Caribe Coffee's story
Caribe Coffee is a family-run business started by Wilmer and Elle Carcamo through a love of quality coffee and a vision to improve the quality of coffee that we drink both in our homes and in independent coffee shops.
Caribe Coffee Co. exclusively offers speciality single-origin beans from Honduras. For Caribe Coffee, a successful business isn't just about profit, it's about the three Ps; People, Planet and Profit. For too long, a lot of coffee commodity has been so low a price it has become referred to as a poverty crop. Rather than diversify, some farmers have chosen to plant a better quality of crop and demand a higher price. Many farms have created their own co-operatives to reduce intermediaries in the supply chain and ensure they receive a fair price for their hard work - these are the type of farms Caribe Coffee Company works with.
We only import speciality coffee and only use sensitive farming suppliers who are not using fertilisers and also are not harming the land. Climate change is a major challenge for Honduras so we want to support the country as an importer of coffee.
Closer to home, we are passionate about local, independent business and supporting our community. We are committed to adding value to our planet instead of consuming and taking. We currently use recyclable packaging and aim to use completely home-compostable and biodegradable packaging in the near future. We run a #TippingNotShipping policy. We don't charge shipping fees, instead we ask that our customers leave a tip for our farmers. We use the tips to further support our farming families and/or their communities.
We have changed to a renewable energy supplier; we have changed our delivery routes to be more cost and energy-efficient; and we work from home to reduce the carbon footprint.
Useful learnings from Caribe Coffee
Don't become overwhelmed by numbers when trying to measure your reduction in carbon footprint - just think about the bigger picture.
Caribe Coffee's metrics
Our efforts to reduce our emissions and support sustainable coffee farming were highlighted in July when we had a visit from Secretary of State for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP to recognise our carbon net zero commitment.
It was very encouraging - we spoke about the difficulties SMEs face with time and finances to make these changes and how we can still do it and make a difference!
