Pachamama Coffee Cooperative

Juan Reynoso, a member-owner of Pachamama Coffee Cooperative

Pachamama – the Quechua word for Mother Earth – is exactly how the organization wants to be viewed. Instead of reaping lands of their resources for profit, Pachamama coordinates partnerships with coffee growers in an effort to provide economic fairness with those involved. While most people look to coffee as a resource of value, Pachamama knows that it is the farmer that truly matters.

Coffee imported from outside of the United States is often sold at an incredibly high rate once it leaves your brewery and is placed in the hands of the consumer. Sadly, the farmers who brought you that coffee don’t see near enough their fare share of that profit.

Pachamama sought to remedy this issue by establishing itself as a U.S. wholesale company composed of more than 150,000 farmers from Peru, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico, and Ethiopia. What makes Pachamama stand out is the fact that they are owned and democratically controlled by the farmers whose coffee they sell. You heard it right. The coffee growers, the ones who “create” the coffee if you will, actually own the rights to what the produce. Such a simple concept is rarely found in a society that thrives on capitalistic techniques, and so, is that much more amazing when it does appear.

Here is how it works: Pachamama purchases its members best organic coffee at above fair-trade prices and imports them to the United States. Pachamama sells its coffee wholesale and retail via its website. Organic coffee is roasted daily in small batches and shipped the same day. Pachamama handles the financial transactions between the producer and the consumer, while insuring a quality product is delivered promptly. Customers receive a fresh, organic product in the most direct manner possible. All profits generated by the sale of Pachamama’s coffee then belong to the cooperative’s members.

The process isn’t the only positive thing about Pachamama either! According to Julie Cross of the Davis Food Co-op, Pachamama coffee is “exceedingly delicious”. Davis Food Co-op is where Pachamama first started selling its products, and is now the location of Pachamama’s first Café!

Pachamama is another great example of Cooperatives giving back to the community. If you want to learn more about their organization, call (510) 213-5366 or visit pachamama.coop.

The Beginning

Leveraging a relatively small amount of money for a maximum effect makes for an excellent success story.

Pachamama Coffee is a cooperative owned by the thousands of family farmers whose coffee they sell, mostly through food co-ops. Members in unique coffee-growing regions of five countries- Ethiopia, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru- send their premium beans to be prepared, packaged and shipped fresh upon order.

Pachamama Coffee can be bought at cooperative grocers and through their website, www.pachamama.coop.

Pachamama received a $3,000 opportunity grant from the Sollars Fund in 2002, which they leveraged to obtain a grant of $20,000 from Nationwide’s Dunlap grant program in 2005 to form the cooperative, expand its membership, and establish processes to get the world’s best coffee to the US market.