Erica VanEssendelft is the Connecting Peoples Coordinator for MCC Mexico. This post is part of our ongoing series on migration.
“It’s a business with a very, very strong social conscience. It’s the basis of the business, beyond any religion or community of faith. More than anything, it’s social justice.” – Adrián González
Have you had your cup of coffee and daily dose of caffeine this morning? That velvety black richness sometimes travels thousands of miles to make it into that favorite mug of yours. We often lose the connection with the very hands that produced the coffee we enjoy.
Anna Vogt
Café Justo, a coffee cooperative in Mexico, is setting a new standard to the way in which we interact with our coffee. Through providing a fair price and a business model run by the growers themselves, Café Justo ensures that coffee farming families can keep farming instead of migrating north. Want to meet the coffee growers? You can go to Café Justo´s website and read about each and every one of them, such as SALVADOR and Servilia
“Lázaro and Cervilia have 5 adult children. Two of the children are living in the USA. Lazaro only grows fine Arabica coffee on his 2.5 hectares and follows in the steps of his father who was also a coffee grower. He is happy to be able to sell all of his coffee to the cooperative now and not have to go through the coffee coyotes who normally pay 1/2 of what the cooperative pays. Lázaro is always upbeat and with a big smile. He still walks to his coffee plants and prunes and manages the trees, but does not climb up the shade trees to prune them like he used to do. He hopes for the success of the cooperative so his sons can come back home.”
Dignity is brought back into the equation when you can shake the hand of the person who grew your coffee.
Anna Vogt
I had the opportunity to meet with many of the growers last May in Salvador Urbina, Chiapas. They showed us their green hillsides lush with coffee plants, proud of the fact that they have the right not to migrate and the roots they plant allow them to stay on their lands.
The following video takes you to Agua Prieta, Sonora, a border community with Douglas, Arizona. Here Café Justo roasts and distributes the coffee. Adrián González, director of customer relations, proudly speaks to the success that is Café Justo:
Who grows your coffee? Allow me to suggest the farmers of Café Justo. Visit their website to place an order.
Here´s to organic coffee. Here´s to a just price for just coffee.
Anna Vogt.