Ethiopian Coffee

The Tigray War was a brutal civil war that led to hundreds of thousands of deaths, with clear evidence of war crimes and millions of people pushed into potential famine.

Coffee is the backbone of the country’s economy, and when we purchase it, we must pay dollars into a central bank. Some of this is then paid out to the farmers in local currency, and some is paid in dollars. Each time this happens, the government can therefore choose if it wants to bank a higher amount of local currency or dollars.

This government needs dollars to purchase foreign arms, so we see this process as a chance for it to choose to exacerbate brutal conflicts.

We believe that the coffee industry can put sustained economic pressure on the government to find a peaceful resolution. By doing this, we can also draw the world’s attention to this atrocity.

That’s why we haven’t bought Ethiopian coffee since this war began, and we won’t until a peaceful resolution is achieved.