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We're thrilled to unveil our new women-produced coffee, The Village, whose label art is just as stunning as the coffee within. As a product that features seasonally rotating coffees from valued relationships with female producers, we hoped to reflect the diversity of stories and perspectives as well as origins in the artwork. We had the privilege of working with the incredible Costa Rica-based illustrator Erica Zeledón Salazar to bring the concept to life. Based in San José, Costa Rica, Erica studied Art & Visual Communication at the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica and majored in graphic design. After spending several years working in the advertising industry, she took a leap of faith to forge her own path working full time in illustration. Her work is defined by vibrant colors and texture, along with the use of symbolic elements, connecting her ideas with the natural world around her. To create the illustration for The Village label, we shared stories with Erica about the women producers we have come to know and whose work we aim to highlight, as well as the larger context of women's significant contributions to the coffee industry. Drawing inspiration from some of the imagery we shared, including the women of the Turihamwe Cooperative in Burundi dancing, Erica anchored the illustration with a woman with welcoming, open hands symbolizing creation and harvest, and intertwined elements of growth and cycles, which are integral to the production of coffee. We had a chance to speak to Erica about what inspires her work, and specifically the design for The Village. Her answers are presented in Spanish with their English translations. You mention that nature and the cycle of life are the main themes of your illustration work. What is it about these subjects that inspires you? Nature has the ability to be a source of constant creation and transmutation—in it, we can find such microscopic elements that are difficult to see with the naked eye, as well as large bodies that make you feel so small—each and every one of them essential and important in the cycles of life. At the end of the day, everything is connected and those connections are what catch my attention completely. What type of color palette do you gravitate towards and why?Me suelen gustar los colores primarios y el verde, para mí son el inicio de todo y siento que son “accesibles” a un público más amplio, con esto quiero decir que busco crear ilustraciones que sean de una lectura más “fácil” ya que el detalle de las mismas puede estar cargado de elementos y al usar estos colores busco que no sean “pretenciosas” por ponerlo de alguna manera. I usually like primary colors and green. For me they’re the beginning of everything and I feel they’re “accessible” to a wider audience. By this, I mean to say that I seek to create illustrations that are “easy” to read so the details can be loaded with elements, and by using those colors, I look for them to not be “pretentious,” to phrase it like that. How long have you been illustrating, and how have you evolved as an artist over the I started in the world of illustration 10 years ago and it has been a whole process to be able to understand myself, to know myself to be able to understand what I wanted to achieve as an artist. Besides, we’re in an era of bombardment of styles and trends you’re supposed to follow in order to be seen and taken seriously. That’s why practice and sketching are so important as a source of idea generation beyond looking at external references that can be confusing to us. Looking inward is key to being able to grow, because at the end of the day we are our own most honest source of what we really want to achieve. When working on the label for The Village, what was your process to create the illustration? (How did you interpret the brief/draw inspiration from the photography we provided, etc) I think it was key to create an illustration that celebrated the playful part of the coffee harvesting process that could represent a community of women. Likewise, it was important to use essential natural elements in the process of growth of the coffee plant, such as the birds who are agents of pollination, in addition to what is necessary: the sun as both a source of vitality and a symbol of the cycles of life.

