Coffee’s In Our Blood

How close are you to your coworkers? You might go out for coffee with them, maybe grab some lunch – but odds are you won't get invited to their weddings. Well, this actually happens between our expert NESCAFÉ agronomists and the coffee-growing farmers in Mexico. Though we can’t guarantee they stick to coffee when celebrating!

There’s such a strong bond between the coffee growers and NESCAFÉ’s experts that the farming families have pictures of themselves and their coworker friends on their mantelpieces. They also count down the days until their next visit. But this isn’t that surprising when you realize these farming partnerships have been formed over decades and through hardship.

We supported farmers during hard times like the Mexican coffee rust crisis of 2012-2015. When a fungus devastated coffee crops and threatened the livelihoods of our farming partners, we distributed more than 37 million disease-resistant coffee plants to over 33,000 farmers. But we didn’t stop there. We spent the next 2-3 years helping farmers tend to their new ‘babies’. Today, farmers are reaping the rewards and crop yields have increased in key regions like Chiapas and Veracruz.

We're proud to say that some growers we work with today are the children or grandchildren of the first farmers we worked with. We believe coffee flows through the generations. Alfredo, a third-generation coffee farmer in Veracruz, puts it best, “You could say we have brown blood!”

So the next time you make a cup of NESCAFÉ, remember the generations of hard work that has gone into it. It's just one of the reasons it tastes so good.