A
Guatemalan friend and I recently established Earth Friendly by purchasing
some of the world's best coffee-directly from small growers of Guatemala.
We paid these growers three times what the traditional specialty roasters
have been paying. With the worldwide glut of coffee, traditional roasters
have used this over abundance to drive down the price that these indigenous
farmers receive for their excellent crop. This phenomenon has made it
so that the small farmer cannot even afford to harvest his crop. Many
have already had to abandon their farms-in an effort to feed their families.
When Earth Friendly pays these growers a
fair trade price for their coffee, we are paying a fair price
for the farmer's superb beans-we are not extending charity. We are in
effect saying that we appreciate their quality and refuse to take advantage
of them-in order to secure greater profits for ourselves.
We purchase wonderful coffee that is shade
grown. This means that the farmers have not clear-cut the forest
in order to increase their yield of coffee. Saving the rainforest is extremely
important to our environment-and to the very future of earth. In addition,
the rainforest provides homes to billions of animals and birds.
Our coffee is chemical free. The
small growers use only natural fertilizers, such as those that come from
the coffee tree itself. This means that the growers are not exposed to
harmful chemicals in their efforts to bring us the best coffee that they
can produce. It also means that the coffee consumer does not take in the
harmful effects of chemical fertilizers when he/she drinks our coffee.
In closing, we believe that most people
would like to drink specialty coffee-if they could just afford it! We
believe that Earth Friendly will allow these people to purchase superb
coffee, support dealing fairly with indigenous peoples, honor our Earth
and creatures the dwell upon it! © 2003
Diane E. Hughes, Founder | 
