none of them are a standard US "cup" (aka 8 fluid oz or half a pint), and all of them are substantially smaller than what most coffee drinkers today consider to be a "cup of coffee." What most coffee drinkers can agree on is that when we talk about "a cup of coffee" it's something that looks like this: And most mugs of this shape are around 10 fluid oz, or 300 mL if you're a metric-lover like me. We recommend using 18g of coffee for each of this type of mug, which translates to about 2 heaping tablespoons of whole bean coffee. Q: What's the best way to brew coffee? The best way to brew coffee is the way that you like to and makes enough coffee for you and your household. Coffee extraction can be done in dozens of different ways, but all it amounts to is steeping coffee grounds in hot water and removing those grounds after a certain amount of time. You can brew a delicious cup of coffee using a saucepan, a sock, and a hammer. I don't recommend it because it's incredibly inconvenient, but it is possible! Finding a way that produces delicious coffee might not be worth it if it's too finicky or fussy for you, or alternately, a convenient way of brewing coffee might not be worth it if it produces a drink you don't like drinking. No one solution's right for everyone. If there were, we'd all just be using that all the time instead of having dozens of different brew methods out there. There's a big exciting world of coffee brewers out there, so if your current setup isn't cutting it, it's always fun to explore! Check out our brew guides for inspiration. Q: Is it true that lighter roasts have more caffeine? Maybe? But probably not. This belief that light roasted coffee contains more caffeine comes from a notion that at high temperatures inside a roasting drum when coffee is roasted to a darker color caffeine can evaporate inside the drum. While it's true that the roasting drum gets hotter than the evaporation point of caffeine, not a lot of caffeine will evaporate inside of a roaster. It'll remain plenty caffeinated after roasting. Consider water, which evaporates at 212°F. If you put a gallon of water into a 450° oven for half an hour, does the water completely evaporate? Of course not. Some does, but not even remotely all of it will. The most significant impact on caffeine content in coffee is the biology of the plant: what species it is and how it was grown, not how it was roasted. What is very true is that lighter roasted coffee is denser than darker roasted coffee, so if you're using the same scoop for your light roast and your dark roast brews, you'll end up using more coffee in your light roast brew. This will have more of everything (caffeine included) in your final beverage. This is part of why we recommend brewing by weight whenever possible because using the same amount (by weight) of coffee every time will give you a much more consistent final beverage. Q: Are burr grinders really that much better? Imagine two people following a recipe for roasted potatoes. Ms. Burr cuts her potatoes into even-sized chunks before putting them into the oven. Mr. Blade haphazardly hacks away at his potatoes, resulting in some pieces that are the size of a pea and some that are barely smaller than a whole potato. They both roast the potatoes at the same temperature for the same amount of time. Ms. Burr's potatoes all come out with perfect crispy exteriors and pillowy interiors. Mr. Blade's potatoes are a mess, with the smaller pieces burning to a crisp and the bigger pieces still being raw inside. Whose potatoes would you rather eat? This is exactly what goes on inside burr grinders and blade grinders. Blade grinders smash into coffee beans repeatedly, shattering them into all kinds of different sizes. Burr grinders precision cut them into very specific-sized pieces in a narrow size range. Just as potatoes can over or undercook, coffee grounds can over or under-extract, either not getting enough flavor in your brew or getting some bitter and acrid or otherwise undesirable flavors in. If you're gonna splurge on something in your coffee setup, get yourself a nice grinder. Your tastebuds will thank you. Check out our fave burr grinder! Q: I only really like dark roasts / light roasts / decaf / cold brew / coffee with lots of cream and sugar / PSLs. Am I a bad person? Yes, I’m sorry, you are. For absolution, say ten Hail Melittas and five Our French Presses I’m kidding. Of course, you’re not a bad person! There’s far too much shaming in the coffee world about how drinking incredibly strong black coffee that’s been roasted and brewed a certain way is the only “proper” way to drink it. How you drink coffee is not the same way I might, but that’s okay. I’m not trying to shame you. I want you to live a fun and delicious life, and if that’s drinking PSLs year-round, then you do you, friend! Just maybe consider making them with Peace Coffee :)
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