News

If we want to keep drinking delicious specialty coffee, we need to be willing to pay for it, and every link of the supply chain has to be profitable. Otherwise, the coffee we know and love could disappear.

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Not only is dry-processed coffee an environmentally-friendly choice, it's a delicious one as well. 

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For years, since their coffee sector was basically decimated by war, Congolese farmers, including those who are now members of the Kawa Kanzururu cooperative, were forced to smuggle their coffee across borders to find buyers. They’ve had no support from the international buying community, and their productivity and infrastructure suffered. But now, the door is open for development and a better future for these communities. 

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Through our exploration of Congolese coffee and relationships developed there over the past few years, we have been introduced to the farmers of Kawa Kanzururu--a young cooperative demonstrating an innovative economic model for surrounding communities--and also to the incredible work of the Virunga Alliance, which provides essential jobs, protects biodiversity, and guards critically endangered mountain gorillas within Virunga National Park. Here at Higher Grounds, we want to shine a light on those who have begun to rebuild the infrastructure necessary for sharing the DRC's incredible coffee with the world.

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Photo credit: Diana Zeyneb Alhindawi for The New York Times //   We may be just a small group of people doing our best to craft delicious coffee here in northern Michigan, but the impact of our sustainable trading model reverberates beyond our region. Our purpose is to cultivate human potential...

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