Here at Joe, sustainability is always at the forefront of our minds—from our commitment to sourcing Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee and working with partners who prioritize lowering their carbon footprints to composting our coffee grounds in our cafes. So naturally, when we discovered Better Packaging Co's POLLAST!CTM mailers, we were eager to seize the opportunity to make a bigger impact with our packaging choices. We're excited to announce that our mail orders will now be packaged in POLLAST!CTM mailers, made 100% from ocean-bound plastic collected from coastal communities in Southeast Asia. In these under-resourced regions where very little waste management infrastructure exists, plastic pollution accumulates on beaches and waterways, becoming the source of much of the world's ocean plastic pollution. Better Packaging Co works with these communities to collect plastic from the shorelines, paying a fair wage, which in turn helps lift them out of poverty. In making this shift, we grappled with the question of the sustainability of a recycled plastic product over a paper or compostable product, and you might be wondering the same thing! Ultimately, we believe we can make a more significant impact with this choice. Here's why: POLLAST!CTM mailers use 75% less CO₂ than a virgin plastic product and 88% less than a virgin compostable bag. They also have a lower carbon footprint than any paper package or recycled product on the market. What's more, we are actively supporting shoreline cleanups that prevent plastic from entering the ocean and simultaneously helping communities fight poverty. An estimated 5-13 million tons of plastic enters the ocean every year and that figure is expected to triple by 2040. Over 70% of that plastic enters oceans via land and over 80% of that comes from Asia. That's why Better Packaging Co focuses their collection efforts in Southeast Asian coastal communities. In the course of a year, we'll be able to divert the equivalent of 54,200 single-use plastic bags from the ocean! Whether you recycle your package with soft plastics, or dispose of it responsibly at home, the plastic ends up in a better place. As a company dedicated to transparent supply streams, we also appreciate Better Packaging Co's commitment to traceable sourcing—every mailer comes with a tracing code which you can use to find out where the plastic used to make your mailer was collected! Plug in the code at the bottom of this page to trace your mailer's origin. Even better, as a B Corp Certified business and Certified Carbon Free business, Better Packaging Co works to offset 100% of their carbon emissions. We're excited about this new partnership, and look forward to hearing what you think! Better Packaging Co's production partner collecting plastic pollution in Malaysia

If you’ve taken a class through The Workshop or popped by our Pro Shop in Chelsea anytime recently, chances are you’ve seen Sean Ben-Zvi slinging latte swans or coaching a group of students on how to cast the perfect pour. Since she started back in April, Sean has guided countless home brewers, budding baristas, and wholesale clients through the ins and outs of the art and science of coffee as our training manager for wholesale and public education. Sean has big things brewing for our public education program, and sat down with us ahead of launching a slate of new classes through The Workshop to chat what’s to come. Sean Ben-Zvi, perfecting her signature latte art swan. Hi Sean! We're so happy to have you here. You joined the Joe team a few months back—can you tell us about how long you've been here and what drew you to work at Joe? I've been at Joe since the beginning of April and I've had an absolute blast so far! Joe Coffee is such a deep-rooted structure in New York City and I wanted to be a part of its legacy. Since joining I'm elated to have learned more on how much importance this company puts on producer relationships and supporting farmers. Here at Joe, you're the training manager for wholesale and public education. What do you enjoy most about your role, and working at Joe specifically? What I enjoy most about being in education is the impact it can have on the individual as well as the culture as a whole. I feel because of the quality and popularity of Joe cafes, the company catches consumers' attention to indulge in more coffee knowledge; essentially working at Joe allows me to have a much wider reach of impact within the coffee drinking community. The Workshop is Joe's public education program—where we dive into everything from home brewing to roasting, coffee cupping and of course, latte art! What do you think makes The Workshop unique, or different from other public education offerings out there? I feel The Workshop fills a nice little hole between absolute beginner Googling coffee facts, and the SCA [Specialty Coffee Association] courses offered in the city. The Workshop is approachable, affordable, and very fun. It is the testing site of exploring whether you want to dive deeper into the science of coffee, or you simply want some tools to make better coffee at home—all while giving you a strong foundation to keep building upon (whether that is with more advanced courses or daily home practice). Those who haven't had the chance to meet you yet might not know that you're also a latte art competitor. How does your background—latte art champ and beyond—influence your work at Joe? I have a background in performing arts which is instrumental in my success in education. I have also worked in many different cafe environments, giving me a deeper perspective of cafe operations which helps me answer ultra-specific questions. I've competed and won in latte art competitions, including a big national competition, so it's always fun to pull out a swan at the end of class. And of course, I wouldn't be anywhere without my "fake it 'til you make it" mantra :) Your role also involves training our wholesale clients! What do you find interesting or exciting about this aspect? I absolutely adore working with wholesale clients. As I mentioned before, my biggest goal with education is impact. Supporting our wholesale clients is a crucial way to be able to impact the level of coffee served in the city, as well as to be able to give people skills that they can develop and make a career out of. As a young barista I always had to fight for every scrap of information since education is not usually prioritized in cafe environments. I'm grateful I get to give young baristas what I always wanted when I was in their shoes. You have a lot planned for the future of The Workshop! Without giving too much away, what are you excited most for around what's to come? Picking what I'm most excited for feels like picking a favorite child—impossible! What I can say is we're working toward offering more focused and specific classes in addition to our current core classes. A way to continue developing with us for as long as someone would like, knowing that the coffee industry is forever growing and there's always more to learn! We're adding new class offerings to The Workshop! Check for more Fall dates soon.

