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Jenipher’s Coffi is hand-roasted by Ferraris, Wales’ longest established coffee roasters. Based in south Wales, Ferraris have been roasting coffee since 1927. Founded by Vittorio Ferrari, their mission is to spread the joy of great-tasting coffee.
Jenipher’s Coffi has a complex acidity – cherry and orange-like, with chocolatey overtones and a nutty finish. It’s a lighter roast than most coffee you’ll find in the supermarket, leaving space for the natural and unique flavours of the coffee to shine. This makes Jenipher’s Coffi delicious to drink however you brew it, and both– with or without milk. We had an expert prepare some brewing guides for us, with step-by-step instructions for brewing the perfect cup of Jenipher’s Coffi. See the coffee’s full profile.
The farmers who produce Jenipher’s Coffi use a method of farming known as agroforestry. Put simply, this means growing trees and crops together. The farmers grow the coffee under the canopies of indigenous trees, as well as banana trees. Read more about the benefits of tree planting.
The coffee is produced organically, using natural methods to grow and protect the plants. Using traditional methods of production passed down the generations, combined with modern insights, the farmers strive to produce the best possible coffee. Read more on the coffee’s journey, from bean to cup.
The roast is lighter on Jenipher’s Coffi than most coffees you’ll find in the supermarket. This means the bean has spent less time in the roaster, so will be denser and slightly less soluble than a darker roast. We recommend grinding the beans finer than you normally would. This will allow the coffee to extract more easily and give more flavour. You will need to do this particularly if you’re using a bean to cup machine. Otherwise, the flavour might be more acidic than it should be. See our brewing guides for step-by-step instructions for brewing the perfect cup of Jenipher’s Coffi.
Jenipher’s Coffi is available as beans or ground and can be bought in 100g, 227g or 1kg bags from our online shop. The coffee is available to buy zero waste in Fair Dos Siopa Teg a Zero Penarth.
Jenipher’s Coffi is Fairtrade certified. To carry the Fairtrade mark, a number of social and environmental standards have to be met in the production and supply of Jenipher’s Coffi.
As a certification system, Fairtrade is most closely aligned with our core principles. For example, paying farmers fairly, protecting the environment and working cooperatively with producers.
Like Fairtrade certification, Organic certification means all actors along the supply chain must be certified. While the coffee is grown to organic standards, it does not carry the Organic mark because not everyone in the Jenipher’s Coffi supply is certified – yet. This doesn’t mean the coffee loses any of its organic qualities, it’s just that no independent auditor has given it their seal of approval. As soon as we’re a little more established, securing Organic certification with the Soil Association is high on our to-do list.
Certification is important to us – it holds us to account, and shows you we’re walking the walk. But it’s not the end of our commitment to environmental and social sustainability, more of a signpost on our journey. We will always strive to do better.
Working directly with the farmers, and making decisions jointly with them, means we can adjust plans to meet the needs of the hour. Most recently, that means redirecting financial assistance to support the farmers as they tackle the third wave of COVID-19 in Uganda.
The global trading system is not kind to small-scale farmers like those who produce Jenipher’s Coffi. The Fairtrade certification was set up to make trade fair, and to guarantee producers a secure and sustainable livelihood.
Producers have an equal say in the decision-making around the certification scheme. This is really important to us. For the farmers that produce Jeipher’s Coffi, Fairtrade means fairer pay. The Fairtrade price they are guaranteed aims to cover the cost of producing their crop sustainably – a vital safety net when market prices drop.
Farmers also receive a Fairtrade Premium – an extra sum paid on top of the Fairtrade price, which they collectively decide how to spend for the benefit of their business or community.
The farmers producing Jenipher’s Coffi have used the Fairtrade Premium to invest in clean water and education projects and to buy equipment that helps them produce coffee more efficiently. Read more about Fairtrade.
The coffee is produced on the slopes of Mt Elgon, known locally as Masaba, an extinct volcanic rock that climbs into the clouds across the border between Uganda and Kenya. It’s really the size of a small country, 50 miles wide and rising to over 3,070 meters. Geologists estimate Mount Elgon is at least 24 million years old. The high altitude and volcanic soils make it a great place for growing delicious coffee but gathering all the coffee from the thousands of farmers dotted all over the mountain is quite a challenge.
Mt Elgon is a really beautiful part of the world. From the higher parts of the mountain, you can see for hundreds of miles. The tropical climate means that lots of different plants thrive there, but this rich and vibrant landscape is under threat.
Sitting on the equator, where the impact of climate change emerged earliest, the region is experiencing dramatic changes in its weather patterns. The flora and fauna of the region have adapted to a narrow window of temperatures, so even a small warming can have a huge impact, and coffee plants are super sensitive to these changes.
All stages of coffee growing are linked to seasonal weather patterns. Farmers use these patterns, with knowledge passed down the generations – about when to plant or when to harvest, for example. But recently, the weather has become so unpredictable, it’s difficult for farmers to know when to do what.
The changing weather also causes damage to the coffee, with hailstorms, too much rain or bright sunlight all causing problems. Hail damages the cherries and the beans inside, while too much rain can bring new pests and diseases.
This puts farmers’ livelihoods at risk, with a loss of income impacting their families’ health and education. Unlike Wales, where education and healthcare is free at the point of service, parents have to pay school fees for their children and cover their relatives’ health care bills.
Beyond coffee production, the erratic weather is having a devastating impact on local communities, with extreme flooding, droughts and mudslides causing damage to crops and homes, with often fatal consequences. Mudslides are becoming more frequent and ferocious. Witnesses have said “the mountain just fell”, or “the ground gave way”.
This video from VICE explains how climate change is affecting coffee production globally.
While the external packaging your coffee arrives in is plastic-free, (if you order online or wholesale), the coffee bags do still have some plastic in them. This plays an important role in maintaining the quality and freshness of the coffee. While these bags are recyclable (depending on your local authority), there’s work underway to make the packaging as sustainable as possible, as soon as possible. The coffee is available in some stores across Wales on a zero-waste basis, meaning you can buy it free of packaging and reduce our collective impact on the planet.
Jenipher’s Coffi is available to buy in our online shop, and in three outlets across Wales.
Fair Do’s
Zero Penarth*
Splo Down*
*available loose on a zero-waste basis
If you would like to buy Jenipher’s Coffi wholesale, please contact us or head to the stockists section of our get involved page.
Absolutely! Details of how to become a stockist or to join our community coffee programme are available in our get involved section. If you’re looking for something more bespoke, please contact us.
All vacancies will be posted on our get involved page and shared via our newsletter. Sign up to be one of the first to hear about opportunities.
We’re new on the coffee scene, and we have big plans. We’ll need to bring more people into the Jenipher’s Coffi family to make these plans a reality, so keep an eye out for job and volunteering opportunities coming soon. In the meantime, you can always pop into your local shop, cafe or restaurant and give them one of our postcards, or order some samples and get Jenipher’s Coffi sold locally to you. You can even become a local supplier, by joining our community coffee programme.
While we love Jenipher’s Coffi, we understand that not everyone will. And that’s ok. It would be boring if we were all the same.
While the farmers who produce Jenipher’s Coffi are maestros (the experts have given it a score of 84 – an 8.5/10, if you like), we are just starting off, working with others to figure out the best way of doing things, so we may have some small teething problems at times. If you’d like to tell us about your experience of Jenipher’s Coffi, good or not so good, and whether it’s about delivery, the roast, or our Instagram page, please email helo@jenipherscoffi.wales.
Ffion and Elen are always happy to be contacted. See our contact details.
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