Mweka Villages Kilimanjaro
We source our Kilimanjaro coffee by working directly with small villages high up the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro in East Africa we are proud to bring you this exceptional Arabica. Dark and smooth with a velvety cocoa and caramel finish.
Where do we start? There’s a lot to tell that simply can’t be fitted on this one page. We’ll include a lot of links where we can but if you ever want to know more – just ask.
Let’s start by giving due credit to Bente, the manager of Machare Farm, for it is her vision and relationships that EA have managed to work through to make a difference. Through Bente, we have been introduced to two villages who have had no route to market and had to sell to whomever came along at whatever price was offered.
This was an injustice given the quality of their Tanzania coffee and the effort they had put in to farm and produce it. With some investment (from Machare, EA and others), a lot of encouragement, and a little hope, the villages started to process their own coffee.
Environment
- 🏔️ An impressive understanding of environmental issues exists amongst the villagers (embarrassing by our Western standards actually, but I guess they live witnessing the effects of our actions e.g. diminishing glacier atop Mt. Kilimanjaro).
- 🌳 Their tree planting project on the mountain replenishes indigenous tree stock.
- 🐝 They have recently started a bee project to encourage pollination and offer a sustainable food source (and hopefully income too).
- The village has implemented waste collection and management (how we take our weekly refuse collections for granted!!). And no plastic bags allowed.
- 🌊 There is hydro-electric in the village offering light to every home.
- 🔥 Highly efficient wood-burning stoves have been built to reduce wood gathering and improve health.
- 🔥 And now new biogas projects are underway.
The Orera Village
After investment and education in quality coffee production, in 2008 EA bought the first crop from the Orera village – their entire crop. We paid a fair market price, a significant increase on anything they had received before. Ethical Addictions has committed to working with Orera long-term and buying their best crop each year.
They have continued to learn, to invest in their coffee trees, nursery, pulpery and drying tables to increase their quality and quantity of coffee. Here is the ‘thank you’ we received from them. And below are a selection of quotes sent to us after our last visit:
In 2010 they were able to collectively secure the purchase of more land to establish their nursery – further investing in their own crops and self-belief in their ability to create a sustainable business growing good coffee. You can see the land purchase deeds and photos of the land (note: don’t expect a detailed and official document like we have here in the UK!)
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Testimonial Videos
The Manoshi Village
In short, a similar story. Starting in 2009 with investment into a village pulpery, they were equipped to process their coffee. When we came along, again through Bente’s introduction, we sat in their village and heard their story before agreeing to buy their entire crop – stunned silence met our offer, and then broke into spontaneous dancing and singing. Emotional and wonderful!
Again, a selection of quotes sent to us after our last visit:
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Updates
Despite the overwhelming gratitude we receive, we maintain we are not doing anything extraordinary, just the rights thing. If everyone behaved in trade as they should, behaviour like this would not stand out, but be the norm – unfortunately this may remain our dream.
And there may be potential to work with others in the future too. However, what we want to establish is long-term sustainable relationships with these villages first before over-expanding and not being able to fulfil our commitments.
The experience we have gained working with these villages has motivated us to work with other farmers. We want our customers to be able to order tasty hot drinks options from us and the reviews we receive on our website encourage us that we are headed in the right direction.
You can be a part too – big or small – in transforming the lives of Kilimanjaro coffee farmers, and the environment.
Partnering with larger usage establishments is one avenue we’re excited about and make connections between these farmers and our customers. What a great story to back up serving great coffee, to know the farm it comes from. If you think your business could make a commitment to EA and therefore to a village like Orera, then please speak to us on 01452 280026
Find out more information and view the latest news on the Mweka villages by going to our journal.