It's been 18.5 years since our founders, brother-and-sister-duo Jonathan Rubinstein and Gabby Rubinstein, first opened the doors on our inaugural Joe Coffee at Waverly Place. Jonathan and Gabby in the "early days" of Joe Coffee. Nearly two decades, two dozen or so cafes, and a whole lot of milestones later, the pair sat down with our Director of Coffee & Roasting, Amaris Gutierrez-Ray, to reflect back on just how far we've come, and to take a look at the year (and next two decades!) ahead.⁠ Interview with the Founders: Jonathan Rubinstein and Gabby Rubinstein from Joe Coffee Company on Vimeo.

While our annual holiday coffee, Rockefeller, is always rooted in what this season means to us, this year in particular we wanted to focus—both in cup as well as spirit—on compassion, intention, and giving. To make this coffee a standout, we teamed up with Go Fund Bean to double down on supporting our greater network of essential hourly coffee workers. Go Fund Bean is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting, uplifting, and defending baristas nationwide. Established in the early days of the COVID-19 to support folks put out of work by the pandemic, the organization has grown to so much more over the last year—mentorship, free mental health care, disaster relief grants, and more. 🛍️ Product Benchmark Part of our signature collection, Benchmark is roasted to be just as delicious brewed as a regular drip or on espresso. We carefully selected each com... by Joe Coffee Company For each bag of Rockefeller sold, we'll donate $1 to Go Fund Bean. Ahead of the holidays, we sat down with the team at Go Fund Bean to learn more about the critical work they do for the industry, how they remain motivated to keep pushing forward, and what they see for the future of the organization and baristas everywhere. Pictured above: Adam JacksonBey, Founder of Go Fund Bean. Q: Who and what is Go Fund Bean and what does it do? A: Go Fund Bean is an organization that supports, uplifts, and defends the hourly coffee worker. We do that through a variety of ways including through direct aid, like our Grants program and Disaster Relief program; through supporting hourly coffee worker's mental health with our Stay Grounded Initiative, our talk therapy program, and Get Psyched, a collaboration with Umeshiso to help provide and through professional development; and with our Bean Development classes and Bean for Bean, our mentorship program. Q: What prompted the formation of Go Fund Bean? How has the organization evolved since its formation? A: We started on March 17th, 2020, right at the beginning of the pandemic, when out of work baristas were sharing [virtual] tip jars to help them make ends meet in the face of massive layoffs. We were promoting their tip jars, trying to get attention to them beyond their communities. About a month into that, we were contacted by a couple of companies that wanted to donate to Go Fund Bean and have us disburse the money to the baristas ourselves. We incorporated as a nonprofit so that we could be best positioned to do this. How we've evolved over the past year and a half has a simple answer: we've grown. We've stayed true to our guiding principles—supporting, uplifting, and defending hourly coffee workers. We've taken a hard look at what that really means and used that answer to grow what we can do as an organization, starting with giving out grants to hourly coffee workers impacted by COVID and adding more programs as we went along. We have a very holistic view of what it means to support, uplift, and defend. Q: What would you say have been the biggest challenges across the lifetime of the organization? It strikes us that you've had to put active collaboration into practice, which is a little bit of a difficult thing to do sometimes. How have you collectively navigated through ups and downs? A: The biggest challenge we've had is that we've grown extremely quickly and it has been hard to try to scale that growth while maintaining the same level of care, but manageable. We're lucky to have a responsive, attentive, and active Board of Directors that is able to guide the future of the organization. They continue to provide support to help us set up structures, which allows us to grow quickly and efficiently. Active collaboration is a hard thing to do sometimes, but one thing that is special about this generation of coffee professionals and organizations is that we want to work together. Competition isn’t part of it. We've been lucky to support and be supported by other organizations within the industry: CCRE, Getchusomegear, and Glitter Cat, to name a few, that have helped us grow and allowed us to bounce ideas off each other and work together in both formal and informal ways. Q: What are some of the challenges and successes you see within the coffee industry today as a whole? (This may also get at the underlying question...how are you defining "the coffee industry" for your organization's purposes?) A: The biggest challenge we see in the industry is the same it’s always been: a lack of support for workers at both ends of the supply chain. Both the producers and the hourly coffee workers are integral to coffee worldwide, and our industry could not exist without them, yet they’re the lowest paid members of our value chain. We feel as though they should be supported in every way possible, and the best way to do that is through collaboration and collective action on both ends of the supply chain. Q: Is there anything related to Go Fund Bean that speaks most to your heart, that you're most passionate about, or see yourselves as being most uniquely capable to accomplish? A: We love our mission because it’s simple but powerful: support, uplift, defend. One thing that we are going to spend the next year or so working on doing better is defending the hourly coffee worker. Hourly coffee professionals face many challenges, and figuring out how to be reactive and supportive, through work such as our grant program, has been easy. Now we are focused on being more proactive to give hourly coffee workers structure and a framework to be better in this industry. We’re doing this through our Bean Development classes, Bean for Bean mentoring, and the mental healthcare Stay Grounded Initiative. We also have an upcoming Advisory Committee that will be made up of current hourly coffee workers. Q: What's the future for the organization? A: Ideally, our goal is to no longer be needed! The programs that we have been doing, are doing, and will be doing in the future should already be in place for hourly coffee workers, whether that's through the government or their employers. Until that day comes however, Go Fund Bean will be focused on collaboration and growth. We want to collaborate with more organizations and companies in order to help more hourly coffee workers reach their full potential within this industry and as individuals. If you are or someone you know is an hourly coffee worker in need of emergency financial assistance, training, or mentorship, or if you would like to make a contribution to support the work of Go Fund Bean, please visit their website here.

