In 1996 the Diocese of Meru, ELCT, and the Greater Milwaukee Synod, ELCA, were  joined in a global, faith-based partnership. In 1999, a coffee farmer in the Mt. Meru region asked a visiting Milwaukee pastor the simple question; “We grow coffee; you drink coffee; would you buy your coffee from us?”  With an answer of “Yes”, the Mt. Meru Coffee Project was born.  The Project was organized to create a justice based relationship between coffee farmers in Tanzania and coffee consumers of the USA. It brings together a fair price for the farmers and a quality coffee for consumers.

The Mt. Meru Coffee Project, Inc. is incorporated as an independent not-for-profit business entity and is a part of and supported by the Greater Milwaukee Synod. The Project is managed by an all volunteer board of directors. The day-to-day operations in the US are managed by a Project Coordinator.

The Mt. Meru Coffee Project is a registered 501(c)3 organization and is greatful for any donations in support of its mission.

The Mt. Meru Coffee Project’s MISSION is to develop and grow justice based relationships, building on fair trade practices between the Meru coffee growers and US coffee consumers.

The Mt. Meru Coffee Project’s OBJECTIVES are to do Economic and Social Justice – empowering the small coffee farmers and the people of the Meru region with the ability to improve their standard of living and escape the long standing cycle of poverty.

• Economic Justice is achieved when the Project, provides producing farmers with a fair price for their quality coffee. A fair price provides an increase in farm income, allowing the farmers to support their families with dignity.
• Social Justice is achieved when Project generated funds are used to upgrade coffee growing practices, improve processing facilities and equipment, and provide short term micro loan services for the small coffee farmers. Social justice is also achieved as farm families have the funds available to send children to school, access and pay for health care, and have the funds needed to support local farm village markets and merchants.

Your purchase and consumption of Mt. Meru Select Tanzanian Coffee is the single most important way in which individuals and congregations can support and become a part of the relationships in this Project, supporting thousands of small family farmers in Tanzania.

Become an “Ambassador” either as an individual or a congregation and support this justice base initiative. Order your coffee on a regular basis via e-mail, fax or mail and have it delivered freshly roasted to your door. The order, purchase and distribution process is easy and fun to do. You are provided with all the needed forms, brochures and information, including periodic updates and news articles.

The project purchases the highest quality Arabica coffees. These coffees are grown above 2,500 ft. in the rich volcanic soils on the slopes of Mt. Meru in Tanzania, providing prime growing conditions that produce excellent coffee.  All the coffees used for the Coffee Project are inspected, sampled and approved prior to import based on brewing quality, and  the quality of the coffee is essential to the sustainability of the Project. 

The Project buys the highest quality coffee from small family farmers belonging to co-ops or organized grower groups living in the Meru region.     

• Approximately 200 farmers contributed coffee to the harvest in the first year.
• Approximately 800 farmers contributed coffee to the harvest in the second year.
• Approximately 2,000 farmers contributed coffee to the harvest in the third year.
• Over 2,000 farmers are currently contributing coffee to the harvest

The Project currently pays farmers $2.20 per pound as a fair price for high quality, Mt. Meru Select Tanzanian Coffee. Pricing is regularly reviewed and set by taking into consideration the farmers production cost, crop sustainability, inflationary pressures, and needs for a family supporting, living income. This $2.20 amount is often two to four times more than the prices paid by commercial buyers and in many cases 25% to 50% more than other fair trade  program payments.

An average of 10 tons of Mt. Meru Select Tanzanian Coffee are imported, roasted, packaged and sold annually.  Since the Project began importing coffee in 2002, just under 75 tons of coffee have been purchased from the farmers and sold in the USA.

Sales are made through “Ambassadors” in church congregations and through the support of civic organizations as well as retail and wholesale operations having a desire to  support the Project’s justice based objectives.

Both Regular and Decaf coffee are available in Drip Grind, Perk Grind and Whole Bean form.  The coffee is roasted to a medium dark roast, which has been determined to be best suited to the high quality 100% Arabica coffee the farmers produce and provides a rich flavorful cup of coffee.  All grinds, in both regular and decaf, are being sold in 12 oz packages for $9.00 and 4-pound packages for $40.00.

