Tigermoth’s House Blend is made up of three different coffees from Rwanda, Mexico, and Colombia. All three are sourced through Raw Material, a social enterprise that gives 100 per cent of profits back to farmers through payments for coffee and investments in the community. Raw Material works with farmers to improve the quality and consistency of their coffee, and connects them with speciality roasters who make a long-term commitment to buying from the region, yielding a higher and more stable price.
Rwanda, Gito, Nymasheke
The Gito coffees come from three beautiful areas across the Nyamsheke District where the volcanic, nutrient-packed soils, abundance of rainfall and sunshine, and the elevation lends itself to the production of exceptional washed coffee. In Rwanda, Raw Material works alongside Muraho Trading Company, started by two brothers with a passion for showcasing the country’s speciality coffee. This partnership helps cooperatives increase the quality of their production, fetch a higher price for their coffee, and also introduces them to new markets.
Mexico, Union San Pedro
In Mexico, Raw Material works with farmers in Oaxaca and Chiapas, two of the poorest states with 60 – 80 per cent of the population living in poverty. Over the past ten years, coffee leaf rust disease has decimated production in the region. Most farms are just one hectare or even smaller and farmers have not had the resources to tackle the problem. For many, coffee production had become an unsustainable way of life, fuelling widespread migration from rural areas to urban centres.
In 2020, Raw Material began working with farmers to increase yields (for example through training and by improving soil health), to raise coffee quality, and to build stable demand. By promoting more formal associations between producers, Raw Material hopes to develop communal infrastructure, such as centralised composting systems. Raw Material has also set a baseline for coffee pricing that provides rapid, predictable returns on investments made by coffee producers.
This particular coffee is from Union San Pedro, an association which represents around 180 coffee-producing families farming around the town of San Pedro El Alto in Oaxaca’s Sierra Sur mountain range.
Colombia, El Aguila
The Colombian coffee comes from El Aguila, a coffee association of 93 producers, spread across a stretch of mountains in the Tatama National Park. In 2019, across all of Raw Material’s projects in Colombia, coffee producers received on average more than five times as much profit by selling through Raw Material than they would have done through traditional channels. Raw Material is also working with producers to help promote opportunities for women to gain higher-income roles within the sector, and is encouraging environmentally sustainable farming practices.