Community Voices Heard (CVH) was founded in 1994 and is the largest Black-led, member-driven, grassroots, principally women of color and low-income families organization in New York State. Back around this time last year, we first began working with CVH with the release of our Rockefeller holiday coffee, where $1 of each bag sold went to support their work building power to secure racial, social, and economic justice for all New Yorkers. This year, we're thrilled to share we'll be partnering up again on an upcoming coffee—more on that soon!—but in the meantime, we wanted to take this Giving Tuesday as an opportunity to sit down with CVH executive director Juanita O. Lewis for a look at the group's history, current projects like Follow Black Women, and their vision for an equitable future. Looking for more ways to support Community Voices Heard? Please consider making a donation here. Q: Can you walk us through the formation of Community Voices Heard? Where did it begin and how has it evolved since its formation? A: Community Voices Heard (CVH) was founded in 1994 in response to the Clinton-era changes to welfare. Many of these families were forced to participate in the Welfare to Work program in order to receive public assistance. There were very few grouops organizing those on public assistance to make policy changes to address systemic issues. From the early leaders who were fed up with the exploitative work requirements imposed on welfare recipients by federal and local government to those who have, and currently drive, a broader agenda to secure a just social safety net, family-sustaining jobs, and access to them as well as truly affordable housing, and thriving communities—throughout the organization’s evolution, encouraging participatory democracy of the most marginalized has remained critical to CVH’S mission. CVH has not only expanded its issue focus but its reach with chapters in New York City, Westchester County, Orange County, and Dutchess County. Q: Where does CVH Power come in? So often we speak about the challenges but you all are an action-based group, can you share your successes with us? A: In 2012, members and allies of CVH decided that a seat at the table was not sufficient if its occupant did not wield enough power to enact the radical policy change necessary to center communities of color state-wide. Thus, CVH Power! was established as a political entity that would intentionally change the structure of New York’s political landscape. At CVH Power, we seek out, politically educate, train, and endorse candidates of color; we also support persons that ideologically align, support, and further our mission to advance low-income communities of color across New York State. In 2021, we ran our largest political program, where we endorsed 20 people total in NYC and Yonkers. We reached over 100,000 voters between face to face conversations, phone banking, and texting. 17 of the 20 candidates won their races. We are excited to build a co-governing agenda focused on racial, social, and economic justice with this cohort of officials. Q: We're living in a time that's both quite complex and unique... but also reminiscent of a historical holding pattern when it comes to social justice. What are your thoughts on where we are right now and how we can break out of the pitfalls of the past? A: The impacts of Trump, the COVID-19 pandemic, and Black Lives Matter uprisings have renewed an interest in organizing and lifting up the voices and experiences of those who are impacted by these issues. There is also more interest in scrutinizing structures to explore what reforms are needed to yield more equitable outcomes. It is more evident than ever that we need to continue building grassroots leadership that creates and leads a progressive agenda. Q: Is there anything related to Community Voices Heard that you're most passionate about, see yourself as being the most uniquely capable to accomplish, or that you're most looking forward to working on in the near future? What initially drew you into the work at CVH? A: I came to CVH almost 13 years ago because of the member-led vision and mission. Members take on roles identifying campaigns, building strategy, and taking action. It is wonderful to see the transformation of members as they take on these roles. I am looking forward to holding our statewide member campaign sessions in person, continuing to build our Follow Black Women project, and leading trainings through our Ella Baker School for Organizing. Q: Lastly, since we are a coffee company, and we are attempting to connect our immediate communities with our larger, global coffee community -- do you have anything to share about the power of women everywhere? 🛍️ Product Build Your Own Coffee Bundle Create your own mix of 6 oz, 12 oz, 2 lb, or 5 lb bags from across our full lineup. It’s an easy way to explore our coffees, restock your favorites, o... by Joe Coffee Company ✓ Available 🛒 View Product A: In 1977, Barbara Smith and the Black feminist visionaries of the Combahee River Collective observed, “Until Black women are free, none of us are free.” The Black women of the Combahee River Collective remind us: it is racial justice that will bring us all democracy. American democracy, as it turns out, is on the side of freedom and racial justice only because Black people—and Black women, in particular—have organized to make it so, locally and nationally.

