Harris, IM 84, not only knows where his coffee originates but helps improve the lives of his suppliers.

"These are subsistence farmers — often the poorest of the poor," Harris said. "Although industrious and hard working, these individuals' only option has been to sell their coffee to local middlemen, known as coyotes in Latin America, at prices far below the actual market value.

"We establish long-term partnerships guided by long-term contracts, thus providing a stable relationship and guaranteeing the farmer good prices for the foreseeable future," Harris said.

With a customer base of coffee shops, natural food and grocery stores, Internet retail and fund-raising groups, Cafe Campesino — Spanish for "coffee from a small farmer" — anticipated sales of $400,000 in 2004.

In 1998, using funding from a home equity loan, Harris bought his first container of Guatemalan coffee beans.

"After about a year of importing coffee one container at a time, we realized it was a great idea that could be scaled, forming a purchasing cooperative with other values driven coffee companies," said Harris, who in 2000 founded Cooperative Coffees. "I serve as president of the cooperative and manage it from our offices in Americus."

Cooperative Coffees annually imports 1.3 million pounds of coffee — equivalent to 35 containers — from Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, East Timor, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Peru and Ethiopia and sells it to 17 roasters in the United States and Canada. Two years ago Harris expanded the business and built a coffee-roasting facility in a World War II surplus Quonset hut.

"Many have argued with our business approach, implying that by paying the farmers higher-than-market prices for their harvest we are violating the rules of commerce and essentially operating a charity. Not true. We are in fact assuring ourselves of the highest possible quality of coffee and the quality only gets better," he said.

"For independent operators like Cafe Campesino and other members of Cooperative Coffees, our direct relationship with the growers becomes a competitive advantage," Harris said. "I wake up and want to come to work. I know that our work is helping others and that there is always great coffee in the coffeepot!"

©2005 Georgia Tech Alumni Association