Velasquez Family News
©2007 Velasquez Family Coffee
"You guys rock. The financial openness regarding the coffee cost is remarkable."
"Thanks for the delivery. I ran out of coffee one week before and was thrilled to get the coffee. Other coffee just isn’t the same for me!"
"It is great coffee. I have a monthly order for my office. Much better than what the regular office coffee is!"
About Our Coffee
As our coffee label states, Velasquez Family Coffee is SHADE GROWN, HAND PICKED, SUN DRIED, and FAIR TRADE.
Velasquez Family Coffee is great for your everyday cup of coffee or for those special gifts. Our customers tell us that our coffee is some of the best they have tasted. We believe this is the case for several reasons. First, because our farms are small, our coffee is harvested by hand and sun dried with close attention to quality. Secondly, it is freshly roasted in small batches here in Minnesota by a master roaster. You can also feel good knowing that the coffee in your cup was grown using environmentally friendly practices and that the farmers were fairly compensated for their hard work.
ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY FARMING
Velasquez Family coffee is carefully grown on the small farms of various members of the Velasquez family in the National Mountains of Comayagua in Honduras. Several of our family members were certified organic in 2002 by the independent certifying agency Bio Latina. Although they have not been certified since that time, they continue to do their best to farm in environmentally friendly ways to protect the precious cloud forest ecosystem where they farm. For example, they plant coffee in terraces and maintain green ground cover between the coffee plants to conserve soil. Coffee berry pulp is composted and managed to prevent water contamination from its high sugar content. To provide bird habitat and protect the water making capacity of the cloud forest, they preserve old shade trees and plant new trees whenever possible. Learn more about the benefits of Shade Grown Coffee here.
FAIR TRADE
Coffee prices on the open market fluctuate widely, and are often even below the costs of production. Our coffee sales here in Minnesota and around the United States provide an important source of income, making it possible for the Velasquez Family to continue farming. All profits remain in the family.
THANK YOU FROM HONDURAS
We recently received a warm thank you note from Guillermo's brother Abilio via email. He wrote:
"Gracias hermano por apoyarnos. Feliz ano nuevo y prosperidad. En estos dias estamos sacando los mejores frutos de cafe para mandartelos. Y gracias a toda la gente que nos compra."
And again in English -- "Thank you brother for supporting us. Happy New Year and prosperity. These days we are harvesting the best coffee fruits to send to you. And thank you to all of the people who are buying from us."