The First Restorative Green Coffee Supply
Cafe Solar® coffee shines a light on the existing environmental threats due to coffee production and provides a solution. This coffee supply represents an alternative, sustainable model for coffee production. It is the first to combine coffee growing, forest restoration, and 100% off-grid, solar-powered processing. Cafe Solar® embodies the definition of restorative coffee.
Sustainable Innovations in Coffee
The use of clean, renewable solar energy in coffee processing and the introduction of a new system of restorative farming, called Integrated Open Canopy™ (IOC™), are two of the most progressive and sustainable innovations that the Cafe Solar® program offers. The program aims to reverse the effects of conventional coffee supply chains so that instead of causing deforestation and carbon emissions, the coffee production can contribute to forest restoration and carbon sequestration.
Three Main Pillars of Cafe Solar®
- Solar-Powered Coffee Processing
Instead of being processed using wood-burning dryers (which are standard in coffee-processing across Central & South America), Cafe Solar® uses an advanced, 100% off-grid coffee dryer (processor) powered by renewable solar energy, making it the world’s first solar-dried coffee. This means that no trees need to be cut down to fuel the processing, and a clean energy substitute is being used to fuel the new dryer. In fact, this coffee’s entire processing facility runs off-the-grid! - Forest Restoring Farming
Cafe Solar® coffee trees are grown using a system of farming that directly contributes to the protection and restoration of the natural forests beside the coffee farms. This system is called Integrated Open Canopy™ (IOC™) and it stops coffee production from threatening natural forests by placing forest buffer zones between the protected forests and the coffee. These buffer zones are left to grow wild and as the natural forest is restored they help create forest corridors that support migratory birds and other keystone species (See, Yoro Biological Corridor).
IOC™ forests and their rich biodiversity are not only essential coffee-growing habitats, they’re also vital to the region’s ecosystem, and their existence is crucial to keeping our global climate in check. The production of Cafe Solar® also incorporates composting the coffee cherries for organic fertilizer production, making use of a valuable coffee by-product that often goes to waste. - Managed By Women
The Cafe Solar® program wouldn’t be possible without the leadership of female coffee producers and coop managers that have been leading supporters of it solar processing and restorative farming (which was designed by a coffee farmer in Costa Rica). The goal is always to include more women management at all levels of the supply chain, from growing, to processing, to export. Women are proven drivers in measuring and addressing social and environmental issues within their communities.
Cafe Solar® Is Our Model for Coffee Addressing Climate Issues
Cafe Solar® is the product of a completely independent, transparent and simplified supply chain made up of a small group of people who genuinely care about coffee’s impact on people and the planet. We have been partnered with the Mesoamerican Development Institute for more than 25 years to develop and grow this coffee’s supply and, ultimately its impact.