Toasting to roasting: Inuit-owned coffee company teams up with Indigenous farmers in Peru

“The new company's name, Kaapittiaq, means 'good coffee' in Inuinnaqtun

Kaapittiaq is sourcing the beans through Cafe Vasquez, in Barrie, Ont.

Owned by Peruvian native Erci Vasquez and her husband Stuart, the company buys coffee from farmers in northern Peru — for a fair price — and transports it to larger centres to sell to coffee distributors.

Now, for the first time, Cafe Vasquez is helping to facilitate direct trade between the farmers and coffee companies.

"The idea is to [connect] the people from the Arctic to my town," said Vasquez. "It's fantastic."

This is the company's first collaboration outside of Peru.

Coffee beans picked in San Francisco, Peru, will travel to Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. (CBC)

The coffee farmers are from five villages in the Colasay district of northwestern Peru, with Vasquez's home of San Francisco being the largest.

The region is so remote, farmers haul the beans off the mountains using donkeys.”

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Article Source: www.cbc.ca