Jim Ngokwey is a Managing Partner at Mighty Peace Coffee, an importing company working exclusively with coffees and communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We met Jim, who is Congolese himself, in early 2019; but of course, COVID was soon on our doorstep. Nevertheless, knowing Jim has taught us a lot about the impact of, and, more importantly, the potential for, the coffee industry in the Congo. Through collaboration with Mighty Peace, we have developed a deeper understanding of coffee’s history as a Black history, in order to find our agency and place within it. Jim speaks very passionately about the core mission of Mighty Peace—to “support communities transitioning from war to peace in parts of DRC that have been victimized by the conflict.” He sees the potential for using the coffee industry intentionally to face the challenges that Congo inherited, and has chosen to take action through his work. We sat down with Jim ahead of the launch of our new Atlas Collection release, Congo Mapendo, to talk all things coffee, gender equity, and the impact of COVID-19 on coffee producing communities in Congo. Q: We were so pleased to taste a women-grown coffee when you first offered us the chance to try it. Could you share about the decisions and goals to separate out this coffee grown by female producers in Congo? Was it a choice the growers made themselves? There is so much to learn about gender equity expressed in different places, and it seems to us that there is already a lot of value placed on women in Congo, so we're trying to better understand that and learn from their strong example.A: Before diving into the answers, I'd like to share that gender equity is important to Mighty Peace Coffee; we're very proud to be led by women executives, Liza and Linda. We are working on initiatives to up-skill women in Congo to have more women understand the quality and business side of the industry and attain higher paid positions. We're intentional about this as a lot of research out there shows that women spend most of their income on their families, a lot more than men, and that when you work on social impact, economic empowerment and poverty eradication, we believe women must have multiple seats at the table.The decision to separate out Mapendo (men and women) and one exclusive from women producers, Mapendo Women, was spurred by an NGO operating in the DRC called Elan RDC. Elan RDC was financed by UKAID and its mission was to increase the income of at least 100,000 people across various industries in the DRC. Gender equality and social inclusion is one of its key pillars and that’s how the idea to separate into a women-only lot came about. The goal was to proactively identify women producers in the cooperative and seek their coffees specifically, help them improve quality, and increase their income. Additionally, Linda has an extensive network in DRC and she always had great relationships with these producers, had tried their coffee in the past and early in 2020, and we started discussing how Mighty Peace Coffee could work with them. It started with free workshops that Linda would conduct with the cooperative, and as they started implementing her feedback, we started discussing working together on lots that we would purchase in 2021. The impact and feedback have been overwhelmingly positive and Mapendo Women will be on our offering list every year moving forward. Q: When it comes to gender equity in Congo, or this group of women specifically—what's their vision for their future?A: They are working on various projects, many of which are around creating additional streams of revenue. Livestock and goat breeding in particular is a key project the women have worked on. Through this initiative they were able to raise and sell more than 1,000 goats, which is an important additional source of revenue for them and their families. A key priority for next year will be to evolve the goat project, to include chickens and pigs as well for further diversification and additional income streams. Other short- and long-term projects include the construction of a clinic for women, to provide quality healthcare services in closer proximity to where producers live, to reduce and sometimes eliminate travel time to access healthcare. Another major initiative for the rest of the year and 2022 is to increase investments in AVEC (Association Villageoise d’épargne et de Crédit), which translates to Village Association for Savings & Loans. It operates like a credit union and provides loans to the community. Q: The name Mapendo—love—is so powerful. Reading about the history of the women, some of them widows, was really meaningful to us. Was the name given to the coffee product first, or the community group first?A: The name Mapendo came from conversations with our team on the ground and the producers; we wanted a name to identify the lots that are being produced for Mighty Peace Coffee and would represent the meaning and message they want to put out to the world through their partnership with us. That has been our approach with all offerings; brainstorm