Depalo coffee began as an idea while living in Nicaragua. I went to Nicaragua in 2009 as a Peace Corps volunteer in agriculture. The idea of working in the Peace Corps was to work with the community and help them work and develop their strengths, and strengthen their weaknesses. During the course of my three years I met many different types of farmers. Many of those were coffee growers. One of the coffee growers that I first met was my wife’s father Salvador. We talked about how profitable coffee was. We talked about options that he had for coffee and the decision came that the only good option was to sell to the local cooperative. They would lend him money with interest and he would have to pay back in coffee. As I met other growers this became a recurring theme. The cooperatives were making a lot of money and the farmers were still in the same place, economically speaking. While traveling in Nicaragua I would always pass through a town called Salamaji and in this town all the houses were very well built brick houses, a new car in each driveway with multiple other vehicles. Finally I asked, why is this town so wealthy? I found that they were all coffee growers that had gotten further into the supply chain. They export their own coffee. These growers are still around and still doing well. Our idea stems from what we have seen here to try to go into the supply chain and get more money for the growers. All the growers that we know, we have spoken to, and asked if they were interested in doing something like this. Some of the growers said it was too much hassle and they would continue with the cooperatives. Others have decided to come and join us. As we begin we have 10 Farms, all small farmers with a wide variety of Arabica Coffees.
Elevations differ from farm to farm, with most above 1200 meters in altitude. We separate the varieties at harvest, and we dry all of our coffee in racks. We have been trying the different varieties and sampling them from these farms for the past five to seven years to establish quality and consistency. Our involvement with the farmers and their families is as close as you can get, (six of the farmers are family). We visit each Farm every year to see the families to see the farms, to make sure that our standards are held and see what other issues they may be having. We also talk about the business and give them complete transparency so they understand that their earnings are fair and what they deserve. From stories we’ve heard cooperatives aren’t always transparent. Our goal is to give the farmers 10% of profits from our company here in the US.
Our standards
Our standards are the following: we expect a clean Farm, expect it should be well maintained and do not want deforestation. We want to maintain as much natural forest as possible, protecting natural springs and habitats for animals. We asked that organic farming be used as much as possible without costing them their livelihood. We also require that each variety of coffee be separated at Harvest and processed individually. At this stage we take it into our hands and we dry each coffee separately by lot and in racks. We store our coffee in the hull, what is called pergamino. This keeps the coffee protected until ready to process for shipping. Once milled to take remove the hull the coffee is separated and hand-picked to make sure we have the best green coffee beans. At this stage green coffee is called oro or gold. We export the coffee, we import the coffee, we store the coffee, and we roast the coffee: Just for you. Every roast we taste for quality to make sure you are getting the best. If you have any questions or inquiries about how we do anything please email us. Our goal is to get the farmer’s best price and get you the best coffee.
Community work
We also work with the local communities to help them with urgent needs such as health care education clean water and other things. Any suggestions or help with this part of our community work would be gladly accepted.
We hope that you enjoy your coffee.
Elevations differ from farm to farm, with most above 1200 meters in altitude. We separate the varieties at harvest, and we dry all of our coffee in racks. We have been trying the different varieties and sampling them from these farms for the past five to seven years to establish quality and consistency. Our involvement with the farmers and their families is as close as you can get, (six of the farmers are family). We visit each Farm every year to see the families to see the farms, to make sure that our standards are held and see what other issues they may be having. We also talk about the business and give them complete transparency so they understand that their earnings are fair and what they deserve. From stories we’ve heard cooperatives aren’t always transparent. Our goal is to give the farmers 10% of profits from our company here in the US.
Our standards
Our standards are the following: we expect a clean Farm, expect it should be well maintained and do not want deforestation. We want to maintain as much natural forest as possible, protecting natural springs and habitats for animals. We asked that organic farming be used as much as possible without costing them their livelihood. We also require that each variety of coffee be separated at Harvest and processed individually. At this stage we take it into our hands and we dry each coffee separately by lot and in racks. We store our coffee in the hull, what is called pergamino. This keeps the coffee protected until ready to process for shipping. Once milled to take remove the hull the coffee is separated and hand-picked to make sure we have the best green coffee beans. At this stage green coffee is called oro or gold. We export the coffee, we import the coffee, we store the coffee, and we roast the coffee: Just for you. Every roast we taste for quality to make sure you are getting the best. If you have any questions or inquiries about how we do anything please email us. Our goal is to get the farmer’s best price and get you the best coffee.
Community work
We also work with the local communities to help them with urgent needs such as health care education clean water and other things. Any suggestions or help with this part of our community work would be gladly accepted.
We hope that you enjoy your coffee.