Adventure to origin!
Kieran is packing his bags heading to Brazil and Peru at the end of this month.
What to pack for this great adventure?
Top 5 Essential items
Hello fellow coffee enthusiasts – Kieran here, Sustainability Specialist at BOCCA! At the end of this month, I will be heading to Brazil & Peru, to visit our partners and farms involved in our True Price project.
For me, the only way to get a true taste of what goes into our coffee is to origin. I will be visiting the farms, where we source our beautiful coffees and speak to the people who make what we do possible. To gain a deeper understanding of the production processes and continue to work on genuinely impactful projects (more on this soon). And, of course, thank our farmers for all their fantastic work!
But first what to pack..
1. Survival bag
I may have been only granted 5 wishes, but the BOCCA survival bag provides unlimited opportunities for any coffee lover on an adventure.
With various compartments to store all your coffee gear and goodies. Compact, robust and elegant this bag will be next to my side during my travels.
Designed with quality in mind, for quality travel. Name a better travel bag, if you dare!
2. Opinel knife x Bocca
The Opinel knife combines the ultimate practical tool with aesthetic beauty (especially when there is a BOCCA logo engraved in the side).
Possibly you’ll need it to slice through a fresh bag of coffee, or an emergency fix for the broken cupping table. Either way, the Opinel knife will always come in handy on a journey.
P.S. Please use this one safely – blade is very sharp!
3. VSSL JAVA Hand Grinder
Ask any coffee nut, it’s all about having a good quality grinder. Which means taking this with you, wherever you go.
The Java hand grinder has a convenient flip lever so it can clip straight onto your bag. In my opinion, one of the best hand grinders around.
Designed for consistent grind size and the coffee geek in mind – this one provides a fantastic end result. The smooth rotation provides a grind sensation like pushing through clean air.
4. Stormproof Jetflame
The stormproof Jetflame has always got your back. These storm-resistant windproof lighters produce a clean flame wherever you are.
Which means whether you are stuck on the road and desperate for a coffee, or need to get that bonfire going after a long day, you are covered.
Gone are the days of asking around for a lighter, a reliable flame is key on your travels
5. True Price Soulmate
While this is a personal one, I urge anyone to always take their favourite coffee on any trip.
Visiting Brazil means sharing the beans with our fantastic partners. To share the taste of hard work, and a combined effort towards a quality product.
Working together on our True Price project, this one is definitely going in my bag after a hard day of… well… drinking coffee!
Commitment to Partnerships
Menno has recently returned from his travels in Africa
On the way, establishing new partnerships with people who make what we do possible. We continue visiting coffee origins to build connections with our farmers and sustain the quality of coffee that we love to drink.
Doing Better, Together
First stop, Kenya, the champagne region of coffee.
Menno begins his journey at small coffee estate in Kirinyaga county.
Greeted by bright red delicious coffee cherries and farm workers on ladders at the top of tall coffee trees (staying careful not to damage them!). He is welcomed by farm owner, Alvans Mutero. A former accountant who returned from Nairobi to run his portion of the family farm, where he now lives with his wife, Mary.
On our visit, we donated to Alvans a high-quality moisture meter, which can be used during the drying process. Helping to increase technical precision to improve consistency, yield and quality. Our work doesn’t stop there. Menno is currently working on new initiatives in Kenya – including shade drying, providing specialist agronomic training to farmers and introducing special organic fertilizers.
Establishing long-term partnerships
That means using our experience to tackle challenges in the industry together with our farmers – to achieve a shared end goal: developing a quality product. Not only to please the tastebuds of our loyal coffee-enthusiasts, but also to enable Alvans share his beautiful coffee around the world.
Alvans coffee has just arrived in the Netherlands, safe in our hands! So you can get a taste of the adventure for yourself… very soon!
Next stop, DR Congo
Where Menno is welcomed by the amazing women working in coffee.
Women in Coffee
70% of labour in coffee production is provided by women. However, empirical evidence shows that women working in coffee have systematically lower access to resources, such as land, credit and information, than men. This results in a measurable gender gap.
On his travels Menno has been searching for opportunities to establish a supply chain capable of providing consistent, fantastic quality coffee. During his time in the DR Congo Menno went to visit the Congolese coffee sorting ladies in Butembo. Seeking to establish a value chain which can benefit the lives of these women.
improving the lives of women in the coffee industry
At BOCCA, we have a commitment to improving the lives of women in the coffee industry and a focus on promoting gender equality. Developing sustainable supply chains which provide access to skills and education empower women involved in coffee production. Helping to enable women to produce more efficiently, achieve higher yields and increase farm profits.
We continue to work on building partnerships and providing opportunities for ladies working in coffee. Empowering women in coffee, is improving the coffee industry.
Choose True Price, Drink BOCCA.
It’s official! The true price report has landed, the results are in and we are proud to share our findings.
A recap on True Price
As you may (or may not) know we have been working hard to calculate the true price of our coffee.
With every product that you buy – traces are left behind.
Coffee is no exception. Co2 emissions, deforestation, and farmer wage exploitation, are just a handful of issues, not included in the final price.
This just isn’t good enough for us.
True price is a new pricing system which incorporates the environmental and social costs associated with a product.
Including these “hidden” costs in the final sales price, to provide our customers with complete price transparency and the opportunity to create a genuinely sustainable impact.
Why should you pay the true price?
Working towards a sustainable future requires a huge effort from everyone. If we do not act soon, the coffee industry will not survive. With variable climate conditions already affecting global supply and quality. And large imbalances in the supply chain which means that farmers cannot sustain a living wage and are leaving the coffee industry for good.
The true price movement allows you to tackle major issues across the chain. Building a more sustainable coffee industry, for future generations. To keep enjoying the coffee that we all love to drink and celebrating the partners that make us who we are.
Mind the gap
Speaking directly with our farmers, we investigate the actual cost of our coffee. Using a methodologically approved and verifiable approach, we demonstrate that our impact is low. Making it possible for you to pay the true price.
We find there is just a ONE CENT price gap for each cup of coffee sold. Which means all YOU have to do is go the extra cent when you drink BOCCA coffee. It is now easier than ever to create sustainable value by drinking speciality coffee!
Land use in change in coffee producing countries
Around the globe, land use is changing at an alarming rate and coffee producing regions are no exception.
Industrial coffee farming is a big contributor to global warming. Deforestation and forest degradation, is the cause for around 45% of the carbon footprint of a bag of coffee. Overall, land use change accounts for 12-29% of all global greenhouse gas emissions.
Land use and land cover in Yirgracheffe in 1988 (a), 2003 (b) and 2018 (c). Source: Adane (2020).
Coffee production is changing in Ethiopia
In Ethiopia, coffee is grown by small-scale farmers under the shade of forest canopy, without chemical fertilisers. Coffee forests are an excellent store of carbon, holding up to 94% of the carbon stored in natural forests.
As agriculture constitutes a primary form of livelihood in rural Ethiopia, farmers are turning their backs on coffee moving towards other more lucrative crops. Working alongside Carble, we are investigating how we can financially reward coffee farmers for maintaining the forest canopy. Focusing on how to reduce our carbon footprint and smallholder poverty in a single investment.
