La Mai Coffee
La Mai imports high-quality, Thai Arabica coffee directly from the growers and returns 100% of profits to fund local community development projects.
About
La Mai’s coffee beans are grown in rugged northeast Thailand and imported to New Zealand and Australia by Bright Hope World – a charity organisation dedicated to transforming impoverished communities around the world.
“It is our passion and commitment to give hope to the poor and exploited in Thailand that drives us.”
Bright Hope World buys La Mai coffee beans at above fair trade prices which allows the farmers to make a healthy living and escape more desperate options.
For decades, many of the hill-tribe farmers in the area grew opium for the drug trade. Many of the farmers borrowed money from loan sharks that charge as much as 10% interest a month, making repayment almost impossible. And some even sold their children into the sex trade in Bangkok to supplement their income.
By working with local farmers to change their crops from opium to coffee, La Mai and Bright Hope World are able to help them to lift their incomes well above what they can earn from the drug trade.
The groups also work with local Thai-based co-operative to support water sanitation, irrigation, and education programmes for the farmers to improve their overall standard of living.
“Helping them to find markets for their coffee is just one part of our commitment to these Thai farmers.”
La Mai sells coffee beans and ground coffee (filter and espresso grind) in 200g and 1kg bags, as well as Nespresso-compatible capsules in boxes of 20.
All of their profits go back into helping the farmers in Thailand and into Rahab – an organisation in Bangkok that helps rescue women from prostitution.
Rahab provides these girls and women with education, skills training, and job opportunities to allow them to earn a living and continue to support their families. They also help them start small business ventures so they can provide for themselves.
When you drink La Mai Coffee, you are contributing to an organisation that:
Pays growers well above fair trade prices
Partners with a local co-operative to support water, sanitation, irrigation and education projects for the coffee-growing villages
Provides funds through low-interest microfinance programmes for hill-tribe villages to help them establish crops and purchase livestock to improve their standard of living
Support a Bangkok-based organisation that helps rescue women from prostitution and support them into new trades
As they like to say, “La Mai Coffee is the world’s best-tasting act of kindness.”
