Drink your own coffee with Apasionado

It isn’t a secret that we’re fans of ingenious startups and inventive slants on cafes and the coffee culture that we know and love. Actually, we were some of the first people patiently waiting in line to be among the first customers at a local cat cafe (Ed: This may or may not be true).

But we’re always pleased to see innovation, which is why we were quite excited to hear about Apasionada Coffee.

With the strapline ‘from tree to your cup’, you could be forgiven for thinking that Apasionado was just another coffee shop or wholesale business. But that presumption couldn’t be further from the truth, as Emily Lilo explains:

“We’re the only coffee farm in the world that’s doing this model.”

So then, what is this model?

Apasionado’s customers are given the chance to adopt a coffee tree which will then be planted on their Bolivian farm and tended to by local farmers. They then get to, quite literally, enjoy the fruits of their generosity.  

It’s like each person having their own little plantation they can rely upon and it also removes a potentially awkward and unaccomodating dependence upon middlemen and futures markets.

“By cutting out the intermediary, farmers not only receive a larger share of the price, but [they also acquire] additional knowledge and skills to perfect their coffee growing and processing techniques to maximise their future earnings,” their website says.

But it isn’t just about securing plantations and enhancing the value of the coffee farmer. The project is also concerned with ensuring that coffee cultivation is a sustainable practice; one that works in perfect harmony with nature.

“We want to try and create a diverse ecosystem that’s good for the birds, the animals, the land, the plants and the people who work there,” Lilo said to KRQE News.

“We really try hard to do everything we can to get this sustainable model.”

Currently, it is estimated that around

And try they’ll have to do. In the same interview to the Albuquerque media, Lilo acknowledged that the surrounding plantations aren’t exactly growing bananas and mangoes: Areas nearby to their farm are being cleared for mass cocaine production.

“We’re showing the other farmers that live in the area…that there are other ways.”