Oromo Coffee Company Goes Royal?

This summer has been the Summer of Love – for not one but TWO – Dukes of Cambridge!

The entrepreneur, Geetie Singh, proprietor of London’s famous organic gastro-pub ‘The Duke of Cambridge’ recently fell head
over heels for Oromo Coffee Co. coffee (OCC). After being approached by an LYF ‘fan’ and hardcore coffee addict – Geetie decided to try it for herself. She undertook a blind cupping test and found that the OCC coffee not only scored much higher on taste, but still beat her existing coffee supplier on price.

Members of the OCC at the Duke of Cambridge Gastro Pub in London

In order to celebrate the Oromo community’s joy at the Duke of Islington pub serving the OCC brew Geetie held an afternoon of coffee tasting, led by one of the world’s leading experts on coffee cupping – Damian Blackburn.

Friends and business contacts attending, heard from members of the Oromo community about the importance of this social enterprise in restoring their dignity and providing much needed UK work experience for them. After much sniffing, slurping and (yes) spitting of the coffee – several more converts to this top quality coffee were made and once again, we would like to thank all involved in this event for putting your money where your mouth is and demonstrating that communities can empower themselves through fairer trading initiatives!
 What is the Oromo Coffee Company?

The LYF was first approached by a group of Oromo Ethiopian refugees who had come to the UK under a UN programme of assistance, two years ago. The LYF, possessing experience in working at a grassroots level with both producer groups and poor communities in the UK suggested that the Oromos set up their own coffee trading social enterprise and offered to support them on a voluntary basis.

Thanks to the kindness of friends such as James Purnell (then Minister for Work and Pensions) and a number of local businesses who made ‘in kind’ donations (not least the marvellous Bolling Coffee) we were able to launch the OCC’s first batch of coffee – marking the OCC out as the UK’s first Refugee-Owned Fairtrade and Organic Coffee social enterprise.

Two years on – the retail and catering successes of OCC are growing.  In addition to cafés and delis – ethically-committed shops (such as the Fair Traders co-op in Holmfirth) now serve and supply the coffee in the North of England.  Now, with a little promotional help from two LYF entrepreneurial fans (who wish to remain   anonymous but who have resorted to old-fashioned ‘doorstep selling’!)  the South East is now arriving on the  scene.  With the Duke of Cambridge in Islington, Friends House in Euston, the Methodist International Conference Centre – not to mention St Alban’s Abbey – you can now get a cup of this ‘high end’ Oromo  Ethiopian coffee, without having to board the West or East Coast train line!

For more information on the coffee  – how to buy it etc – contact details are available at www.oromocoffee.org

 

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