Our Mission
In order to provide the finest quality specialty coffees, we must do our part to ensure the farmers are well taken care of and are growing their coffee with loving, healthy hands.
Founded in 2013,The SAFAI Foundation is a grassroots organization that works directly with the Honduran farming community to provide them with the direct assistance they need to nurture their land and their families.
With continued dedication and funding, our goal is to not only complete the mission of replanting 80 family farms, but to make a positive impact across the coffee growing region. Through health care services, education facilities and economic opportunities, the SAFAI Foundation will continue to extend aid wherever possible.
Continued Commitment
In 1998, Mike and Medora Safai began their coffee roasting journey in a small kiosk in Louisville, Kentucky. Since then, their passion for purveying the finest coffees has grown to a successful and sustainable enterprise. Safai Enterprises uses 100% Specialty Grade Arabica coffees grown and shipped from 11 countries around the world. Where practical, our Master Roaster visits coffee farms to build direct relationships with the farmers.
These relationships mutually help our roaster to understand the growing conditions and the farmer to understand the roasters’ preferred characteristics and end user feedback.
While visiting the coffee farms in Marcala, Honduras, team members of Safai Enterprises witnessed firsthand the devastation wrought by the “rust” disease. Throughout Central and South America, the “rust” fungus ravages the leaves of the coffee plants. Eventually, the infected coffee shrubs will no longer produce the much sought after fruit. In 2013, Safai Enterprises decided to found the Safai Arabica Farm Assistance Initiative. The goal of the Foundation was clear: get the farms back up and running.
The Foundation is committed to helping coffee farms convert their current rust-affected shrubs to a disease tolerant species. For the next three years, as those plantings mature, The SAFAI Foundation supplements the income lost by coffee farmers, allowing them to stay on their land and support their families. Thus far, the Foundation has helped to replant 30 family farms.
In addition to helping farmers replant their coffee shrubs, the SAFAI Foundation has extended it’s aid to include improvement to educational facilities for the young families, healthcare to a rural area of 90,000 people and providing economic growth opportunities to those in need.
Check out our UPCOMING PROJECTS page to see what we are planning next and how you can help!
View Projects