coffee

"Fair Trade Cafe" is an effort of the Lifecoast Church, Florida, to help Haitian coffee growers so that they receive a fair price for what they grow. Earlier, an average coffee farmer in Haiti used to earn a meager $0.65 to $1.00 on per pound of coffee produced in a 12 hour workday. However, with the help of 'Fair Trade Cafe' their daily earnings have grown up by almost 500%, translating that into $3.35 per pound of coffee. Their support to the Haitian coffee industry has helped immensely because Haitian coffee is a wonderful product; it hardly needs any introduction but a proper platform where it can be sold. Coffee has been a principal crop of the Caribbean nation of Haiti since the early 1700s; it was once a flourishing industry, but it has been crippled by decades of deforestation, political chaos and now, climate change--today it barely registers in the world survey. While most business works to increase its own stakeholder's wealth, the Lifecoast Church instead, is working to contribute towards the welfare of the Haitian coffee growers. They work in a cooperative model that works to ensure that a share of every purchase goes back to the island nation so that they can sustain and grow.

The Fair Trade Cafe is run by the volunteers of Lifecoast Church voluntarily as part of their community service without any profit motive. The ambience of the cafe has a great welcoming feeling. They will keep your cup filled with delicious Haitian coffee with other tasty mouth watering beverages and pastries.

A cup of coffee at Fair Trade Cafe is truly a cup of hope for Haitian coffee farmers.

WHAT: Fair Trade Cafe
WHERE: 4882 Palm Coast Parkway NW, Suite 1
HOURS: 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday - Friday
CONTACT: 574-377-0591

Permalink | Comments

Here is a picture of Coffee coming from Haiti, A country that was at one point in history produced half the world's coffee.

Once coffee was the backbone of the Haitian economy. In 1788, it produced half of the world's coffee supply. But since 1950, Haitian coffee has been forgotten; it barely registers in global surveys for many reasons. The first blow to the Haitian coffee export came during the regime of the dictator Duvalier. His brutal dictatorship brought economic demise, including coffee export. It was further aggravated by the International Coffee Agreement in 1989 and the U.S. trade embargo in the mid 1990s. In recent times, the climate change, deforestation, the rise of many other global coffee powerhouses and diversification to other profitable corps have worsened the situation further, and many of the coffee growers have lost their skill to produce coffee. Today Haiti earns $1 million a year from coffee export-- just a fraction of the global trade.

Permalink | Comments

Jacmel is the most beautiful city in Haiti. Within a French Colonial architectural ambiance it is an art center on the island's southern coast and one of the main tourist destinations in the country that suffered greatly in the last devastating earthquake.

Its beautiful buildings and streets were turned into heaps of rubbles. The students of 'Cine Institute of Jacmel' have uploaded a footage of the damage on their institute's website. 'Fosaj' (Fanal Otantik Sant D'A Jakmel) another art school in the city, well known exporter of their paintings is having hardly any business because of ongoing political instability and economic dip. However, Fosaj is considering some rejuvenating plans to come out of the crisis. Fosaj suffered some irreplaceable losses-- Flo McGarrell, a 36-year-old American artist and director of the institute died in the earthquake.

They are reestablishing their links and connection through U.S and Europe to develop good market for art. Jacmel was the capital of funky art and carnival in Haiti; once it gets rebuilt it will become more important than ever.

Permalink | Comments

Even the most optimists were not so confident on the success of Fair Trade Café when it was first opened seven months ago. The sale is continuously beating every past record. Haitian coffee is always a wonderful product, over a long period, it simply needed a proper outlets. Increase in sale at Fair Trade Café means more wages to the poor hardworking men and women in Haiti farms. Fair Trade Café in unison with 'Singing Rooster' is offering on-ground assistance and partnership with the coffee harvesters and making direct sale to the buyers.

Fair Trade Café is a division of 'Lifecoast Church' which has presence in Haiti through 'Trades of Hope'. Greg Schnepf, the café manager has said the café should not be viewed as a Christian coffee shop; we are here for the welfare of Haitian community. We welcome everybody and hope they see the love of Christ through our actions.

Permalink | Comments

Here is a picture of a building located in the historic city of Jacmel. As it was the case with many buildings following the great fire of 1896, that almost destroyed the entire city, this building was made with prefabricated cast-iron pillars and balconies

The city of Jacmel was a major coffee trading centre during the colonization period and was home to many wealthy Masters

Permalink | Comments

Here is a picture of Coffee and AK 100, a common foud found in Haiti in most breakfast tables. It is a popular Haitian food

Permalink | Comments

This is a photo of a Haitian farmer harvesting coffe beans in Haiti. Once upon a time, Haiti was the biggest coffee producers in the world.

After its independence, Haiti was unable to trade with the rest of the world. The Haitian coffee couldn't be sold in the world's market until 1830s in Europe and 1960s in the United States.

Making Haitian Coffee from a Greg

Permalink | Comments

What you are watching here is the making of coffee by a Haitian woman. This is called greg and it us used to drain the coffee.

By the way, most Haitians drink their coffe black. Adults as well as children drink coffee in haiti.

Permalink | Comments