November 15 marked three years since The Dream Coffee came into existence. Often, I am asked what made me personally want to create this enterprise and always, I say—it’s the farmers we work with.
The first time we met in early 2018, I knew that there was no turning back. Para sa kape. Para sa tribo. Para sa magsasaka. In coffee and in each other, we found a sense of calling.
All of this, really, is a story of a chances. At the heart of it is our farmer-partners who gave us a chance to show them that their own coffee can change their lives.
Along the way, crucial industry partners helped us develop T’Boli arabica—NGOs, non-profits, and government agencies; our partner roaster and retail partners; writers and content creators who used their platforms to talk about the roots and fruits of our advocacy; and you.
You who gave this coffee a chance and took the time to tell someone about it. You’ve invited us to your meetings and mornings, your late nights and far-away trips, your losses and celebrations. If our coffee has, in a quiet way, been a part of your life—know that your support has significantly changed someone else’s, too.
It is only through this collective effort that we’re able to grow. Today, we’re happy to share what we were able to do together over the past three years.
The vision we wrote when we began still remains—
we believe in waking up to live our dreams
always enduring until the day
everyone gets to live theirs
Larissa Joson
Founder, The Dream Coffee
The Impact We're Making
To get more farmers in T'Boli to harvest their arabica and grow even more of it, we had to learn to invest in them not just with money, but with time; to understand their culture and unique ways of receiving information; and to focus on key-farmer partners who are committed to producing quality coffee.
Since our first official harvest together in 2018, we've been committed to increasing how much farmers' cherries, parchment beans, and green beans are purchased. Because of direct trade, 100% of what farmers earn goes to them.
For our framework to succeed, partnerships with NGOs, non-profits, and government are crucial. Their assistance has capacitated our farmer-partners in the form of equipment, education, and input supplies.
More and more, farmers are seeing that a lot of the work toward income generation happens during the non-harvest months, too! Top farmer-partners spend that time to expand and maintain their farms as a form of investment.
These are some personal wins straight from our farmers. Their successes are ours and yours, too! We're grateful that we get to do this together.