Pact Coffee has been awarded with Gold Sustainable Ingredient at the Sustainable Food Awards 2024, recognising Cenicafé 1.
The UK roaster launched the Arabica variety as a world-exclusive in 2020 in joint collaboration with Cenicafé National Research Centre, the FNC (Colombian Coffee Federation), and a number of Colombian coffee farmers that it works with on a long-term, direct-trade basis.
Cenicafé 1 was developed as an answer to climate change in Colombia. It’s resistant to pests which thrive as the planet heats up and grows in these warmer temperatures, meaning farmers don’t need to desperately deforest land further up the mountain to make ends meet.
Will Corby, Pact’s Director of Coffee and Social Impact, said: “First and foremost, I want to recognise the decades of work that Cenicafé put into developing this variety, as well as the trust they put in us to bring this to market as a single-varietal coffee for the very first time.”
“It’s also down to María Olano, a true coffee expert and close friend of ours at the FNC, Cecilia Camacho, who was behind the first Cenicafé 1 coffee on our menu, and all other farmers that we’ve worked with who have taken the pioneering step to plant this variety to combat climate change”.
“This is far from the sole achievement of Pact Coffee. No individual could have done this alone – and this only goes to show the importance of a direct-trade supply chain and what this can mean for sustainability.”
Cenicafé 1 is set to return to the Pact menu this autumn.
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