04/15/2016
Dear Valued Customers,
We would like to take a moment to thank you for your support. So many of you we see on a daily basis, as you count on us for your coffee needs and we count on you for your insight and words of encouragement. Without you, Mojaboax Coffee/Mojoes would not exist and we hope that you will support us in our recent decision.
A few days ago, a meeting was held by our Coffee Partners following a visit to South America. Going into the meeting we thought that the topic would be about (what else other than) coffee. However, once they started rolling video footage we saw something unexpected, and to be honest something that we weren’t ready for. How could this “high end” Arabica Coffee that we pay top dollar for… be produced by farmers and workers in such poor conditions, we asked? The answer is, although a logical one… disturbing.
The footage was taken in many different villages, where a lot of our (the United States) coffee is grown and harvested. As with everything, coffee is priced on supply and demand. However, while there is definitely a high demand for coffee (the number 2 commodity in the world) most of our growers are in third world countries where they gladly accept much less than what their product is worth due to an unorganized and improperly regulated buying process, while better educated “Middle Men” feed of off this system and sign long-term contracts with the growers (for pennies) and get it shipped to us at market value.
Isn’t that how most products are sold (via the middle man) you ask? Yes and no, while the middle man exist in pretty much everything there’s no other market/commodity that carries such a huge gap in pricing between grower and purchaser.
So what’s the answer? How do we get more money to the growers so that they can afford shoes and better living conditions? In a perfect world, Mojaboax Coffee and its Partners would directly link themselves to the growers and pay them fair value for their product. While this is certainly something that we will be exploring, this process takes a lot of time, effort, and a ton of hurdles to jump. So where do we start? How do we make a change now? The answer is dedicating our coffee purchases to participants of Fair Trade Coffee.
Fair Trade Coffee was organized to fix the issue at hand. We have listed a small sample of their Mission Statement below:
Your rich cup of Fair Trade coffee can help farmers escape poverty. Most small-scale family farmers live in remote locations and lack access to credit, so they are vulnerable to middlemen who offer cash for their coffee at a fraction of its value. Fair Trade guarantees farmers a minimum price, and links farmers directly with importers, creating long-term sustainability. Through Fair Trade, farmers earn better incomes, allowing them to hold on to their land and invest in quality. By establishing Fair Trade prices farmers are able to practice sustainable growing techniques and are supported in learning new skills that will preserve their land for generations to come.
At Mojaboax Coffee Company we believe that every being on the face of this wonderful planet should have the same quality of life that we take for granted each day. While this may not be possible, we certainly want to do our part to go in this direction. We feel that while the cost is greater that it is beyond a doubt the right, and only, thing to do. We hope that you will stay with us during this transition and help us (as you have so often in the past) bring better lives to those that grow and harvest the beans that you so enjoyably consume everyday.
During the coming weeks you will notice some slight changes in our pricing that reflect our change to Fair Trade Coffee… the change is minimal and will be spread over all menu items to ease the transition for our “Coffee” Consumers.
Again, we want to thank you in advance for your continued patronage. You all really are the best customers in the world.
Sincerely,
Ashlyn Boatner, Operations Director, Mojaboax Coffee Company LLC
