We’re excited to welcome back these three coffees to create this delicious dark-roast blend. It features coffee from Margarida and José Élio Vilela from Brazil (pictured above), 54 smallholders farming in the area surrounding Naringgul in western Java, and several smallholder producers growing coffee in Muyinga, Burundi who sold their cherry to the Hafi washing station.

Brazil, Sitio Vista Alegre
Margarida and José Élio Vilela started their journey as coffee growers 10 years ago. Their greatest motivation came in realizing their dream of working in their own business and, the greatest of all, in using the income from production to provide their daughters with access to education. And the dream came true - today, the couple has a daughter with a law degree and works in the area. Their other daughter is studying psychology.

Since 2021, Margarido and Jose Élio have been part of the Black Coffee Producers Project, built in partnership with Apará Cafés Especials and BD Imports (the latter whom we purchased this coffee from!). For the couple, being a part of the project is a source of great joy, and they also feel it gives them recognition for their work in the production of specialty coffee.

During BD Imports' most recent producer post-harvest training meeting held on May 17th 2024, Margarida explained that being part of the program has made her feel like a more empowered Black woman in Brazil. They currently have 2.5 hectares of land and they are going to invest in buying more: their involvement in the Black Coffee Producers Project has allowed them funds to purchase a little more land and increase their production.

Java, Narringul
On the island of Java, most coffee farmers (like Rudi Petik Kopi, pictured right) grow coffee on an average of 1.5 hectares (3.7 acres), many of them among a cluster of volcanoes in West Java, where coffee cultivation first began on the island. This coffee was farmed in the area surrounding Naringgul, and about 54 famers delivered their coffee fruit to the washing station there - at the station, extra care is taken in drying the coffee in this humid climate.

Burundi Hafi
This coffee was grown by several smallholder producers in the Muyinga province, in a remote part of Burundi, at least a six-hour drive from the capital - and that’s if the rain hasn’t made the roads impassable. Currently producing only natural processed coffees, this washing station is now building a new wet mill for future fully washed coffees.

Jeanine Niyonzima from JNP coffee importers calls the coffee from this new terroir Hafi, which means “close” in Kirundi. Before the washing station opened, the smallholder farmers in the area faced a 20km (12 mile) journey to deliver their freshly harvested coffee cherries to the nearest wet mill. As JNP tells us, "With the hilly terrain, that was too far to travel in one day." The best quality coffees are ones that are able to be processed the same day, and a wet mill nearby makes high quality coffee possible for the producers growing coffee near Hafi.

There are about 2000 washing station workers who are also coffee farmers, and have a lot of experience working at other wet mills - simply put, they are an incredible asset for quality processing.