Above, clockwise from top left, depulper station, storage room, and drying patio, near completion in fall 2009. At right, KDB coffee farmer checks newly assembled depulper.
Kafe Lespwa is sold in 12-ounce bags and, beginning last month, in a great format for sharing with friends and co-workers: 2.25-oz pillow packs, enough to brew a rich 12-cup pot of coffee. Kafe Lespwa is available as whole beans, drip grind and espresso grind; in regular French roast or darker Haitian roast, and as natural and washed coffee.

Something new for first Kafe Lespwa of 2011
January 10, 2011

Our first coffee shipment of the harvest season has arrived from Baradères, Haiti, and we are resuming sales of Kafe Lespwa—and adding a new product.

We have taken the coffee to our roaster and will be ready to ship Kafe Lespwa orders in about a week. You can place your order online now.

This Wednesday, January 12, is the anniversary of the devastating Haitian earthquake. Drinking Kafe Lespwa is a small but sure way to help renew Haiti's stressed rural economy—and to enjoy a delicious fair-trade-plus coffee produced by Haitian farmers.

Since 2008, we have offered Kafe Lespwa processed by the farmers' traditional "natural" process.   In natural or dry processing, whole coffee cherries are thoroughly sun dried.  Only then is the cherry's outer pulp removed. 

Now, for the first time, we are proud to offer "washed" Kafe Lespwa, produced at the new coffee-processing sites that the farmers built. In contrast to natural coffee, washed coffee is processed using a machine called a hand-crank depulper. The depulper roughly resembles a grain grinder.  The farmers use it to remove the cherry pulp. The pulp is washed away, and the beans are then spread across a cement drying area.

The farmers are members of the Kafe Devlopman Baradè (KDB) or Coffee Development Association of Baradères. KDB farmers built the new processing sites by drawing on a 0-percent-interest loan from Just Haiti. The funds came from tax-deductible donations by our many supporters.

Why did the growers want to produce washed coffee?  Nearly all commercial coffee is washed coffee.  Many people believe it improves coffee's flavor and overall quality. All other things being equal, washed coffee is more valuable to the growers and can command a higher price in the marketplace.  Once the KDB farmers master the washed-coffee technique, they plan to build at least two more processing sites.

Much of the Kafe Lespwa crop is still processed by the natural method. There are two main reasons for this.  First, the new processing sites are too far away for many growers to hand-carry extremely heavy sacks of freshly harvested coffee cherries: Most of the weight is moisture naturally present inside the cherries.  Second, we know that many people love the taste of natural Kafe Lespwa and want to continue drinking it.  Still, they should consider trying the washed coffee. 

At Just Haiti, we think the flavors of both natural and washed Kafe Lespwa are unique and delicious!

Kafe Lespwa is a fair-trade-plus coffee. This means the KDB farmers are paid at least the established fair-trade price for their harvest. Plus, they receive all profits from sales of roast Kafe Lespwa.  As a result, their earnings are about triple those of growers of regular fair-trade coffee.

In the United States, 30 percent of the purchase price of Kafe Lespwa, excluding shipping, can be treated as a tax-deductible contribution to Just Haiti.

Just Haiti works to alleviate poverty, hunger, violence, illiteracy and disease in Haiti by fostering small-business development, education programs, employment opportunity, infrastructure improvement and environmental quality. Just Haiti is a Section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization.

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