Kickapoo Coffee - Organic Colombia

Origin: Colombia - Fondo Paez Cooperative
Region: Valle de Cauca Department in the Colombian Andes, southwestern Colombia
Variety: Arabica Typica and Bourbon
Organic: Yes

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The Story:

Colombian coffee is often considered a "self-drinking coffee," as it sets the standard for a great single-origin coffee.

Colombia is a country with a history of violence due to civil war and illicit drug crops. The Paez, or Nasa, people, are the largest group of indigenous people in Colombia, and are a peaceful, neutral people caught in the unfortunate position of being in the middle of a civil war and surrounded by illicit drug crops. Fondo Paez Cooperative was founded in 1992 by the group in an effort to renew traditional indigenous agricultural knowledge and practices, which had been buried by centuries of conflict and oppression. Their main crop is organic coffee, but they also grow sisal fiber and tropical fruits.

Today, the Fondo Paez Cooperative includes over 500 indigenous farmers from 28 communities on their ancestral land in the south west region of Colombia. The struggle for indigenous rights, self-sufficiency and peace guide the farmers as they work to retain their ancestral, holistic farming practices. In addition to cultivating coffee the farmers are educating their community in methods of providing a healthy diet for their families, such as crop cultivation.

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