Thursday, June 11, 2009


After my first mission trip to Haiti, I developed a hankering for that great Haitian coffee and always brought back several bags of roasted coffee beans. Usually they were gone before too long and I had to wait until my next mission trip to get more.

In my spare time, I have recently begun roasting my own beans and have been delighted by the taste that can be had by fresh roasting. I initially purchased beans from Guatemala and Costa Rica but started looking on the internet for Haitian green beans. I did indeed find Haitian beans but most were sold already roasted. I continued to search and found a Haitian gentleman living in California with his very own Haitian coffee import business. He only deals in wholesale (100 lbs or more) but has kindly agreed to allow me to purchase green (un-roasted) coffee beans from him in smaller bulk quantities. This coffee is grown in the mountains and is shade-grown. This means it takes longer to grow but the environment is not damaged in order to increase the yield as is done in most S. American Coffee plantations. There are no pesticides used and thus it is truly organically grown coffee. He gives a portion of the sale to his home village and they have built schools and a medical clinic with his donations.

Jewel of the Caribbean Coffee Company (AKA Tiber Jumper and Prodigal Daughter) will be taking these green beans and roasting them when we get an order and shipping them out pronto. Initially we will start with only 1/2 pound quantities. We haven't settled on a price yet but it will be about 8 dollars for half a pound. Yes, more expensive than store bought, but as you drink that smooth Haitian coffee, you will know that your money will be used to support our medical mission in Port-Au-Prince, as well as my Haitian supplier's village and the coffee will have been hand-roasted by yours truly. What's not to love? Stay tuned for more details of when we will be up and running.

1 comment:

  1. Jumpin' Jive Java, man! Count me as an "early bird" customer! I would like to order some and will promptly do so when I return from the retreat Sarah and I are taking this weekend, to Blue Cloud Abbey in South Dakota. Pray for us. We desire to become saints! ( OK, not in one weekend, but you know what I mean ;)

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