4.1.2008 : Coffee of the Month for April – Mercy Corps Café Aldea
Mercy Corps Café Aldea – a
Panache® Collaborative
Coffee™ – is a delicious
single-origin coffee that brews a brightly
dimensioned cup, with perfectly balanced flavor
that is accented by delicate chocolate-like notes.
Grown in the remote mountains of northern
Nicaragua, this remarkable coffee is the result of
a creative partnership between Mercy Corps –
one of the nation's leading humanitarian
organizations – and Coffee Bean Intl, who
– since 1993 have worked together to bring
this coffee to market, while investing from every
pound purchased back into the communities that grew
it.
Aldea Global
(The information below is used by permission from Mercy Corps website.)
Mercy Corps has had a presence in Nicaragua since 1992, when it helped to form Project Global Village of Jinotega, now known as Aldea Global. Since then, the agency has worked on numerous initiatives, including supporting Aldea Global to become its own registered Nicaraguan non-governmental organization (NGO) and strengthening its Board of Directors to play an active role in the organization.
Aldea Global is now a successful farmers' association focusing on producing non-traditional products for export, such as gourmet coffee and black beans.
Today, an innovative partnership between Mercy Corps and specialty roaster Coffee Bean International uses proceeds from the award-winning Café Aldea blend to help support social programs run by Aldea Global. A one-dollar premium per pound provides money for projects such as mobile health clinics and improved sanitation for hardworking farmers and their families.
Twenty-eight-year-old Ernesto Rafael Horrora
grows coffee in Palo Blanco. Mercy Corps is helping
coffee farmers in Nicaragua earn a premium on their
beans.
Photo: Miguel Samper for Mercy Corps
