Flavor Notes: Green Apple, Dark Caramel 

A barista favorite at The Coffee Exchange and consistent winner of cupping competitions, Fondo Paez is one of our most popular offerings. Cultivated by the largest indigenous group of coffee farmers in Colombia, the Paez (meaning the people), this lot is harvested in the remote, southwest highlands of the Department of Cauca. Uniquely developed by Colombians to be disease resistant against La Roya, this coffee is partly of the Castillo varietal. 

Fair Trade / Organic

Fair Trade / Organic

Flavor Notes:  Garden Peas, Chocolate, White Grape

Located on the shores of Lake Kivu, in the eastern region of DR Congo, SOPACDI was founded in 2003 and started exporting coffee in 2008. At 1460 – 1900 meters above sea level, SOPACDI is situated in an ideal region and at high altitude to grow high quality coffee. It was the first organization of small scale farmers to achieve Fair Trade and Organic certification in Eastern Congo, and the first to export specialty grade coffee. The Congolese gained independence in the 1960’s, and with that a decline in stability began, with constant conflict and civil war over a period of years. Many farmers fled and abandoned their farms during that time. Today, although the situation remains unstable, many farmers are looking to rebuild their lives through agriculture. In 2015, SOPACDI had 7,451 farmer members whose spirit is stronger than ever, working together to provide  sustainable livelihoods.

Fair Trade / Organic

Flavor Notes: Lemon, Red Fruit, Vanilla

This lovely Guatemalan coffee is grown by the farmers of Asociacion Chajulense, a coffee cooperative located in the municipality of San Gaspar Chajul in the Ixil region of Guatemala. The cooperative was founded in the middle of Guatemala’s brutal armed conflict to provide the people of Chajul with an economic resource to support their community. Coffee Exchange co-owner Bill Fishbein has dedicated the work of his non-profit, The Coffee Trust, to working with the community of San Gaspar Chajul and the non-profit has concentrated its sustainability efforts on education, healthcare, food security, economic development and capacity building. 

In 2014, when La Roya (the coffee “rust” fungus) devastated the Chajulense coffee crop, The Coffee Trust found itself needing to shift gears from promoting general sustainability, to finding very specific solutions to coffee farmers’ capacity to survive the pending devastation (Chajul lost 75% of its crop in 2014). Through the implementation of organic farming practices and the use of Effective Microorganisms (EMs)--which starved La Roya in the soil and killed it on the coffee plants’ leaves--Asociacion Chajulense was able to recover a majority of its lost production by 2019, with what is universally regarded as higher quality coffee. And now during the pandemic, when farmers are locked down and food is scarce, The Coffee Trust has assisted Chajulense coffee farmers with funds to create a new well (the old one was polluted) and providing corn.

Coffee Exchange has been a longtime supporter of The Coffee Trust and Asociacion Chajulense. Through fundraisers, including its now famous New Year’s Day 1st Cup fundraiser, the Coffee Exchange has raised tens of thousands of dollars to support The Coffee Trust, and where Coffee Exchange customers and staff managed a fundraiser to purchase the coffee farmers of Chajul with their own coffee roaster so they can roast coffee for their own local customers,  and raised over $25,000 specifically for the Roya Recovery Project.