Why Green Fire Coffee?

It’s simple. We’re trying to provide you with the best quality coffee that we can find in the Dominican Republic and elsewhere. Secondly, we are encouraging the conservation of native flora and fauna, to ensure that this and future generations can appreciate the beauty of nature and inherit a healthy planet. Finally, we want to use coffee as a means to encourage greater appreciation of our planet, the world environment, and demonstrate that small businesses can contribute to a sustainable future.

Healthy ecosystems

Healthy streams and healthy forests are often compatible with shade coffee production.

Conserving endemic species

Shade coffee if managed correctly can preserve wildlife habitat and ensure that native, endemic and migratory species have appropriate natural niches in which to live, breed, and sustain themselves and the entire ecosytem.

conserving pollinators

The human race is becoming increasingly aware of the plight of pollinators, such as insects, bats, and birds, whose populations are diminishing as a result of deforestation, pollution, and likely radio frequencies. Hence, shade coffee has a role in protecting these areas, and ensure that pollinators have access to the flora that they require to procreate and ensure healthy ecosystems.

Supporting Conservation in two Critical Habitats in the Southwestern USA and the Caribbean.

New Mexico’s Gila wilderness

The Mexican Wolf and the Jaguar used to roam free in much of Arizona and New Mexico, and now they are restricted to a few isolated localities and often pursued by hunters, poachers and ranchers. These animals are an essential part of the ecosystem and need to be preserved. Green Fire Coffee donates funds to support habitat and species conservation efforts in this region.

We support environmental education efforts in the southwestern Dominican Republic through scholarships to youth to visit the Green Fire farm and surrounding nature reserves.

On the Green Fire Coffee Farm there’s so many trees, it’s hard to believe that it’s actually a farm. So in addition to delicious coffee, we provide habitat for all sorts of interesting, endemic plants and animals. You have to see it to believe it.

 Coffee harvesting season starts when the berries are ripe, beginning in November.

When the coffee starts to ripen, the owners are all smiles.

 Coffee processing starts by “depulping” the coffee. WE do it the old fashioned way… by hand. Which is pretty hard work. Usually the green berries are removed at this stage.

Once it’s depulped its taken to the drying slab where it is dried for several days.

From Deforestation to Shade Coffee: Can you see the difference?

Tropical agriculture is frequently characterized by slash and burn agriculture, resulting in increased deforestation and decimation of wildlife populations and natural ecosystems. Tree crops, such as coffee and cocoa, can be grown under the overstory of existing forests, giving rise to sustainably produced “shade grown coffee”. To better understand this process please read below.

Slash and Burn agriculture

Unfortunately eroded hillsides like the one in the picture above are all too common in the tropics. Farmers typically cut down the original forest to grow their annual crops and continuously farm without utilizing appropriate farming techniques. As a result the land looses its soil and its fertility, and wildlife is left without a home. Eventually all that is left is the unproductive rocky subsoil.

Boom and bust agriculture

When the forest is initially cleared crop production is typically good; however, as the land continues to be cropped and the soil washes away, productivity declines and pests build up. Eventually farmers harvest very little and are forced to move into new forests and repeat the cycle of slash and burn. As a result large landscapes can be transformed into barren unproductive wastelands within a relatively short period of time.

Sustainable shade coffee farming

Growing shade coffee offers a sustainable and profitable alternative to slash and burn agriculture. Farmers typically only thin out the forest and plant the recommended varieties of coffee. Then they manage the shade, allowing roughly 50% of the sunlight to reach the coffee plants, and manage the soil fertility by planting leguminous shrubs and ensuring an accumulation of organic matter. In some cases additional organic compost is added. Typically coffee doesn’t require irrigation, relying on normal rainfall, and can be inter-planted with other food crops such as bananas, avocados and spices, providing an income flow year round.

The Water and Coffee Connection

Shade grown coffee is essential for maintaining normal watershed conditions and ensuring that streams and rivers have appropriate flows of water. Not only that, organic shade grown coffee doesn’t contaminate surface waters, and may actually help mitigate contaminated runoff from higher elevations. In the Caribbean streams like the one in the photograph are an increasingly rare sight. By ensuring that the coffee we produce is organic we do our fair share to provide clean water for ecosystem functions and human uses.

Engaging Youth in Sustainable Agriculture

At Green Fire Coffee we believe that it’s imperative to invest in youth and encourage them to engage in sustainable farming as early as possible. Hence we provide opportunities for youth that are interested in the environment and agriculture to visit our farm and familiarize themselves with our farming systems. We also work with schools and children in the vicinity of our producers to teach students about shade grown coffee and learn more about their unique environment.

Thinking About Climate Change

At Green Fire Coffee we’re thinking about the future and we’re doing our part to mitigate and adapt to climate change. We believe that climate change is happening and that we need to do something about it. Here are three examples of things that we’re doing to mitigate climate change:

Locking up carbon dioxide

It may be hard to believe but this is actually a coffee plantation. We do our best to maintain the forest cover, thereby locking up CO2 up in the tree canopy and in the soil, just like nature intended. We maintain a balance of pioneer and long-lived tree species, ensuring that carbon is constantly being sequestered. In 2022 we planted over 250 long-lived mahogany, Tropical Cedar and other species throughout the farm.

protecting the coast

So what does this view have to do with protecting the coast? By managing forest cover, growing shade coffee, and reducing runoff and erosion, we’re helping to reduce the amount of freshwater and sediment that spills into the ocean. This helps protect reefs, thereby protecting the shoreline from wave action, and encouraging the growth of salt-water resistant plants along the shoreline, thereby reducing shoreline erosion.

Minimal Packaging—-Minimal Waste

We’re striving to reduce our carbon footprint by minimizing our processing and minimizing our packaging. We may come up with a better way, but for now, your coffee will arrive in this simple bag… packed fresh, in a sanitary environment, and with lots of attention. We don’t apologize for not having a fancy wrapper, and charging you more.

Green Fire Coffee Co.

2316 Madre Drive Northeast
Albuquerque, NM, 87112
United States

Order Coffee: $12/pound, minimum order 3 pounds, plus shipping

Order 1-5 lbs, $12/pound, plus shipping

Order 6 - 10 lbs: $11.50 per lb., with 25% discount on shipping

Order 11 lbs: or more $11.00 per lb., plus 25% discount on shipping.

Send us a check or money order to:

Ronald Savage, 2316 Madre Dr. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87112

or Use Zelle

Paypal: Just plug in my email address: sea2sierra@gmail.com

Contact Us:

greenfirecoffee@gmail.com

Tel. USA 1-202-302-6938

Owner: Ron Savage

Email, call or write us.

Although it’s hard work keeping a coffee farm running, when the harvest comes in, everyone is all smiles.