About This Coffee
Soppexcca works with a concept of active integration and equality in its members, communities, and in its own administration. Like many cooperatives, there was a time when Soppexcca struggled with its financial management. Debts piled up, and members lost money and trust in their organization. However, in the early 2000s, Fatima Ismael assumed cooperative leadership. An agronomist who became a trusted leader among the farmers, Fatima brought an impressive vision for Soppexcca, including solid business practices, extremely transparent operations, and progressive initiatives to improve gender equality within the cooperative.
Today, 40% of Soppexcca’s members are women. Since 2002, Sustainable Harvest has helped the women of Las Hermanas develop their brand and partner with specialty coffee buyers. More than 220 women from the Soppexcca cooperative produce Las Hermanas coffee.
The success of their coffee brand has distinguished the women within the cooperative and their communities as high-quality coffee producers and strong economic players. As a result of the higher profits from these business partnerships, the women have been able to access micro-finance loans and invest in their farms and their families. Fatima says she would like “to create a worldwide network of women who buy and market Las Hermanas coffee, sending a message to these rural farmers that they have options and can create what they want for themselves and their families.
Soppexcca is one of our first suppliers to receive the Regenerative Organic Certification. They pursued this certification to strengthen their sustainability efforts, land management program, and overall practices at a holistic level by looking out for their soil, forest, air, water, biodiversity, and of course, the productive viability and socioeconomic impact for small producers.
Cultivation
Soppexcca is one of our first suppliers to receive the Regenerative Organic Certification®. They pursued this certification to strengthen their sustainability efforts, land management program, and overall practices at a holistic level by looking out for their soil, forest, air, water, biodiversity, and of course, the productive viability and socioeconomic impact for small producers.
Harvest & Post-Harvest
Soppexcca uses a concrete patio, plastic tarps, and solar dryers to carefully dry their coffee beans, ensuring optimal quality and sustainability.
Sustainable Harvest
Sustainable Harvest® is a specialty coffee trader focusing primarily on bringing coffees to market that are sourced from smallholder farmer cooperatives in the supply chain such as indigenous communities, women groups and the next generation of coffee farmers.
Their sourcing model is built on transparency, traceability and direct relationships between quality-minded coffee roasters and best-in-class coffee producers. Sustainable Harvest® has an on-site presence at origin with staff in Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Peru. Each office coordinates their supply including quality management, supplier relationships, source development, logistics, training and capacity building.
Coffee in Nicaragua
Nicaragua may not be the most famous producer of Central American coffee, but it has great potential. The country is known as the land of ‘los lagos y los volcanes’ (lakes and volcanos) and has many coffee growing ‘pockets’ that few have heard of or experienced. Many producers in the country are experimenting with new varieties and processing methods, making it a specialty origin to watch.
Many coffee producers in Nicaragua today are buoyed by cooperatives that provide a wide array of services, supports and opportunity. As seen in the win of the ‘El Acuerdo de las Tunas’, where 3,000 landless workers won land rights, collective action by farmers can be far more effective at enacting widespread change than the advocacy of individual farmers.
Cooperatives and farmer associations in Nicaragua encompass a large percentage of the country’s coffee producers, and they are taking their destiny in their own hands. By putting great emphasis on quality and by aiming for the international specialty coffee industry, cooperatives and farmers associations are helping their members gain influence and import that will, hopefully, garner enough profit to enable farmers to continue to improve and invest in their farms and their families.
Large and medium-sized (10+ hectare) farms also hold a significant place in Nicaragua’s coffee landscape, as well. Many of these farms have also prioritized social and environmental issues and are working on quality improvements at both cultivation and post-harvest levels.
Farmers, for the most part, will process coffee on their own farms, and the majority of the time coffee is dried on large drying patios under sun.