Good Works
Coffee is a global effort. It is a privilege to forge relationships and extend our community along the supply chain as much as possible. With your help and patronage, Foglifter Coffee Roasters is able to create an impact, however small, on the lives of colleagues in our area and around the world. We thank you for supporting our passions and those of our partners.
SANTA CLARA SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM
- GUATEMALA -
We were introduced to the prized coffees of this fourth-generation coffee producer through our shop, Bean Around The World - Main & 20th. Inspired by a trip to the Zelaya farms, the Bean Roastery worked with Ricardo to build a schoolhouse at their remote farm, Finca Carrizal, way back in 2007 and have continued to support the growing school program ever since.
As entrepreneurs, they are tireless in the pursuit to do more. From agricultural innovations to eco-friendly, meticulous processing facilities to community advocacy and philanthropy, the care the Zelaya family takes with their life's work is energizing and inspiring.
It was an honour to kick off Foglifter Coffee Roasters with an ongoing commitment to the scholarship program conceived by Ricardo and now spearheaded by his daughters Katia and Bel. By being nimble and adaptive with their support, the program is able to pour fuel on the educational efforts that Finca Santa Clara employees are making for their children - be it public, private, secondary, or post-secondary.
While in Guatemala in the spring of 2018, I was able to chat with Katia who relayed that among the 30 recipients there are four in university, among them one to be an accountant, another an architect. I asked to what degree was the fund transformative for them. "One hundred percent." was Katia's instantaneous response, leaving no doubt that the cost of higher education is indeed prohibitive for the recipients' families.
We thank Katia and Bel for their dedication to the growth of this program. Working alongside their Dad, they are bringing on the fifth generation of Ricardo Zelaya Coffee (as well as playing a prominent role in the rising young female entrepreneurship era in Guatemala) with amazing vision and verve.
Purchase our current Zelaya coffees.
Read about our visit with Ricardo and Katia in Guatemala.
Learn more about Ricardo Zelaya Coffee.
Keep tabs on their fantastic Instagram stories and posts.
A 2020 update on the students you have been sponsoring.
CATRACHA COFFEE
- SANTA ELENA, HONDURAS -
When we first came across Mayra Orellana-Powell, we knew this would be a match. A meticulously-produced classic Honduras profile with an admirable provenance and a bright, bright future. About ten years ago, enthusiastic, kind, and big-hearted, Mayra returned to her hometown from Royal Coffee’s HQ in Oakland with her community’s potential in her sights.
Catracha Coffee is everything you want in a business relationship - an industry insider and knowledgeable partner who delivers a product that improves at every turn and elevates her colleagues at origin with expertise in the moment as well as with the framework for autonomy and success down the road.
This isn’t Fair Trade coffee, it’s better. Rewarding training, education, and diligence with meaningful premium purchase prices that are multiples higher than your typical FTO and go directly into the hands and homes of its producers, Catracha Coffee is in it for the social good. Review the slideshow for full transparency on what’s in your cup.
We are grateful to have connected with Mayra and gleaned some of her knowledge. We look forward to carrying Catracha coffees each year.
Purchase our release of Dulce Meloso - a Catracha community blend.
Read more about the story of Catracha Coffee and the producers of Dulce Meloso at our Current Offerings page.
See photos from the Catracha community at their website.
Watch “Way Back to Yarasquin” a 2013 documentary about Mayra and Catracha Coffee on Vimeo.
FAIR TRADE IS GREAT BUT WE CAN DO BETTER!
COFFEE KIDS IN THE COWICHAN VALLEY
- COLOMBIA, THE TRIFINIO REGION & TANZANIA -
Our efforts in support of Coffee Kids began in the fall of 2017 as part of a school fundraising initiative with École Cobble Hill in the Cowichan Valley and has expanded to two schools now in 2018.
One part school fundraiser, one part coffee origin youth-entrepreneurship incubator, our partnership with Coffee Kids is designed to use a run-of-the-mill fundraising campaign to draw a connection between the coffee your parents drink and the lives of young people in other places around the world.
Working with Joanna Furgiuele in New York, Foglifter has devised a coffee subscription program that sees proceeds from each bag of coffee sold going to directly to our local elementary schools’ PAC and a portion being committed to the Coffee Kids program - helping to highlight the entrepreneurial spirit of youth in Colombia, Tanzania, and the Trifinio region of Central America.
The hope is that through this connection, curiosity reigns, the Coffee Kids programs are a little more enriched, and that Cowichan Valley students are introduced to and draw inspiration and motivation from the ingenuity and drive of these young innovators.
Read about their individual achievements.
Learn more about COFFEE KIDS.
Keep up with their work in the field on Instagram.
Contact Foglifter to inquire about introducing this program to your school.
“In life, we must learn to face our challenges and become self-sufficient.
Only once I am independent can I truly serve my community.”
Jorge, age 24 - Quinchia, Risaralda, Colombia