Dominican Republic (Ramirez Estate)

ORGANIC/SINGLE ORIGIN
Medium Roast
Notes: Balanced, Chocolate, Smoky
Process Method: Honey

In 1943, Mr. Belarminio Ramirez started a small company dedicated to the cultivation and marketing of coffee, which over the years grew into a family tradition involving three generations already. The Belarminio Ramirez Group was named in his honor. Currently, the company owns 350 hectares of coffee production, located in the mountains of the central range between 800 and 1500 meters above sea.

This family-owned estate is extraordinarily socially conscious. They use fermented coffee cherries to create natural gas, which partially powers their operation. They also donate books and computers to the local schools, and in a more rural area, they built and funded a new school preventing small children from having to walk over 15 km each way to class. They also help Haitians obtain legal residence in the Dominican Republic, in order to receive fair wages. We pay roughly 300% higher wages to this Estate for their exceptional care of the environment, organic certification, care for local Haitian immigrants, and high cupping scores.

This coffee comes from a single estate in the Jarabacoa region of the Dominican Republic. The Ramirez Estate employs over 400 people. 40 percent of the workers are female and many of them are Haitian migrant workers. They are paid roughly 300 percent higher wages than Fair Trade to the Estate and they use a decent portion of their profits to create sustainable gas recycling (to reduce emissions), water filtration (to prevent river contamination), and to donate computers and books to many of the local schools. This estate is an example of how a coffee businesses that becomes successful should operate in their community.