Organic Heavenly Project - High Altitude Blend

The Wayanad Social Service Society (WSSS) is a cooperative growers’ collective and non-profit organization based in Wayanad, Kerala, India, founded in 1974 to support marginalized farming communities in the Western Ghats. It organizes and empowers over 8,000 smallholder farmers, focusing on organic and Fair Trade-certified coffee, spices, and pepper cultivation while promoting sustainable agriculture and community development. Located at 900–1,650 meters above sea level, WSSS farmers cultivate shade-grown Robusta and Arabica coffee under natural forest canopies, preserving biodiversity and soil health in this UNESCO Biosphere region. The society provides training on organic farming methods, certification support, technical assistance, and access to markets, ensuring that smallholder farmers receive fair prices for their crops. WSSS is also a pioneer in organic certification in Kerala, having facilitated certifications for over 19,000 farmers through collaboration with accredited certifying bodies like LACON and OneCert. Beyond agriculture, WSSS invests in community welfare through education programs, women's empowerment initiatives, and environmental conservation projects while ensuring transparent governance and fair practices across its member base. Their coffee, often natural-processed Robusta Cherry AA, is sun-dried and carefully graded, resulting in a clean, heavy-bodied cup profile with notes of dark chocolate and nutty sweetness typical of quality Indian Robusta. In essence, WSSS exemplifies a values-driven, farmer-centered cooperative model in India, combining high-quality, sustainable coffee production with impactful social and environmental initiatives that uplift smallholder farming communities in Wayanad.

ASOBOMBO is a cooperative of smallholder coffee farmers based in southern Huila, Colombia, particularly around Pitalito and neighboring communities . Rather than operating as a single estate, the cooperative brings together family-run farms located throughout Huila’s mountainous coffee-growing landscape. Many producers cultivate coffee on relatively small plots at high elevations, where cool temperatures, abundant rainfall, and mineral-rich volcanic soils create favorable conditions for growing high-quality Arabica coffee.

Coffee farming in this region is closely tied to generations of family agriculture. Producers carefully manage varieties such as Castillo, Caturra, and Colombia , with participating organic farmers following certified organic cultivation practices. The mountainous terrain and fertile soils provide good drainage while supporting healthy coffee development, and the high elevations contribute to slower cherry maturation.

During harvest, ripe coffee cherries are selectively picked by hand and typically processed using the washed method . Cherries are pulped, fermented, washed, and carefully dried before the coffee is prepared for export. Through ASOBOMBO, smallholder farmers gain access to shared resources, certification support, quality programs, and international specialty coffee markets.

The coffee represents the collective work of farming families across southern Huila rather than a single farm. Their combination of high-altitude cultivation, mineral-rich volcanic soils, organic farming practices, careful harvesting, and traditional washed processing reflects the strong coffee-growing heritage of the region.

This coffee is sourced from smallholder farmers organized through KSU Buana Mandiri in the Gayo Highlands of Aceh, Northern Sumatra, Indonesia . The cooperative represents family-owned coffee farms spread throughout the mountainous coffee-growing landscape of Aceh, where generations of farmers cultivate Arabica coffee in a cool, humid highland environment. The region’s combination of high elevation, abundant rainfall, tropical vegetation, and Volcanic-Rich Highland Andosol Soil provides favorable conditions for producing dense, flavorful coffee cherries.

The farmers associated with KSU Buana Mandiri typically work on small family-managed plots, relying on careful hand cultivation and selective harvesting. Coffee production within the cooperative system allows individual producers to participate in shared collection, processing, quality-control, certification, and market-access programs. The cooperative structure is particularly important for smallholders, helping connect their individually produced coffees with international specialty and Fair Trade markets while maintaining greater consistency throughout the supply chain.

Coffee from the Gayo Highlands is predominantly Arabica , with farmers cultivating traditional and locally adapted varieties suited to the region's mountainous environment. Ripe cherries are selectively hand-harvested during the main coffee season before entering the local processing network. Sumatran coffee is widely recognized for its traditional Giling Basah (wet-hulling) process, in which parchment coffee is partially dried before the parchment is removed and the green coffee is dried further. This distinctive processing method contributes to the full body, gentle acidity, earthy character, and deep complexity commonly associated with coffees from the region.

As a Fair Trade and Organic cooperative coffee, this offering reflects more than the production of an individual farm. It represents the collective work of smallholder producers who depend on cooperative organization for processing infrastructure, quality management, certification, and access to international buyers. KSU Buana Mandiri's cooperative model connects these farming communities with broader markets while supporting the traditions and agricultural practices that define coffee cultivation in the Gayo Highlands of Northern Sumatra.