Colombian Farmers Partner with White Coffee on Primaveral Coffee Project

LONG ISLAND CITY, N.Y., Oct. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Hundreds of burlap bags filled with coffee beans arrived this month from Huila, Colombia at the Port of New York, destined for White Coffee Corporation in Long Island City. The ship heralds a new cooperative agreement between White Coffee and the Asociacion Primaveral, a collection of 24 local coffee growers who live and work on farms south of Huila. White Coffee Corporation will make a voluntary cash payment, over and above the regular purchase price for the coffee, to enable Asociacion Primaveral to add and upgrade coffee drying facilities and expand production capacity for its members.

"Our mission is to promote the social and economic prosperity of our coffee growers and their families," says Elias Roa, President of Asociacion Primaveral. "We encourage and support programs and projects that improve our quality of living. By becoming stronger, we can better reach our goal to deliver coffee of high quality to meet the demands of our partners and the international markets."

White Coffee will pay the cash endowment directly to the growers. "We have a direct relationship with the farmers and that helps us to better understand their needs," says Jonathan White, Executive Vice President of White Coffee Corporation. "The growers, in turn, will deliver to us a crop of superlative beans."

White Coffee imports Asociacion Primaveral Cooperative Coffee from the rich, deep volcanic soil of south Huila. The coffee's fragrance is intense with sweet notes. The brew yields a mild aroma, medium body and an intense and lasting flavor. It is a single origin coffee.

The farmers collectively work about 200 hectares of coffee, harvesting small areas grown primarily with full exposure to the sun, threaded with areas of semi-shade conditions. The coffee is handpicked and dried with solar energy. Over 30,000 lbs. of Primaveral Cooperative Coffee will be shipped to White Coffee Corporation during the next few months and the product will be available to caring buyers nationwide.

Asociacion Primaveral is a non-profit cooperative, registered in the Chamber of Commerce in Huila, Colombia. Fairfield Trading, LLC is the Colombian exporter and coordinator of the cooperative program with the growers. White Coffee Corporation is based in Long Island City, NY and is a third-generation family-owned coffee importing and roasting business in operation since 1939. White Coffee Corporation's products are certified "organic" by Quality Insurance International and "fair trade" by Fair Trade USA and are available on-line at www.whitecoffee.com.

SOURCE White Coffee Corporation