Why Choose Nicaraguan Coffee
When you drink a cup of coffee made with beans from Nicaragua, you get to enjoy the taste of gorgeous landscapes and rich history. It’s no surprise that coffee has been produced on a large scale in Nicaragua since the 1800s because the country’s natural beauty and rich biodiversity give its coffees unparalleled taste and quality. Our Nicaragua, Jinotega coffee boasts caramel, honey, and chocolate malt notes. Unfortunately, Nicaragua’s volatile political history has stunted its economic growth, placing it among the poorest countries in Latin America. To this day, agriculture drives the country’s economy and coffee is its most important crop.
Why We Love PRODECOOP
At Needmore Coffee, we source much of our Nicaraguan coffee from the PRODECOOP. The PRODECOOP is a collective of 38 grassroots cooperatives comprised of 2,300 small-batch producers. We love that 27% of the coffee producers the organization works with are women. They focus on promoting gender equality by ensuring that women hold at least 40% of leadership positions within the cooperative. In addition, they regularly hold training programs to educate their members about why it is crucial to include women in leadership roles. These training sessions highlight the role that women’s voices play in successful coffee production. Given that women are still underrepresented in the specialty coffee industry (as we talked about in our previous blog post), PRODECOOP’s support of women producers makes them an organization we are thrilled to partner with.
The Social Impact of Ethical Sourcing
PRODECOOP Nicaraguan coffee is Fair Trade certified. This means that the organization actively improves the living standards of producers. The co-op also gives back to the Nicaraguan communities it represents. Annually, they invest 55 percent of Fair Trade premiums in business development, 15 percent in education and scholarship funds, 10 percent in social projects focused on food security and health, 10 percent in member organizations, and 10 percent to support women’s projects. If you want to learn more about why buying Fair Trade certified coffees is important, check out this story about ethically sourced coffee on our blog.
Header Photo: Royal Coffee
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