Femenino coffee

Cafe Femenino coffees come to you from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru where it is carefully grown by women who have joined together to create a more sustainable economy and produce a very special brand of coffee. Through their participation in the whole production cycle these women are taking on a new role in the social and political fabric of their communities.

When you buy their certified organic and certified Fair Trade coffees, you are supporting a business venture that provides the direct income they need to improve the lives of their families through access to better education, health care and nutrition. But most importantly, your purchase provides these women the dignity and empowerment that comes with receiving a fair price for the coffee they have put their hearts into producing.

Cafe Femenino is the only Fair Trade certified coffee produced by women – worldwide – not to be controlled by the monopoly of a single roaster and to be sold unblended, with the Cafe Femenino name on each bag. The women coffee growers from Cafe Femenino co-ops receive a premium on top of the Fair Trade certified rate for their labour. In return, they offer you exceptional premium quality coffee.

Organic Products Trading Company (O.P.T.CO) started importing coffees from the very communities that are home to the Cafe Femenino co-ops some years ago, well before the creation of Cafe Femenino. O.P.T.CO and its partners are now providing these women and their daughters with training in the health sector, education, economic diversification, as well as coffee crop improvement and business. All of O.P.T.CO’s training programs and workshops are carefully designed to restore self-esteem and build self-confidence. The women growers of the Cafe Femenino co-ops have more bargaining power than most Fair Trade certified co-ops, as well as better access to resources to initiate positive changes within their communities.

In 2004, Aroma Specialty Coffee Roasters was the first Canadian roaster/ wholesaler of Cafe Femenino beans. As a woman coffee roaster, I am proud to present you with this very unique ethical product. Cafe Femenino is a wonderful opportunity to take small but solid steps toward better justice in the world. As we spread the interest and support for the Cafe Femenino project, I firmly believe that more co-ops will find the courage and power to aspire to a better life and claim a fair share of their exports to the Northern hemisphere. Hopefully the true changes will happen when we begin the process of believing in equality rather than charity. True equality is a much longer term solution and is more sustainable. As for gender equality: it is a basic human right. However, in most coffee growing countries it is a right that women are fiercely fighting for, through projects such as Cafe Femenino.