Introduction Colombian coffee farming families have been facing multiple environmental and social challenges in the last several years. Women play a significant role in the management of the farms and in the development of their communities, yet they are on an uneven playing field regarding access to training, tools, and resources that could be used to better improve their coffee, daily lives, and overall prosperity in their communities. Vail Mountain Coffee & Tea Co. feels fortunate for the opportunity to work with Colombian Women's Project. Seeing their commitment to creating a more equitable space for women in coffee production has...
Vail Mountain Coffee & Tea Co. has been a contributor of the Colombian's Women Project for several years now. The Colombian Women's Project started off as a place for women in conflict impacted zones within the Tolima region of Colombia, to find a place of empowerment through coffee farming and sustainability. Our partnership with them is one that we have cultivated closely over time and has been one of the most rewarding endeavors VMCT has taken on since our brand was established in 1989. Recent Update on the Happenings in Tolima Tolima is one of the most important coffee regions of Colombia,...
Cerro Las Ranas (the Hill of Frogs) coffee is named after the farm’s lagoon that is populated by thousands of frogs, located in Apaneca within the department of Ahuachapan, El Salvador. The coffee is produced by JASAL, a family owned operation where Jose Antonio Salaverria and his sons take great pride in their meticulous attention to detail, from year-round farm management to quality control in the cupping lab, and everything in between. In the pulped natural process (also called a honey process), JASAL pulps perfectly ripened cherries and then dries the coffee beans, still covered in mucilage, on clay patios while...
How it all started...The METAD coffee groups origin story begins with Muluemebet Emiru, the first female pilot in Africa during WWII. After WWII the Ethiopian Emperor awarded her with farmlands lush with wild coffee trees, in the Harrar and Sidamo regions of Ethiopia. She transformed the Harrar farmland into a private coffee estate, thus forging her family's deep connection to the land and the beginning of coffee cultivation that would go on for generations to come. METAD is managed by Aman Adinew who returned to Ethiopia after many years working abroad at the executive level for multiple fortune 500 companies...
Improving Quality: ASPRASAR Colombia Project Vail Mountain Coffee & Tea Co. and the coffee growers of Tolima's ASPRASAR association have come to completion on upgrades made to their facility in Colombia. In the past few years the association has made upgrades with the help of donations from VMCT and contributions from the association itself. The growers have dedicated their lives to growing coffee in the same tradition as generations before them. Now, with the help of Vail Mtn Coffee & Tea Co. and their surrounding community, the growers have been able to improve their operation for coffee production and the...
This fresh batch of beans is sourced from the Kenyan open auction system (Nairobi Coffee Exchange), where the quality of the coffee and generally transparent access has been credited for strong prices relative to other coffee regions. Most coffee is grown in the fertile foothills of Mount Kenya. Farmer plots are so small that size is gauged by the number of trees rather than the measurements of the land, which means producers often have more control to strategically pick and deliver only the ripest cherry to their local factory (wet-mill). Factories generally have an abundance of water lending to exquisite...