the message and meaning they want their coffee to have in the world, and name their offerings that way. This collaborative approach to naming the coffee, instead of naming it after the washing station or territory, fosters further ownership and engagement in this partnership, and allows the community to play a role in the story and meaning their coffee conveys to the world. Q: We often talk about our shared challenges in this pandemic age. Could you share about the successes of the community of coffee growers that the Mapendo women are a part of? What do they feel proud of that they have accomplished over the past couple of growing seasons with the pandemic limitations?A: Progress on the construction of the clinic and additional funds for the AVEC credit union were some of the brightest spots. But overall, the pandemic has been extremely challenging. Many producers abandoned their fields especially as buyers cancelled orders early on; times were particularly hard during lockdowns. As there wasn’t much traffic and much movement, their side businesses came to a screeching halt and many who expected to earn additional revenue through goats were hurt as their finances tightened. They weren’t able to provide veterinary care to their animals and quite a few ended up losing their goats. Despite these extreme difficulties, there were examples of success in the pandemic; a producer named Charlotte Fikiri is one such example: she was able to take care of her goats and sell a few during the pandemic, and she used this additional income to purchase more land on which she’d produce and sell more coffee. There unfortunately weren’t many women as successful as Mrs. Fikiri, but as vaccines are starting to become available in Congo, we expect to have many more such stories next year.

This spring, we released our first single origin from the Democratic Republic of the Congo—a delicious washed Bourbon called Congo Umoja grown by a cooperative of smallholder farmers in Eastern Congo. In exploring this new origin for our menu, we've not only been able to learn more about the complex history of the region and the rich stories of its people, but to develop a new relationship with an inspiring supplier called Mighty Peace Coffee.Born out of the Congolese peace movement by an international team of business leaders, coffee experts, community organizers, and human rights defenders, Mighty Peace Coffee is a fully integrated social impact coffee company connecting roasters like us with the highest quality Congolese coffee. In a model they call the Peace Trade, Mighty Peace aims to share the stories of Congolese partners to inspire, educate, and end cycles of poverty and conflict.In South Kivu, where this coffee is grown, coffee is becoming a symbol of economic stability and prosperity after many years of of violent conflict. Mighty Peace firmly believes that coffee has a major role to play in the future of the region, with specialty coffee agriculture providing community-directed paths from poverty and violence to stability and growth. What follows below are stories directly from some of the farmers who grow Umoja, shared with us by Mighty Peace Coffee. “There is nothing you can’t do when you have a sustainable income.” - Mrs. Victorina Kanane In the 10 years farmers have been growing specialty coffee cooperatively, the sale of Umoja has helped to improve the living conditions of its members, providing schooling, housing, jobs and reducing coffee smuggling on Lake Kivu, while promoting gender equity. "We use several methods to bring out the best flavors...sometimes we cultivate coffee in the mountain which is different than the coffee we cultivate in the valley.” Mr. Lukuye Umoja farmers produce fully washed coffee, grown in volcanic soil at an altitude of 1,480-2,000 meters, between Lake Kivu and the Mitumba mountain range. The region has a rich tradition of growing specialty coffee, which is reflected in the complex flavors present in Umoja's complex and sweet profile. “Nowadays everybody here works and has fields to cultivate, it would be insane to kill or rape your neighbor when we’re pursuing the same purpose.” - Ms. Furaya Zahinda Conflict has plagued the DRC for decades. Intense competition for control over mining areas led to the proliferation of armed rebel groups in the 90s. Armed groups committed acts of unspeakable violence to destroy the very fabric of a community. The effects of this ongoing war reach every corner of the Congo, and yet many communities are coming together as one to plant the path towards a brighter, safer future. "I use my earnings to pay my children’s school fees; four of them have finished high school and one is in the third year of nursing college." - Mr. Sengi Ndambusa Mighty Peace's values drive ethical practices that include environmental sustainability, USDA organic certification, the highest labor standards, and a commitment to shift attitudes and approaches to business in the DRC and around the world.To learn more about this coffee and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, check out our info sheet.

