Coffee in Haiti
Comments
Pete: I find the background good. I look forward to seeing more details about
your plan and results of efforts to communicate with people in Haiti to hear what their challenges are. Present website grade: 7/10
Background:
Haiti’s origins to coffee date back to French colonization during the early 1700’s and the introduction of the arabica typica coffee bean. Tropical climates in Haiti’s mountainous regions provided a suitable environment for coffee production, making Haiti a primary coffee exporter to European consumers. After
independence from slave labor in 1804, coffee remained as Haiti’s biggest export crop reaching their peak in coffee exportation and production in 1850. By1950, Haiti was the third largest coffee exporter in the world. In midst of Haiti’s success, the country continued to struggle with political instability due a ruling dictatorship as well as governmental corruption that occurred in the latter half of the 20th century. Coffee farmers were afraid to leave the mountains and sell their crop and the education on coffee farming began to decrease. The impact of the U.S embargo in Haiti during the 1990’s resulted in deforestation of Coffee trees and by the beginning of the 21st century, there was an excess of coffee beans worldwide, thus reducing prices of coffee exports. Despite Haiti’s history of political unrest, the country has recently received economical support from coffee organizations to continue their coffee business. The Haitian Bleu coffee bean has initiated a revival to Haitian coffee, bringing awareness back to the Haitian Coffee.
**NPR audio link:** Coffee Culture in Haiti
Problem Statement:
Our group’s objective is to revive the coffee industry that once thrived in the Haiti. Bringing about awareness of the Haitian Coffee farmers and their individual efforts in harvesting the coffee bean remain a key component to understanding the quality of coffee being pr
oduced and the economic support they deserve. We look forward to introducing Haitian coffee to local communities to raise support and bring back motivation to agricultural workers to further establish their position in the coffee market.
Student Experimental Farms Footage:
Fellow Cal Poly students in the UNIV-391 class tasting Haitian coffee black and providing feedback.
Aroma |
Flavor |
Aftertaste |
Like/Dislike |
|
| 1. | Blank | Herbal undertones | not as acidic | Like!! |
| 2. | Sweet | not too bitter | blank | like! |
| 3. | sweet and smells like puffed rice cereal | acidic and nutty | mild, smooth | like |
| 4. | blank | very smooth, light | mild, drinkable | really enjoyed |
| 5. | sweet | Great! Better than my coffee Folgers | less of an acidic aftertaste | like! |
Student Comment on Coffee: I work at Starbucks and its better than Starbucks.
Pictures of The Taste Tests
Not Bitter, Smooth, Sweet, Right Amount of Strength, Way Better Than STARBUCKS! Consumers Like Direct Trade Aspect
Haitian Coffee Flyer, Buy a Tree:
Haiti.pdf
Objectives:
1) Provide sustainable economy for the Coffee farmers in Haiti
 |
| Figure 2: Comparison of Coffee green yields (kg per ha) and GDP capita among Haiti and the top 10 coffee exporters in the world. Size of circles represents the Area of coffee green harvested in acres. |
 |
| Figure 1: Gapminder Graph comparing the percent of labor force and GDP per capita between Haiti and the United States. |
2) Bring about awareness of Haitian Coffee in our Local community
- Supporting Cafe Kreyol organization
- Own-A-Tree Foundation
Own a TreeLink to Donate Coffee Tree for Haiti:
Response from local coffee shop:
Blackhorse:
Despite our efforts, we were unable to convince Blackhorse to sell Haitian Coffee beans from CaféKreyol. Due to the fact that Blackhorse is currently under contract with another coffee company ( Caribbean ). From this experience, we can learn that there is a high difficulty of entry for coffee companies specifically NGOs that have little funding and capital to out-weight other competitors.
How:
1) Raise awareness by creating campaigns
- Initial Ideas to raise awareness/support coffee in Haiti campaign
- Online purchase of Haitian coffee beans will be available
2) Reaching out to local coffee shops in San Luis Obispo to bring about awareness of Haitian coffee
 |
| Kruzberg provides Coffee 101 class on Saturdays in the Roastery from 9am-10am and 1pm-2pm. |
- Place Haitian Coffee on the menu for local cafes
- incorporate Haitian coffee in small scale grocery stores (Trader Joes, whole foods)
In Progress with Bello Mundo and Kreuzberg to roast Haitian coffee beans and possibly have the Haitian bleu product on their menu.Both Coffee Shops roast green coffee beans at their store to ensure optimum quality and freshness of the coffee.
Coffee Cooperative in Haiti:
REBO
Local Haitian coffee company that purchases coffee beans from the farmers, roasts the coffee beans, and analyzes quality of the coffee.
The Significance of Fresh Coffee: TED talk
Resources:
Coffee History:
Haiti Coffee Background
Contacts:
Joseph Stazzone
-Co-founder of Cafe Kreyol
Advice from Joseph on the needs of the local farmers in Haiti:
- Economic development- Buying Haiti’s products, loan money for better equipment, purchase coffee trees to reestablish coffee farms
- Buyers
- Better Quality Control
- Training on the Processing of Coffee
Bobanoit Lucceus
-Local in Haiti
-Connections with the coffee cooperatives in Haiti
- RECOCARNO: Network of eight coffee producer cooperatives
- Operations in Northern Haiti
- Supported by Oxfam and other big organizations since 2001
Bobanoit has connected the with local Haitian coffee farmers through the coffee cooperatives and found that an immediate need for the farmers were tools:
- Plows, peaks, shovel, peg, rake, machete, metric tape, hoe, watering can, dibble.
History PowerPoint:
Coffee in Haiti kels-3 (4).pptx
Project Members:
| Name: | Number | Major | |
| Evan Quigley | (925)-852-3671 | emquigle@calpoly.edu | Food Science |
| Eric Ly | 510-520-3939 | erly@calpoly.edu | Economics |
| Maggie Andrada | 559-381-8110 | meandrad@calpoly.edu | Ag Business |
| Kelsey Rustigian | 949-903-2244 | krustigi@calpoly.edu | Ag Business |
