Orang Utan Coffee Projekt

I have dedicated all my life to the saving of the critically endangered orangutans. The lowland tropical rainforest in the North of Sumatra is home to the last orangutans living in the wild. The vast tropical mountain rainforest provides the ideal climate for Sumatra’s unique Arabica coffee to thrive. It is the home of more than one thousand coffee farmers and their families.

With the rapid growth of the palm oil industry, the rainforest in Sumatra shrunk down to about 10 % of its initial size. The advancing destruction of tropical rainforests is threatening the existence of both, orangutans and local farmers. Some of these farmers, encumbered with debt, destroy the tropical mountain forest on the steep slopes to expand their coffee estate to be able to provide a living for their families.

Massive landslides, erosion and global warming are the inevitable consequences, which in turn negatively affect the quality of the coffee.

Within this vicious circle everyone loses: the orangutans, the farmers, the environment. I have founded the Orang Utan Coffee Project to break this circle, ensure conservation and enable a better living in Sumatra.

The Orang Utan Coffee Project aims at protecting the rainforest by creating value for the local population. We help coffee farmers operate in a sustainable and successful way without clearing the rainforest. We work with farmers who have owned their one or two hectares for several generations. They recognize the importance of rainforests as source of their livelihood and follow the strict Orang Utan Guidelines, which are comparable to Swiss organic farming standards. For their commitment to protect the rainforest, they receive a financial bonus calculated on kilos of exported coffee.

Now I would like to kindly ask for your help. To meet the increasing demand for our coffee, we need to build our own processing station.

It consists of an access road, a concrete drying patio of 400 square meters, a depulping and a sorting machine as well as fencing around the property. This amounts to a total of 200'000 Swiss Francs.

With 50'000 Swiss Francs we will be able to finance the concrete drying patio and all required machines. This would be a major milestone on our way to building our own coffee processing station – making a tangible difference for many families in Sumatra.

Support our project and enjoy your very own delicious Sumatra Arabica coffee at my friends from ViCAFE at Bellevue or at Goldbrunnenplatz in Zurich.

Not from Zurich? Not a problem. Check out our website to see where you can try our coffee in your area. You will find lots of opportunities to taste our Orang Utan Coffee and become fond of it – just as everyone who has tasted it has.