Fair trade coffee is a disarmingly simple concept: the price farmers receive for their coffee is based on their local cost of production and cost of living, not on the speculative commodity market price.  Fair trade coffee is “farmer-friendly,” so farm families can earn a living wage without being exploited.

We embrace fair trade relationships.

Organic coffee is grown without chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides.  Composted organic material (coffee bean pulp, tree trimmings, etc.) is used to fertilize the plants.

Shade-grown coffee comes from coffee trees grown under a natural shade canopy.  Shade makes the coffee beans ripen slowly which greatly improves their flavor.  The shade trees – often fruits – diversify the landscape, help retain moisture in the soil, and prevent erosion.  These shade trees are also the winter home of many migratory songbirds such as Bicknell’s Thrush, a Vermont summer resident.