Cafe Kreyol has partnered with WCS (wildlife conservation society) and producers native to the land on the edge of the Andes mountains, and bordering the Rainforest of the Madidi National Park (Amazon Forest). The land next to their farms is government-protected land, and together our sustainable business model was agreed upon and put into practice.
With the help of WCS, these producers have established a model of Agroforestry, where the top of each hill or mountain remains untouched. Then farming takes place under the untouched canopy on the center portion of the slope, and towards the bottom the land is slightly more cleared and farmed. By using agroforestry, their soil is self regenerating, and extraordinarily sustainable. Not only are these farms certified organic, but they also have been certified Smithsonian Bird Friendly, one of the toughest conservation certifications in existence. Instead of clearing rainforest, Bird Friendly coffees grow underneath shade trees that sequester carbon, fight climate change and provide habitat for birds. Those bird include migratory species whose impressive journeys can take them from the backyards of the U.S. and Canada all the way to coffee farms in Latin America.
Cafe Kreyol worked directly with one team member there, Jorge, who instructed the numerous cooperative members to implement pH testing when picking, washing, and drying the coffee. This created a consistent, sweet, and chocolatey profile. The producers can now maximize their quality as well as safely grow the quantity of their production, allowing them to earn about 300% higher than the fair trade minimum for coffee.
