Coffee Name: Cafe Eduardo

Don German Palacios is the first coffee farmer we met. It takes a 2 hour jeep ride up the mountains from a major city to get to his farm. Here is his story...

Mr. German Palacios has a family of 4, including his wife, Maria Elena de Palacios, and their daughter, Marie Elena Palacios, and their son, German Josue Palacios. When we met in 2005 at his farm home through a mutual friend, they had no electricity, telephones, or running water. Here is a picture of him, his daughter, his wife, and another friend of the family.

Mr. German Palacios grows oranges, bananas, limes, lemons, oranges, and coffee. Here is a picture of him harvesting oranges.

Mr. Palacios offered to sell us 500 pounds of coffee for $0.26/pound, which is the rate he was receiving from the local roasting factory, when he bore the burden of expense to take it there. You can imagine his pleasure to find that we wished to pay him that same amount right then at his farm for 1000 lbs of coffee, sparing him the burden of transportation costs. He was even further pleased to know that when we re-sell the coffee overseas, he would be paid even further so that he can net $1.50 per pound.

In accordance with our Ethics in Buying policy, which pledges $1 per pound for local community improvement, upon the sale of this first coffee, we will have $500 that we wish to put toward installing an elevated cistern, hand pump, water well, and plumbing for his home. Additionally, the local governing district has suggested that bicycles would be useful for the transportation needs of those in the area, therefore, we intend to put money back into the local economy by purchasing $500 worth of locally-made bicycles for Mr. Palacios and his family and neighbors.