Pure Peruvian passion
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When you choose Inca-Fé roasted coffee from Peru Café Ltd you are tasting pure passion, and one of the most sustainable brews around.
The company is committed to processing and selling only certified fair-trade organic coffee. That commitment has seen them gain full BioGro organic certification and become only the third company in New Zealand licensed to import Fairtrade-certified coffee.
Worried about the mileage on your cappuccino? Rest easy, Inca-Fé is also a carboNZeroCert TM certified small enterprise, which means it measures, minimises and offsets its greenhouse gas emissions.
Carmen Castro, director of Inca-Fé, the roasting subsidiary of Peru Café, is originally from the Peruvian capital Lima. Some of the world’s finest organic coffee is grown on the eastern slopes of the Peruvian Andes. This is where Inca-Fé sources the majority of its beans for its Inca Gold and Siesta blends.
Carmen’s intimate family ties to her homeland provide the means to monitor the company’s raw materials in a way few firms can match. Wherever possible, Carmen and husband Joop Verbeek meet the farmers face to face, and they are supporting more small Peruvian grower co-operatives to join the Fairtrade system.
“My own family in Peru gets involved in the export side of things, which ensures superb quality control. Buying organic coffee from long-term suppliers helps us to produce consistent quality”— Carmen Castro, director of Inca-Fé
Carmen says “My own family in Peru gets involved in the export side of things, which ensures superb quality control.
Buying organic coffee from long-term suppliers helps us to produce consistent quality and to work with the growers on taste profiles. Through the suppliers we also have an understanding of coffee-growing practices and an appreciation of the impact coffee-growing can have.”
Coffee is a global environmental issue. It is one of the most heavily traded commodities on Earth, and most of it is grown in fragile tropical ecosystems on an enormous scale.
Half of all coffee is grown in the greater Amazon region, and most is heavily sprayed with pesticides. But in many nations coffee has become what dairy farming is to New Zealand: an industry with enormous economic as well as environmental importance.
Peru Café is determined to demonstrate that some of the best coffees are organic, that large-scale organic production is feasible, and that organic agriculture is truly sustainable in the long term. The company believes the increased labour intensity of organic farming could be a valuable source of employment in developing countries.
Gaining carboNZero certification is an integral element of the firm’s commitment to organics and a truly sustainable business model. It is continuously working to cut its emissions per kilo of coffee produced, for example by improving insulation of their cool store, topping up its shipping containers and increasing the efficiency of its roasting process to reduce its use of gas.
This approach runs right through the company. For example, the factory uses recycling bins, the coffee chaff is passed on to gardeners, and the company chooses efficient diesel vehicles.
“Coffee is a luxury,” says Carmen. “You should make sure it is quality, and that no one suffered for your enjoyment.” Bean-counting has never been so worthwhile.
