top of page
img_order.jpg
CAN THE COFFEE YOU DRINK REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

Imagine you’re a poor hill-tribe farmer in the rugged mountains north of Chiang Mai in Thailand.​​

​

You have no access to fresh water; food is scarce, and you are heavily in debt to loan sharks. They have lent you money at 10% interest a month in order to grow crops on a small piece of land. It's unlikely you'll ever be out of debt. Life is tough and, as you don't have official Thai citizenship, no government help is available.

​​

​Or imagine you're a young woman working in one of Bangkok's notorious red-light districts.

​​

You have been sold into prostitution by your family to pay off a debt and now you are trapped in a brutal and degrading life with little hope of escape. You have to sell yourself every day, with just one day off a month. Everyone around you exploits you and sees you merely as a mechanism for earning money.

​​

​It is these people that the sale of La Mai coffee supports.

​​

It is our passion and commitment to give hope to the poor and exploited in Thailand that drives us. â€‹Through La Mai coffee we are doing something to help these people. And when you drink La Mai coffee, so are you. Here's how:

​

  • We pay our growers well above fair trade prices

  • We partner with a local co-operative to support water, sanitation, irrigation, and education projects for the coffee-growing villages

  • We provide funds for low-interest microfinance programmes for hill-tribe villages to help them establish crops and purchase livestock to improve their standard of living

  • We apply coffee sales proceeds to support a Bangkok based organisation that helps rescue women from prostitution and support them into new trades

  • We are not for profit, and we don't pay ourselves wages

Watch the video and see for yourself how La Mai is produced.

So, enjoy the coffee, and know you’re now part of a story with a happy ending. And please put the word around – the coffee’s great but the story is even better.

​

What you can do to help:

  • Read the story and watch our video

  • Order some coffee from us

  • Find out more about us, and consider sponsoring a partnership

  • Contact us if you need further information

 

La Mai coffee is very high quality arabica coffee from the highlands of Thailand, and is custom-roasted in small batches by expert coffee roasters Coffee Worx, based in Christchurch.

​

La Mai Coffee is only available in New Zealand. If you are in the US, we recommend Lanna Coffee in Fresno, CA (https://www.lannacoffeeco.com) which sources coffee from the same co-operative as La Mai.

bottom of page