News

Our World of Good Friends: Miret Bua, Sidama, Ethiopia
Our World of Good Friends: Miret Bua, Sidama, Ethiopia
We’ve come here to Fero’s administrative office—a basic room with one desk, papers neatly piled in the corner, a few shelves and informational posters on the walls—in the coffee farming... Read more...
Plug In With Schools For Chiapas and Support "Mother Seeds In Resistance"
Plug In With Schools For Chiapas and Support "Mother Seeds In Resistance"
Higher Grounds has deep roots in the Zapatista communities of Chiapas. Join us and our partners at Schools For Chiapas in supporting this important seed project. Mother Seeds in Resistance... Read more...
Farmer Feature: Eraldo Garcia of COMSA
Farmer Feature: Eraldo Garcia of COMSA
For the past few years, we've sourced a handful of single-farmer lots from within the COMSA cooperative in Marcala, Honduras. COMSA also provides the coffee we use in our Funky... Read more...
Peru Meets Sumatra in Montreal
Peru Meets Sumatra in Montreal
Last week, our director of coffee Jennifer (on the bottom shelf in the group shot above!) attended a producer-roaster quality exchange at Cooperative Coffees' headquarters in Montreal (Coop Coffees is... Read more...
The 17 UNG Global Sustainable Development Goals
Sustainability, Part 3: Let's Put People First
A circular economic model is the vehicle required for change within the specialty coffee industry. When we operate along a continuous circle across our supply chain, we can build wealth and expertise... Read more...
Sustainability, Part 1: Inequality Rules the World
Sustainability, Part 1: Inequality Rules the World
Coffee could change the world. But first we need a disruptive innovation to evolve our trading system. This post is the first of four installments diving deep into the issue... Read more...
Prices vs. Reality: the True Cost of Coffee
Prices vs. Reality: the True Cost of Coffee
If we want to keep drinking delicious specialty coffee, we need to be willing to pay for it, and every link of the supply chain has to be profitable. Otherwise, the... Read more...
Introducing Kawa Kanzururu: the First Coffee of its Kind
Introducing Kawa Kanzururu: the First Coffee of its Kind
Through our exploration of Congolese coffee and relationships developed there over the past few years, we have been introduced to the farmers of Kawa Kanzururu--a young cooperative demonstrating an innovative economic... Read more...
Visit Your Farmers this January
Visit Your Farmers this January
This January, On the Ground, Cooperative Coffees, and Maya Vinic are hosting an origin trip unlike any other. Read more...
road from Bukavu to Kiniezire, DRC
Congo Travelogue: Notes from the Road
Author's note: I traveled to the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in May of this year, to participate in the third annual Saveur du Kivu and visit with Higher Grounds'... Read more...
Congo Coffee at Saveur du Kivu
Saveur du Kivu: Where Crisis Meets Opportunity in the Congo
Collaboration is power. Through Saveur du Kivu and all it represents, the specialty coffee industry in the Democratic Republic of Congo is shifting towards a brighter future. Read more...
Relationships and Reality: The Incredible True Story of Jose Perez Vazquez
Relationships and Reality: The Incredible True Story of Jose Perez Vazquez
He has walked the corridors of Oslo City Hall as a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, but last December Jose Perez Vasquez had his eyes searching the concrete sidewalks of Chicago for... Read more...