Did you know that at Gloria Jean’s Coffees we have introduced beans from Rainforest Allaince Certified™ farms into our signature espresso blend?*

This means your coffee not only tastes good. but also does good – by purchasing coffee from Rainforest Alliance Certified™ farms, we help provide better housing, health and education for farmers, workers and their families, and also help protect local wild life.

Labareda Estate Coffee covers 2,964 acres of coffee, sugar cane and cerrado wilderness and 593 hectares is protected within nature reserves.

The cerrado ecosystem is a mosaic of forest and savannah unique to central Brazil. Because only a fraction of this region is protection within national parks, coffee farms like Labareda play a vital role in conserving its extraordinary biodiversity – including the toco toucan, gray brocket deer, peach-fronted parakeet and rare maned wolf.

Flavia says he often sees wolves eating the tomato-like lobelra fruit that falls to the ground. He has planted 1,140 native trees nearby to expand the reserve and intends to plant thousands more. “I like to plant trees. I like to see trees,” he says.

Improving life for workers and their families is a priority at Labareda. The company provides private health coverage for all personnel, including regular doctor’s visits once a month.

It also offers workers breakfast every morning, send them home with a basket of food once a month, and at the end of each harvest organises a three-day trip to a beach or other attraction.

But Labareda’s most ambitious efforts are in education. On Friday evenings and Saturdays, two adult educators run classes for more than 50 workers and their wives. The program has helped workers learn to read, qualify for driver’s licenses and complete grammer school.

Coffee farming is a tradition that is deeply ingrained in the cultures and economies of many countries, with millions of families depending upon the commodity. But coffee farmers face many challenges: over-supply and low prices, inclement weather, pests and diseases, rising costs and sometimes unhelpful government policies.

Labareda has weathered tough times thanks to the Rainforest Alliance organisation’s support in farm management, and in negotiating leverage and access to premium markets.

By implementing the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) farm-management system, Labareda has been able to control costs and improve crop quality.