Coffee in Haiti

Haitian Coffee History

Early History

• Gabriel de Clieu brought coffee seedlings to Martinique around 1720

• Those sprouts flourished, and 50 years later there were 18,000 coffee trees enabling Jesuits to spread cultivation to Haiti, Mexico and other Caribbean Islands.

• Dreadful slave conditions and brutality resulted in the first successful slave revolution in 1804. After independence, coffee remained one of Haiti’s major export crops, peaking around 1850.

Reasons Haitian Coffee is Easily Forgotten

Decades of political unrest and government corruption made farmers too afraid to come down from the mountains to sell crops

Between 2000 and 2001, worldwide oversupply caused coffee prices to drop to their lowest levels in 100 years. Over time, Haitian farmers lost skills needed to grow, harvest, and process coffee, and Brazil eventually cornered the regional market, aided by modern facilities. Political instability / the brutal dictatorship of the Duvalier years, 1957-1986, brought about economic demise - including coffee exports.

Political instability / the brutal dictatorship of the Duvalier years, 1957-1986, brought about economic demise - including coffee exports.

Like many countries, after the collapse of the International Coffee Agreement in 1989, coffee production fell with the onset of low market prices.

Haiti and Coffee Go Way BackBeans of the original arabica typica variety, the first species of coffee to be cultivated, far superior to the other major commercial variety, robusta.But after Haiti declared its independence in 1804, the coffee industry—like so much else on the island—declined to almost nothing. And during the U.S. embargo of the Haitian dictatorship in the mid 1990s, many farmers burned their coffee trees to make charcoal to sell in local markets

The Rise & Fall of Haitian Coffee A promising moment was the arrival of a bean called Haitian Bleu. Developed by a cooperative of coffee farmers (the Fédération des Associations Cafétières Natives) under the guidance of USAID, Haitian Bleu was an instant success story. Modern processing made the coffee more palatable to North American consumers, and because it was fair trade certified, it enabled farmers to demand a living wage as they moved into the specialty coffee market.However this quickly ended as well, leaving Haitian coffee on the decline yet again

• Belief in Haiti's potential as a high-quality coffee producer runs strong among coffee professionals

• If wild Haitian coffees are allowed to mature and grow, numerous taste profiles could emerge—provided that people are trained in picking, sorting, and processing.

• Coffee purchasing also holds the potential to help rural areas.

Contacts

Joseph Stazzone• Co-founder of Café Kreyol• Emphasis on economic

development through coffee industry

• Own-a-Tree Project• Leaf Rust virus• Donations to update

equipment• Training on coffee quality

control, processing of coffeeBobanoit Lucceus• Member of UCNH in Haiti• Contact in Haiti

Objective: Sensory TestAmerican Coffee vs Haitian Coffee

Resources

http://www.singingrooster.org/haitiancoffeehistory.htmlhttp://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2010/01/haitis-coffee-will-it-come-back/34264/2/