OUR STORY
On a tiny remote jungle island int the southwestern Pacific Ocean, where tribal clans still practice cherished traditions and rituals, and the constant numbing of a great monolithic volcano is surpassed only by the volume of rich organic ash it rains down upon a land rivaling Eden, we found the world's most amazing coffee. The Republic of Vanuatu is a world of mystery, myth and tradition
that fills the visitor with awe. From the birthplace of bungee jumping to the incredible story of the John Frum Cargo Cult, the natural and cultural treasures of this land crave to be explored. With its 30 acre investment spread among 10 chiefs and their villages on Tanna Island, Vanuatu Cafe has teamed up with the island's coffee cooperative to the help subsistence farmers of the island. By providing the farmers with a viable cash crop, we not only help them stabilize and preserve their way of life, but also stem the tide of the exodus of the island's youth in search of income to help provide for their families, truly the greatest risk to the island's culture. Our purpose, our desire, and our dream at Vanuatu Cafe is to introduce to Rhode Island and its discerning coffee drinkers one of the most delicious, exotic, and rare coffees on the planet. INIK COOPERATIVE
The INIK Cooperative is the engine that drives Tanna's coffee industry at the grass roots level, seeking to balance financial goals, traditional Kastom practices and environmental harmony. INIK works individually with its farmers and their families through open consultation and then sets out in an orderly manner to address each of their concerns. INIK has formed a strong network throughout the island to support the villages and help farmers to maximize their returns. Over time these returns will develop into new crops, training and improved infrastructure, furthering the quality and success of coffee in Vanuatu. The fledgling coffee industry is a critical part of the local people's lives going forward, providing needed income, while symbiotically fitting into their traditional subsistence lifestyle. Without the unending dedication of INIK, and all of their sacrifices, the success of the coffee industry on Tanna would simply not exist
BEYOND ORGANIC
When our farmers plant coffee, they select the area and then using only machetes, selectively remove smaller trees and brush, leaving the large old growth trees for shade. They then dig a hole in the ground and plant a coffee seedling in it. That's it. There is no irrigation, fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, animal manure or compost. Just South Pacific rains and our volcano. When you look at most of coffee produced throughout the world, it is necessary for the farmers to replace the nutrients that the plants extract from the soil after each and every growing season, either through the use of toxic chemical fertilizers or the addition of organic animal manure and compost. In Tanna, this is never necessary. Our coffee is grown beneath the ever-present ash plume of the tremendously active Mount Yasur volcano. This perpetual raining down of volcanic ash, continually replenishing the soil's nutrients provides everything to make a coffee plant healthy and happy. BETTER THAN FAIR TRADE
We have strong ties with all of our farmers and their families, and we have an abiding trust with our coffee cooperative on Tanna Island, providing a viable cash crop to these subsistence farmers, along with a guaranteed market for their crop, is the number one goal in Vanuatu Cafe's mission statement
In most of the world, coffee farmers sell their unprocessed parchment coffee to a local buyer who processes it into dried green beans and makes all the profit from the value added processing. Instead, our cooperative collects the dry parchment and processes it themselves. They then hold and sell the processed beans for the best price possible, allowing more profit to go back to the farmer and his family in the form of business, training programs, new coffee plants, loans, or new machinery.
