People's Coffee

Values

Founding Story

Peoples Coffee began as a small Wellington community cafe by Matt Lamason in 2004. After learning about the unsustainable nature of the coffee industry, both for the treatment of its coffee farmers but also the impact on the environment, Matt set out to challenge the norms of destructive farming practices and unethical pricing to coffee growers.

People’s Coffee believes that the art of coffee deserves a responsible approach, one that guarantees exceptional taste, environmental stewardship, and fairness to those who cultivate it.

They are also Aotearoa’s first certified B-Corp Coffee Roastery.

“Founded on the principles of fairness, equality and having an unpretentious quality in everything we do, we have constantly challenged the status quo and championed the ‘little guy’.”

Fair Labour Commitments

People’s Coffee exclusively sources organic and fair trade coffee through Trade Aid Imports. They have long-standing cooperative partnerships in Guatemala, Colombia, Ethiopia, Peru, Honduras and Mexico. 

The prices People’s Coffee pays to farmers are set through discussions with the coffee cooperatives to find a price that is reflective of the year they have had, the quality, and where the current NZ pricing market is at. An additional ‘Social Premium’ of 30c per pound on top of the minimum price is built into the price paid for coffee. This is used by the coffee cooperative for farmer-initiated community development projects.

Since coffee is often harvested only once per year, farmers can go incredibly long periods between pay-days. To combat this, Trade Aid offers to pre-finance farmers when necessary to provide urgent cash-flow to support needs such as replacing aging coffee trees, or finance seasonal labour to harvest coffee cherries in preparation for export. 

Working within the coffee cooperative structure also helps us trace the source of our coffee beans ensuring a fair price is paid to farmers. With their partners Trade-Aid Imports, the team at People’s Coffee have been travelling to meet with coffee cooperatives every year since 2004, with the exception of 2020-2022 due to international travel restrictions.

Environmental Commitments

People’s Coffee sources organic coffee through Trade Aid Imports. This ensures that small lot farmers  can utilise organic farming techniques and grow coffee in a rich biodiverse ecosystem. Growing coffee within its natural ecosystem. 

They are also working to reduce their environmental impact with various initiatives, from championing reusable cups to finding compostable solutions for their packaging. 

When the label of their packaging and plastic valve seal are removed, their packaging can be shredded and added to a conventional home / community compost, or worm farm to biodegrade back into carbon, nitrogen, and water. The exact speed of biodegradation is hugely influenced by the compost environment.

Dive Deeper

People’s Coffee Sustainability Strategy 

Coffee Cooperative Origins

More about their supply chain