Where does Equal Exchange coffee come from?
Equal Exchange distributes organic, gourmet coffee, tea, sugar, bananas, avocados, cocoa, and chocolate bars produced by farmer cooperatives in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Founded in 1986, it is the oldest and largest Fair Trade coffee company in the United States. Headquartered in West Bridgewater, Mass. Equal Exchange is considered the pioneer and U. S. Fair Trade. Its mission is to build long-term trade partnerships that are economically just and environmentally sound and to foster mutually beneficial relationships between farmers and consumers.Meet Equal Exchange, a worker-owned cooperative founded in 1986 by Jonathan Rosenthal, Michael Rozyne, and Rink Dickinson. The trio met while working at a New England food co-op, where they discovered a shared vision: transforming the relationship between consumers and food producers.
Is Equal Exchange coffee shade grown?
Over 98% of Equal Exchange coffees are certified organic by volume. The overwhelming majority of these organic coffees are shade grown. Some of the coffees that are not, are produced in locales where deforestation has occurred. The downsides of the shade-grown method are a longer coffee plant maturing period and a lower crop yield. Shade-grown coffee is more expensive for its higher quality, lower crop yield, and labour cost.