I’ve said this before. When you purchase non-Fair Trade coffee, you are allowing coffee buyers and coffee producing companies to make huge profits at the expense of impoverished coffee farmers. Fortunately, there are increasing numbers of companies selling Fair Trade organic coffee. One of these is Higher Ground. It is 100% fair trade, organic, and shade grown company (“allowing farmers to preserve ancient forests and natural habitat”).
Since Higher Ground only roasts Fair Trade coffees, all our beans are grown only on family farms and cooperatives, so more attention goes into every bean…. Fair Trade certification ensures that the farmers who grow our coffees are compensated fairly, allowing the profits from their harvest to be reinvested in their own communities.
Among the coffees available are dark roasts, medium roasts, light roasts, and decaffeinated roasts. Higher Ground is very socially responsible.
We participate in One Percent for the Planet, where we give 1% of our sales (not just profit) to global organizations worldwide. We also purchase wind credits every year to help offset our carbon emissions. (Our future goal is a self sustaining facility with solar panels and the whole nine yards.) But, the company’s most unique attribute is all the work we do with various nonprofit organizations. We roast a special blend for an organization, and 10% of all the sales from that bag go straight back to the nonprofit. Some of these organizations include the Black Warrior River Keepers, the Greater Birmingham Humane Society, Tennessee Organic Growers Association, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Literacy Council, and the War on Hunger.