Over the past year, the world has started waking up to the fact that our societies are defined by their inequalities. For the first time in a long time, that fact united many of us across geography, class, and race. Here in the US we’re still working to carry forward the energy of racial justice activism that swept the nation in 2020, with the hope to create systems and encourage elected officials to work against inequality. The pandemic has widened and made more clear our view of inequity and this has informed a newly realized solidarity: our intentions and our lives have meaning, and we are tethered to each other through our humanity. Solidarity has become a theme and an ethical responsibility. Waves of activism have roiled communities across the globe as people have taken to the streets in protest of state violence, discrimination, economic inequity, political corruption, and much more. Protests were already occurring in Colombia but as they have resurged in the pandemic’s socio-political environment, it has been with a new, collective tenacity and as this ripples through global supply streams, we are taking the opportunity to examine our role and lend support. Colombian coffee is on our single origin menu year-round (La Familia Guarnizo), and it’s also in The Daily for a majority of each year. Our business depends on those coffees, which are made possible by many smallholder farmer families in Colombia—we are inextricably connected with the people of Colombia through our business. Some of our most important lessons on the true meaning of “partnership” have been with the Guarnizo family in Huila, Colombia. [caption id="attachment_44819" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] Wilmar Guarnizo's farm, Huila, Colombia[/caption]At Joe, we have come to appreciate the value of working with trusted suppliers for sourcing green coffee. We rely on the trust those partners have built with producers through long term relationships and we use those relationships to educate ourselves and our staff, and to gain more context for the challenges facing producers in a given area. When it comes to understanding this situation in Colombia, as well as seeing how and where we can contribute to positive change, we found ourselves in conversation with our supply partner there, Caravela, and the close partners they facilitate our work with, the Guarnizo Family, to learn about what prompted these protests and what they expect to happen. Wilmar Guarnizo explained that where his farm is located, along with his siblings’ farms, the food and gas supply has been disrupted. Thankfully, many of the staple foods are grown locally in their community. Wilmar describes a general feeling of disenfranchisement, explaining that they feel disconnected from both the protest movement and the government, neither of which have historically served them well. Marisabel Vasquez, Marketing Manager for Caravela, notes that the situation looks different across the country. In the city where she’s from, Barranquilla, protests have been predominantly peaceful. In other parts of the country, such as in Cali, Bogota, Huila, and Bucaramanga, the protests have intensified, and have been rippling out to affect each city’s infrastructure. In Bogota, where Caravela’s main offices and in-country QC lab are located, staff coming in to work have to pay close attention to the planned protests because public transportation shuts down during those times because buses get damaged during them. And of course, the main impact is the effect on their coffee business, which has been quite extreme. Coffees are being brought down from the growing regions to local purchasing stations, but because of roadblocks, they can’t move the coffee out of the individual localities. Marisabel shares: “We continue with our warehouses open, but as we're not able to move the coffee to the dry mill, there will be a moment when we run out of space (this happened back in 2016 when there was a truck strike) but we are trying to avoid this from happening. Additionally, we have not been able to move coffee to port, as you mentioned, the Buenaventura port is closed. Last week we tried moving coffee to Cartagena and Santa Marta ports in the Northern Coast (where as I mentioned things are much calmer up here) but containers are dammed and being held up and nothing has shipped. Our team in Colombia continues to work despite the challenges, but we really hope that we all come to a peaceful agreement, and that we can come out of this to a much better Colombia.” We also checked in with one of our baristas, Oscar Gomez, who was in Colombia visiting his family and a business he recently started with his brother on a family coffee farm. He experienced protests and blockades while traveling across the city of Medellín, and was in the country for 6 weeks while the situation intensified. He shared with us that the government was limiting internet access in some places which was affecting people's ability to communicate with each other, and also that it was an intense atmosphere. He was thankful to be with family, and told us, "it’s a shame how people fight for power and put so many innocent lives at risk for their own pleasure." We supplemented that perspective with our own research to see where major news outlets stand, knowing that international reporting can often come with political biases or contradictory, misrepresentative facts. That’s precisely why we feel the work of Human Rights Watch is so important; their nonpartisan work puts people first. Human Rights Watch is transparent about their research and methods, and they don’t take money from governments. Doing that means they have a wide, global scope and reach -- they are more likely to positively influence the change that is needed to stop human rights abuses wherever they work. Starting June 16, we