Single Serve Steeped Coffee

The Cooperativa Cafe Timor (CCT) works with very small farms on the island of East Timor in Indonesia. Coffee cultivation on East Timor was originally established over 400 years ago by Portuguese colonists, but leaf rust destroyed all production until a new coffee varietal called Híbrido de Timor (Timor Hybrid) was introduced in the 1900s.

Today, the average small farmer grows coffee on less than one hectare of land. CCT was established in 1994 with the help of the USDA and the NCBA to help small producers market their coffee internationally. Through a free healthcare initiative, CCT has funded the operation of seven rural clinics, three mobile clinic teams and eleven community healthcare teams that have treated more than two million patients since 2001.

Las Damas de San Ignacio is a part of COOPAFSI (Cooperative Agraria “Frontera San Ignacio” Ltda) in San Ignacio, Peru. From the cooperative’s inception in1969, gender equality has been an important factor. Its goal is to empower and promote “women grown” coffee. Women members are not just producers; they serve the coop as board members, Q-graders, and sales and logistics coordinators.

In 2016, a committee of women was created by the cooperative to distribute loans to member producers to improve their land and homes, fund their crafts, and support their livestock. This committee also created a computer lab and other educational resources.

Their overall mission of COOPAFSI is to educate producers on better practices to improve quality, biodiversity, safety and health, and better income and living standards for all.

COMULFAC (Cooperativa Multifuncional Family Coffee R.L.) is located in Jinotega, Nicaragua. Coop member farmers cultivate coffee on farms that average 4 to100 acres in size and use their own micro-mills to process harvested cherries, allowing for meticulous care in depulping, fermenting, and drying the coffee.

COMULFAC was established with assistance from J&M Family (a privately owned export company in Jinotega), which has been purchasing coffee from these farmers for several years. The idea behind establishing a cooperative model was to help the farmers organize their efforts and combine their resources to develop social projects aimed at improving the quality of life in their communities.