Welcome to Tribes and Nations Fairtrade and organic coffees.

Every Tribes and Nations coffee is single origin, meaning that the rich aroma you take in when you open the pouch speaks of the region it was grown in. The altitude of the farms, whether it was shade or sun grown, the richness of the soil, the rainfall that year all combine to bring each bean it’s unique flavour. We do not blend but allow the beans to speak for themselves.

Our weekly roasting schedule is made to measure for our customers who love fresh coffee. We may occasionally ask for your patience to fill your order as we minimise stock so as to roast as close to sending out as possible.

Each Tribes and Nations coffee is packed in sealed in non permeable foil pouches to lock the aromas in. Those pouches have a one way valves to remove any remaining gas post roasting. From espresso grind, plunger, stove tope of whole bean, our aim is to deliver you great coffee.

While a quality organic product is important, the fairtrade element is our priority. The benefit fairtrade provides in developing communities is amazing - giving farmers much more power over the way they live. They have come to a place of choice - something we regard as a right - through the integrity of the fairtrade system. They have moved from the position of a pawn on the chess board to that of a bishop, or maybe even the king.

It is an exciting transformation and one we would hope to see in any worker - a pride in what he or she produces, with appropriate rewards for their effort. Sadly, the antithesis was personified in 2001 when 14 illegal immigrants, 12 of whom were coffee farmers, died trying to cross the Arizona desert near Yuma. All had sold their family's land - the only real capital the poor have - to the people smugglers.

We have been members of the Fairtrade Association of Australia and New Zealand since 2005. It is a system that provides great assurance to us, as buyers, that the workers have been properly paid.

As for organics, we have seen the massive benefit this has for producers in the developing world. No longer are chemicals stored around the house (if you are a farmer you don’t leave assets outside) and nor do children help spray their family’s crop with no protection. Come harvest time the money made is in the pocket of the producers, not the fertiliser company. Beyond this is the obvious benefit – at a time when the long-term effects of chemicals are still emerging – of a reduction in the number of chemicals in our bodies, in those of the farmers and in the earth itself.

Grant Murray August 2009