The history of this Atlanta coffee shop started in another country. Bill Harris, co-founder of Café Campesino, was in in Guatemala in 1997 with Habitat for Humanity’s Global Village program where he learned about coffee and the farmers who grow it. Harris learned that coffee farmers all over the world were exploited and he wanted to do something about it by supporting Fair Trade and alternative growing and selling arrangements that were just sprouting up.
“Café Campesino’s role would be establishing long-term relationships with these farmer cooperatives, buying and importing their green coffee, paying them a fair wage, and selling it to roasters in the U.S. who cared about the people behind the coffee,” says Harris on their website. That’s how, in Americus, Georgia, the United States’ first and only Fair Trade, organic purchasing cooperative for green coffee beans was born. Later they formed a buying cooperative and began roasting beans. Café Campesino’s name is from the Spanish translation of “coffee from a small farmer.” As Bill explains, "It can be lonely at times to have a business committed to more than just making money.” They deal directly with small scale farmers to insure the quality of both the coffee and the farmer’s lives, doing "business by the golden rule.”
No one reflects the value—and the excitement—of the company better than AlmetaCarol Tulloss, manager of Café Campesino at Sweet Auburn Curb Market since September of 2010. “There are so many reasons to love this unique location! This is the Southeast’s original ‘farm to table’ market.”
In addition to great coffee, there are fresh pastries from Little Ren Hen Bakery, owned by Maria Moore-Riggs, the original proprietor of the shop. “She used to bake everything from scratch here, now she delivers raw dough and we bake in small batches on site.”
Tulloss says, “Our most popular coffee is definitely Sweet Auburn Blend, it's our house roast and it's the perfect well balanced, full bodied, nutty, chocolately breakfast coffee. Everyone loves it. It just tastes exceptionally good.”
“The key to our success lies in the quality of the relationships we build with farmers, which translates into a taste and feel that permeates our coffeehouses. It's not just about the coffee, it's about the people. Happy farmers grow good coffee.”
Café Campesino is part of the Atlanta Culinary Tour of Sweet Auburn Curb Market.
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