MINNEAPOLIS & ST. PAUL, Minn., U.S.- Tiny Footprint Coffee, the world’s first carbon-negative coffee, will launch a Kickstarter campaign on October 13th, 2015, to fuel the growth of its business and to help every one drink the greenest, most sustainable coffee on the planet.
Launched in 2010, Tiny Footprint Coffee (www.tinyfootprintcoffee.com) is the world’s first carbon negative coffee. For each pound of coffee sold, Tiny Footprint Coffee plants trees in Ecuador, which suck more than 50 lbs. of harmful carbon out of the environment.
That’s far more than the carbon emitted during the harvesting, shipping and roasting of each bag of Tiny Footprint Coffee, meaning that every sip is an Earth-positive act of good karma.
The brand’s co-founder, Brian Krohnke, and his partner Juan Manuel Carrion, an ornithologist, have dedicated their lives to conserving native cloud forests and growing sustainable coffee in Ecuador.
They have worked especially hard on restoring a special farm reserve called Tambo Quinde. This farm is located in the beautiful Tandayapa Valley of the Ecuadorian Andes and is home to hundreds of bird species and dozens of mammals. Tandayapa sits right on the equator in a unique microclimate at 6,000 feet above sea level — a magical altitude for coffee production.
“Like in real estate, coffee farming is all about location, location, location. Tandayapa is like the Holy Grail of coffee farming locations,” said Krohnke.
“After spending the last 20 years returning this degraded land to its full splendor, we’re ready to take our operations to the next level by expanding the farm, enhancing the quality and effectiveness of our operations, and building a tourist friendly Café Tambo Quinde. To achieve this vision, we’re launching a Kickstarter campaign to make it happen.”
The Tiny Footprint Kickstarter campaign will help Tiny Footprint Coffee construct a micro wet mill and drying beds to guarantee full control over the quality of its coffee processing at every stage of post-harvest coffee production, from depulping to drying, at Tambo Quinde. This also will increase production, which will provide jobs and help grow the local economy in the Tandayapa Valley.
The fundraising campaign also will help fund upgrades to the very foundation of the farm: its coffee trees. This means expanding and improving the 7.5 acres of the existing planation and minimizing the impact of production on the environment. This will help nurture the local environment for the countless birds, mammals, and amphibians that call this area home.
Funds raised through the Tiny Footprint campaign will go toward building a coffeehouse, as well as trails with well-marked, educational signage, which will allow ecotourists and other growers to see firsthand how it’s possible to grow delicious coffee in social and environmental harmony with the cloud forest. The coffeehouse also will allow the local community to share in the harvest.
If Tiny Footprint Coffee is successful in raising $66,000 through its Kickstarter campaign, backers of the project will receive really delicious coffee first and foremost.
Supporters also can earn t-shirts, a tour of Tiny Footprint Coffee’s roastery in Minneapolis, and an all-inclusive trip to Ecuador to tour the farm and hang out in the cloud forest, based on the size of their donation.