Of the cost factors in a package of coffee, about 20% goes to the farmer to buy coffee, 55% covers operations (roasting, packaging, shipping, decaffing, etc.) and overhead, and, after all expenses are paid, about 25% is anticipated to be funds left over for projects in Tanzania.

In its eight years of operation, the Mt. Meru Coffee Project has provided the coffee farmers and their communities with funding of about $50,000, all of which were intended to maintain and improve the sustainability of the Project.  Over the past 8 years, a new coffee processing machine has been furnished, a new processing center is being financed, a truck has been purchased, and the Project has developed about $20,000 worth of funding for loans for the farmers.  In addition, the Project has assisted the farmers in the development of a growers’ association, helping them to develop marketing and exporting capabilities which enable them obtain better prices from private buyers for the coffee that the Project does not purchase.

The Diocese of Meru, the Coffee Project Committee of the Diocese, and the stability of the church in Tanzania have provided a vital partnership link between the Project and the farmers  to assure them that the Project is on-going.  To do this, the Project has provided financial assistance for the employment of a full time Project Coordinator who is responsible for the daily operations in Tanzania.  This role involves communicating with and encouraging the farmers and co-ops to manage and harvest and process their coffee crops with an emphasis on quality as opposed to quantity.

In the late 1990’s, the coffee farmers had all but given up on growing coffee as a cash crop.  The business of coffee and fair pricing was very unsettled in the many co-ops and other coffee business entities.  Small farmers were the victims of unscrupulous commercial buyers and many suffered large financial losses.  The farmers were slow to accept the trustworthiness of any organization not supported by the church.  Today, the farmers have determined that the Project is trustworthy. This is demonstrated in the Project’s growth from 200 farmers in 2002 to over 2,000 participating farmers today, and coffee is once again seen as a good way to provide for the needs of the farm family.

• The justice-based pricing provides the farmers with the ability to be supportive in their communities. With the higher prices that they receive, the farmers have funds to:
  • Send their children to school and pay school fees, which means teachers get paid and have funds for supplies
  • Visit the Doctor when needed and pay for medication
  • Attend to prenatal check ups, deliver babies in the hospital, and take their children for postnatal checkups and immunizations
  • Open savings accounts
  • Spend money in community stores and at community businesses that in turn allow that store or business owner to enjoy the economic benefits of the Project.
• The refurbishing of the coffee processing factory on the Diocese farm and the investment in disease-resistant coffee plants have given the farmers more hope and encouragement by demonstrating the Project’s commitment to the farmers.
• Finally the higher price paid by the Project have stimulated the farmers marketing capabilities. Private buyers are meeting the farmers’ demands for price as opposed to quoting a price to the farmers, a huge improvement in the overall market process. 

There are a number of organizations that provide fair trade certification.  All of them have certain requirements that must be met to receive this certification.  Many of these requirements are bureaucratic and costly.  The Mt. Meru Coffee Project feels that it already meets and exceeds many of the certification requirements. However, the Mt. Meru Coffee Project decided not to pursue certification at this time so that more of its efforts and funds can go to help the farmers.

The Mt. Meru Coffee Project differs from many fair trade programs by paying the farmers a minimum $2.20 per pound for the ready to roast, high quality “Mt. Meru Select Tanzanian Coffee” they produce. This $2.20 amount is often two to four times more than the prices paid by commercial buyers and in many cases 25% to 50% more than other fair trade programs.

Although the Mt. Meru Coffee Project and other fairly traded marketing  programs seek to provide economic justice to small coffee growers by paying a fair price for their coffee, they are different in a number of  ways:
The MMCP differs from many other fair trade programs as it provides a direct connection between small coffee farmers and coffee consumers through its      ministry partnership.  Other fair trade programs use a more traditional buyer, exporter, wholesaler, retailer process.

• The partnership provides the Project and farmers with an ability to openly discuss production expenses, inflationary pressures, cost of living, and crop sustainability processes, to determine a proper fair trade value for their coffee.
• Although the MMCP does not directly fund Meru-Milwaukee Partnership activities, it does play a significant role in activities that support –
  • a local hospital and clinics
  • schools and scholarship programs
  • hunger relief and water supply programs
  • parish to parish partnering, and numerous other long and short term projects.