Starlight Organic Coffee
Prism set out with the mission to design Starlight to be an Organic speciality coffee blend that tasted delicious and was consistent year-round. We have worked with Cafe imports to design this organic coffee blend. Coffee is a seasonal crop, so we designed Starlight to be a seasonal coffee using a Papua New Guinee and Rwandan coffee 50/50 blend for half the year and a 50/50 Ethiopian blend for the other half.
The current washing stations that Cafe imports are working with to bring us these coffees are.
Papua New Guinea Roots #1 co-operative
The Roots #1 Farmers Association is a cooperative of about 1,590 certified organic smallholder producers from the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea: The association was started by farmer Tony Tokah in 2012 in an attempt to organize members of his community to deliver coffee more cost-effectively and share resources. This coffee is certified Organic, Fair-trade, & Rainforest Alliance.
Most farmers here don't have coffee "farms" but rather coffee "gardens," very small plots of land on which they grow the crops they need for the household as well as to sell for income. Coffee is an important cash crop, and organizing into a group with their neighbors and associates can help the farmers of Roots #1 earn a higher price for their offerings at the mill. Roots #1 also has a focus on encouraging women producers to participate in the coffee business.
Rwanda Kirorero Washing Station
COOPAC is a Fair Trade–certified cooperative located near Lake Kivu on the steep slopes of volcanic mountains. The organization was founded by Emmanuel Rwakagara, who is the president of COOPAC as well as the owner of the Gishamwana Island coffee estate.
COOPAC began with 110 farmers in April 2001, and currently has 8,000 members contributing coffee from Ack, Ubuzima, Tuzamurane, Kopabm, Abakundakurima, and Abanyamurava. With over 50 washing stations along the northern landscape of Lake Kivu, COOPAC exports 150 containers of Fair Trade certified coffee annually.
COOPAC is committed to environmental and social sustainability in addition to producing high-quality coffee. Waste by-products from processing are used as fertilizer rather than discarded into the lake, and shade trees are distributed to farmers to prevent soil erosion. COOPAC has assisted in the construction of a school, health-care clinics, and roads and bridges in the community. The cooperative also has a program to distribute cows and goats to the most productive farmers and provides farmers with an agricultural advisor to teach the latest production methods.
The Kirorero washing station serves about 2012 smallholder producers in the areas of Boneza and Musasa, about 800 of whom are women farmers. The growers are organized into two first-tier cooperatives: KOTWIBAKABO and COPROCUCAMU.
The coffee we receive from the Kirorero washing station is Certified organic.
Information courtesy of Café imports head to cafeimports.com to learn more about what they do.