Mt. Meru Coffee Project - Summary at 25 years

“Justice Never Tasted So Good”

“You drink coffee, we grow coffee, will you buy our coffee?” the Tanzanian church official asked. It was a simple question that he must have put to several people during his first visit to Milwaukee in 1998. The recently formed Diocese of Meru Tanzania was partnered with the 130 congregations of the Greater Milwaukee Synod. A delegation was visiting for the first time. By the time the delegation’s visit was finished, the question of importing coffee was being considered. Not one of the church members or pastors who were his hosts knew anything about coffee production or importing a food product from Tanzania. However, curiosity and the desire to do something concrete and practical, propelled an exploration of such a project.

In true Lutheran tradition, a committee to investigate the feasibility of importing coffee from the Mt. Meru region in Northern Tanzania was formed. The group was convened by an interested pastor and included businessmen, graphic artists, a cabinet maker, an accountant, all ordinary people who worked hard, had busy lives but were moved to volunteer their time and expertise. Their first task was to identify, why a church group would get involved in trying to sell Meru coffee. The most obvious answer was to help the farmers. If we believe that we are ALL God’s children, then we must respond to a request to help them help themselves.

Coffee was one of the few crops grown there that had the potential for cash  payment, but farmers were discouraged by erratic prices and uncertain payments At least that much was clear from the beginning, the project’s goal would be to provide a stable price for farmer’s coffee so that they could pay school fees for their children, improve their living conditions, pay for health care when they were sick. The next question to be answered was how this could be accomplished. The answers to this were very unclear. In what form would the coffee be at the time of import, green beans, roasted, fully processed? How would the coffee be gathered from the small farmers? Most coffee farmers in Meru grow on less than 1 acre. Who would arrange for shipping? What kind of licensing and permits were needed? How would the coffee be received in Milwaukee? Who would sell the coffee, market the coffee, process the orders, file the necessary reports?

After two years of exploration, the committee decided to send a small group to Tanzania to look at the feasibility of such a project.

A pastor, his wife and one of the owners of Colectivo( then Alterra) went to visit coffee farmers in the Meru region of Tanzania. The visit confirmed the need for a fair price for coffee growers to continue to grow coffee. The farmers were not organized and would sell to whoever offered them the best price. They were often cheated by only getting the first of two promised payments The idea that someone would pay them a guaranteed price independent of coffee auctions and consolidators, was enough to garner commitments from farmers to continue to grow coffee. The need was confirmed, but logistical issues remained. Who would handle and record the actual sales, how would they get the coffee to a center to be graded and packed for shipping, would they be self-governing? Was there a quality standard to be met?

The coffee professional in the group was pessimistic. He did not believe the plan was workable. On old slate blackboards in dirt floored schools, he laid out for the Meru farmers the numbers needed to make the project work against the numbers that had been projected. No matter how you looked at it, in pounds or kilos, Tanzanian Schillings or U.S. dollars, small scale importation without any more infrastructure than was present was not feasible. The Meru representatives were cautiously optimistic. They believed that the United States in general, its churches and people were so rich that they could do whatever they wanted. Most understood the facts that were presented, they just didn’t believe it. The rest of the United States team took the professional’s data as a challenge. After two years of study and planning, in the face of the farmer’s hope, they went ahead with the project. A U. S. volunteer headed the committee moving forward, 501 c3, not for profit status was secured, a point person in Meru Tanzania was identified, start up capital was donated and the Mt. Meru coffee project was founded as of the year 2000.

The first year of the import was as bad as had been predicted. A shipment of green beans was of such poor quality that it was decided that they could not be sold. Somehow, other coffee was procured and sold as Mt. Meru coffee to the waiting church members in Milwaukee. The second year, processing centers were mandated, a manager in Tanzania was hired and provided with a truck. Expertise from the Tanzanian Coffee Board was enlisted and a usable shipment was received. One year has led into another. Alterra, despite their skepticism, supported the project with warehousing and storage. As the project stabilized and Alterra grew, a new roaster was secured. Order fulfillment, weighing, grinding, and packaging is done largely by volunteers who need leadership and training. Crops some years are better than others. The coffee manager in Meru retired, the President of the Board in the United States died. Prices on the coffee market have fluctuated from record lows to record highs currently.

Coffee is an annual crop from bushes. Harvest is from late July through October depending on where on the volcanic mountain the farm is. Harvest, processing and shipping the 9000 miles from Tanzania take another 4-6 months. Then it must be taken to the warehouse, custom roasted , packaged and delivered. It is not a seasonal product nor is it a project that you can easily start and stop.

It is now 25 years since the Mt. Meru coffee project has been importing coffee. During that time over 243 tons of coffee has gone from the small farmer in Tanzania to coffee drinkers mostly in Milwaukee but also California, Connecticut, Alaska. Of the $3 million in gross sales, $2 million has gone back to Tanzania, to individual farmers on small holdings on Mt. Meru. It is still a volunteer led project. Nearly 1000 farmers bring their crops to six processing centers on the mountain. The Mt. Meru Coffee Project has gone from a shaky start-up to being a strong partner of The Tanzanian Coffee Research Institute (TaCRI). Nearly 800 of the 1000 farmers, increasingly women, have been trained in sustainable, drought resistant coffee growing practices. In that region, Mt. Meru coffee Project is the competition to coffee brokers.

Leaders, managers and founding volunteers have retired and moved on. The project has prevailed through drought, bumper crops, a turbulent world coffee market, quality issues and a global pandemic. Political turmoil in Tanzania, a global shortage of quality coffee, tariffs and shipping disruptions in the Suez Canal are the current pressures on this continuing partnership.

It is fitting to pause and recognize the achievements of twenty- five years. To know that the work continues, but also that children have gone to school because their parents had coffee money. That people were treated for their illness because they had money to see an actual doctor. That motor bikes have been purchased to alleviate long walks for water or other supplies. There are countless stories of everyday life being a little easier, of people seeing value in their hard work. In the United States, we have learned to be in community with people who are very different from us in many ways. Through the coffee trade, people who do not look like us or live as we do have found common respect. We understand in our guts that people want to have meaningful work, do good for their families and appreciate the wonder that is all around. In a divided time, the coffee project has been bringing us closer together for the good of us all. As the tag line goes, “Justice never tasted so good!”

Thank you to Aleta Chossek for guest authoring this blog.