Coffee

Mild Espresso (250g)	'Italian Roast' Espresso (250g)	Mild Filter (500g)

This high-quality 'Arabica' coffee comes from beans cultivated, harvested and prepared by the'Yochin', 'Yachil' and 'Ssit Lequil Lum' growers cooperatives, Chiapas, Mexico. These have been set-up by Zapatiata communities to enable small farmers to bypass the traditional middlemen ('coyotes') and get a fair price for their produce. The cooperative guarantees the proper use of the soil by promoting organic farming and obtains the best quality coffee beans in a natural way.

This coffee is imported by volunteers of Hamburg's Café Libertad co-operative. Café Libertad guarantees the cooperatives a 'fair-trade' rate or the 'world price', whichever is the higher and roasts, packs and distributes the coffee around Europe. The money that the cooperatives receive is used in two main ways to benefit the self-run Zapatista communities:

- Firstly, the money is used to develop the local infrastructure to ensure the basic needs of the Zapatista communities are met. This includes establishing and maintaining water facilities, clinics, schools and other services. The provision of this infrastructure is determined by the communities themselves through their own direct democracy, or 'Councils of Good Government'.

- Secondly, it is used to improve the cooperatives' infrastructure by providing advice, training, interest-free loans and emergency funds.

All this is a clear example of the initiatives and commitments undertaken by these communities to promote the recognition of the indigenous people's rights and to ensure human rights dignity in Chiapas. The purchase of this coffee is therefore an important way of giving direct economic support to the self-run Zapatista communities and enables them to fulfill their basic human needs based on their own experiences, direct democracy, personal responsibility and autonomy.

 You can buy Zapatista coffee in the UK online from Active Distribution.

Shops in Edinburgh currently selling Zapatista coffee:

Shop opening hours: Thursdays 6-8pm / Saturdays 12-4pm (best to phone first if travelling far on a Thursday or Saturday as opening subject to availability of volunteers)