French Roast Blend Fair Trade

by Equator Coffees
Wholebean

Tasting Notes

Strength/Intensity

9/10

Roast

Dark

About this Coffee

Our darkest roast, this certified blend is crafted by our expert roasters to develop delicate smoky nuances while retaining sweetness and fruit-toned chocolate flavors.

French Roast Blend features a pair of high grown, fully-washed coffees from Latin America as its foundation. The origin countries fluctuate throughout the crop year to ensure freshness but, we always include bright-toned coffees with flavors of bittersweet chocolate and dried fruit.

A wet-hulled coffee produced by the Ketiara Cooperative in Sumatra’s Gayo Mountain region rounds out the blend. Ketiara is a women-led group that is committed to producing high quality coffee and empowering women of the local community. This coffee’s classic Sumatran character perfectly complements the Latin American coffee by adding depth and body.

WHY WE LOVE THIS COFFEE

This is our darkest roast. The goal with this French Roast blend is to develop delicate smoky nuances while retaining sweetness and fruit-toned chocolate flavors.

GOOD COFFEE, BETTER PLANET

In addition to producing great coffee, one of the reasons we were initially attracted to Ketiara, is the fact that it is led by a charismatic woman named Rahmah. After working in coffee for many years, she helped found Ketiara in 2009 with just 38 members and currently serves as the co-op’s chairperson. In the years since it was established, the co-op membership has expanded to nearly 2,000 smallholder farmers, over 50% of them being women. The coffee Equator purchases is exclusively from the women members of the co-op; they refer to this special selection as Queen Ketiara. We pay an additional premium for the “Queen” designation, with proceeds going to programs that benefit women.

All of French Roast Blend’s components are both Fair Trade and Organic certified.