WE DONATE 1% OF OUR SALES TO HELP THE ENVIRONMENT

Blue Smoke Coffee Roasting Co. is a very proud member of 1% For The Planet. This is an alliance of businesses committed to leveraging our resources to create a healthier planet. Blue Smoke Coffee recognizes our responsibility to and dependence on a healthy environment and we donate at least 1% of our annual sales to environmental programs. 1% for the Planet aims to prove that taking environmental responsibility is good for business.

Also, all of our coffee is Shade Grown, which means that rain forests are not destroyed to grow the coffee you purchase from Blue Smoke Coffee.

BLUE SMOKE IS A CARBON-NEUTRAL COFFEE ROASTER

We offset 100% of our energy used in roasting your coffee by purchasing renewable green-energy blocks. This means the amount of energy we consume in roasting your coffee is offset by the purchase of green-energy originating from environmentally friendly energy generation from sources such as the sun, wind, water, and biomass

CARBON-NEUTRAL DELIVERY AND SHIPPING

Blue Smoke is very proud to extend our carbon-neutral commitment by now offsetting 100% of the carbon-footprint associated with all of our delivery and shipping without any additional cost to our customers. Blue Smoke is donating to the Carbon Fund Foundation (www.carbonfund.org) to offset every pound of the estimated carbon emitted from the delivery and shipment of our products. Also, when we deliver our coffee to our wholesale accounts, it is delivered in our Honda Insight Hybrid, which usually gets 65 mpg and is rated a ultra-low emission vehicle. Blue Smoke takes every step possible to reduce our carbon emissions in the first place, so we have less to offset. We even work with our local recycling center to get clean boxes that we use a second time to ship Blue Smoke items. The boxes we use to deliver to our wholesale accounts are used over and over again, we never take a box to the recycling center that still has some life left in it.

FAIR TRADE CERTIFIED COFFEE IS GOOD FOR COMMUNITIES

Listed below are brief descriptions of the communities that you are helping to support through your purchase of Blue Smoke Coffee, all of our coffee is Fair Trade certified, which means the growers are paid a fair, living wage for their crop.

Guatemala "Forestal Tajumulco"
This region is a beautiful combination of jungle and rain forest, with coffee growing throughout the forest floor. Among the coffee, a variety of other plants provide food for the producers and their families. It is very common to see bananas, beans, peppers, oranges, lemons and avocados growing within this diversified forest. This group of 366 coffee producers are spread out over the rugged mountain terrain, some as far away as a 3-4 hour walk. These growers exclusively offer their coffee as Fair Trade and when asked what they see as one of the greatest benefits of Fair Trade, they reply, "The men do not have to leave the village to work in the coastal area after the coffee harvest; they can remain home with their families."

Peru "Penachi"
The Penachi is about six hours North of the Coastal city of Chiclayo, Peru. Because the area is very desolate and remote, there is very little commercial activity beyond coffee and sustenance harvesting of tropical fruit and herbs. About 100 miles inland from the Pacific Coast, lie the Andes Mountain Jungle, at an elevation between 110 and 1500 meters (375 - 4875 feet) above sea level. It is here in these mountains that separate Peru from Equador, that the Penachi coffee is grown. The people in the Penachi region are from a very traditional Inca Indian culture, are very proud of their heritage, and proud to pass this heritage on their children. The growers group within the Penachi region has grown to nearly 300 certified organic farms.

Bolivia "Colonial Caranavi"
Located 12 hours from La Paz, Bolivia, in the state of La Paz, lay several small communities and villages. This area's ecological designation is known as humid sub-tropic forest with rugged terrain and lush forest. During the 1950's, wealthy land owners took over this region. They confiscated the properties from the native people, then enslaved the people by forcing them to work for them. In 1991, through a governmental land reform, the larger landowners were made to relinquish their holdings of these small farms and return the rightful ownership back to the families who originally owned these parcels of land. These small farmers are now entirely independent, have title to their own land and have freedom to search for ways to improve their income, their own lives, and the health of their community.

Beatrice Alfa - Aneho, Tongo

Beatrice Alfa - Aneho, Tongo
Beatrice Alfa was born into a poor family on February 2, 1974 in Ketao in the North of Tongo. Beatrice did not have the opportunity to attend school. Beatrice is married with 3 children.

At a young age Beatrice learned how to make "Tchoukoutou", a local sorghum-based drink and she now has a small business making and selling Tchoukoutou. The quality of her beverage and the rigorous management she applies yields an excellent product.

Beatrice is struggling to make ends meet for her family and wants to grow her business to provide the little extra income her family needs to survive. Blue Smoke Coffee has contributed to a no-interest loan for Beatrice to increase production. which is now helping to improve her familiy's living conditions. Beatrice has already started re-paying her loan.