will donate $1 per sale of a retail bag of La Familia Guarnizo to Human Rights Watch in order to support the rights, respect, and humane treatment of protesters in Colombia, and to contribute to the visibility of their message. Overview & Historical Context Latin America is one of the most unequal regions in the world. The people of Latin America have a long history of political protest in response to inequality and the behaviors of their governing powers. Even so, there were more civil rights protests in 2019 across Central and South America than in any year in recent history. In Colombia in particular, there were protests toward the end of 2019 through early 2020 in response to high unemployment rates, high rates of poverty with a low minimum wage, little perceived upward mobility for young people (including a lack of state-funding for higher education), and police brutality. President Iván Duque stands for a new conservative, right-wing party (it was only established in 2014) that has come under harsh criticism since he was elected in 2018. These protests by the people began peacefully, but over time turned more violent: aggressive police intervention led to over a dozen citizen deaths and more than 500 injuries. The rise of the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns paused the protests, but they started up again in late April 2021 in response to a law passed by the government to increase taxes (including a tax on consumable goods that had never been taxed before) to generate revenue for pandemic-related budget gaps. Throughout the pandemic, unemployment and poverty rates grew manifold and the government’s solution to improving social security only involved new and increased taxation. In a state of diminished resources, this didn’t land too well. Among fears of a worsening financial crisis that would spiral out of control, and from the poverty of economic desperation, the people of Colombia took to the streets to protest. After 4 days of peaceful protests, the president redacted the proposed tax bill, but by then, popular sentiment had shifted and all other inequalities and injustices came back into focus, especially with the perceived traction of having directly influenced the president’s economic policy. Now, the protests became an issue of being heard: the social issues, income inequality, poverty, and corruption they’d protested years before intensified because of the pandemic, and the government hadn’t made any changes. The people’s request to have citizen representatives present in negotiations with the president was not accepted, so the public felt they had no other option but to continue to take to the streets in order to be acknowledged. This led to greater societal unrest: local groups funneled their frustration into blockades in their streets, towns, and regions in order to get their government’s attention. They wanted to prove that they were needed for a national economy to function properly, so that their worth could be felt by everyone, including at the international level. The government’s response has been severe, and police presence everywhere was expanded. At present, there have been over 40 deaths (mostly citizens) and over 800 injuries. There have been allegations of censorship, allegations of disinformation, and harsh critical reactions by many international governments. Though facts may differ depending on who is reporting, the common thread is the ongoing presence of injustice. Coffee and other exports continue to be affected by significant delays due to roadblocks and port closures but the people of Colombia are asking to be heard, and they are doing whatever they can to amplify their message. We stand in solidarity with the people of Colombia and empathize with their cry to be seen, to be heard, to be respected by those in power. Resources Current Situation Most concise overview with context: An Update on Colombia’s Ongoing Crisis (Caravela) Protests In Colombia Have Halted Coffee Exports (Sprudge) SOS Colombia: How Coffee Lovers Can Support The Colombian Crisis (Sprudge) Colombia’s president withdraws tax reform after protests (Reuters) Colombians march in eighth day of protests, police deploy tear gas (Reuters) Colombia: Amnesty International denounces militarized response and police repression of demonstrations (Amnesty International) Why Colombia's protests are unlikely to fizzle out (BBC) Colombia protesters: We're not scared anymore (BBC) Amid Protests And Police Violence, Colombia’s President Condemns Blockades That Have Stopped Delivery Of Food And Medicine (Forbes) 2021 Colombian protests (Wikipedia) Bleak futures fuel widespread protests by young Colombians (AP) Protestas - Colombia, “From cacerolazos to a neighborhood assembly” (Protestas Webseries) Historical Context Death of Colombian Teenager Drives Protesters Back to Streets (NYT) The riots in Colombia hint at deep problems (The Economist) Colombia’s Crisis Is an Urban Youth Crisis. Old Solutions Won’t Work (Americas Quarterly) Colombia protests: Death of man tasered by police sparks deadly clashes (BBC) Colombia protests: Bogotá placed under curfew amid fresh protests (BBC) Protests across Latin America reflect a toxic cocktail of pandemic and recession (CNN) 2019: Protests and disruptive changes in Latin America (Open Democracy) Latin America, It’s Time to End Police Abuse (Human Rights Watch) Latin America’s Wave of Protests Was Historic—Then the Pandemic Arrived (Foreign Policy) The Rebellion Against the Elites in Latin America (NYT) U.N.D.P. says Latin America is wealthier but unequal (AP) 2019–2020 Colombian protests (Wikipedia) Inequality and social unrest in Latin America: The Tocqueville Paradox revisited (World Bank) The Normalization of Protest in Latin America (Vanderbilt University) Latin America’s True Disaster May Be 2021 (Americas Quarterly)