Rio Intag Coffee Farmers Co-Operative
AACRI (Asociacion Agroartesanal de Caficultores Rio Intage)
Fair Trade Coffee in The Rio Intag Valley of Ecuador



This property is well known to the area and 
called the Face of Intag or the Face of Apuela. 
We recently purchased this property to grow 
coffee.
This is the Cloud Forest Village of Apuela, in 
the Rio Intag Valley, most people in the area 
have small plots of coffee plants and sell to 
AACRI the Coffee Co-Operative of Intag Valley

The Coffee is grown in natural shade under 
banana and other native shade trees, with no 
herbicides or pesticides, so there are no trace 
chemicals in the coffee from here ! 
The Intag Valley Coffee is harvested everyday 
and only the ripe beans are picked at their 
prime condition. 

The Coffee is dried in the sun to enhance the flavour

The Coffee is dried on tarps or woven mats
on the street or yards, it must be turned
regularly and brought inside whenever it rains

The dried beans are brough to AACRI
to be graded and roasted for International
Sales
 

Laura and Grace spent a day working in the Coffee Factory with Ramiro
preparing the coffee they brought to Canada for resale


This is Ramiro putting the roasted beans
in the grinder.
This roaster does small batches of beans
to perfection
Grace is putting the Coffee in the Agave
Bags that are woven by the local woman
Laura is measuring out the exact amount 
to go into each bag, they are then heat 
sealed to keep it fresh until it reaches your 
coffee mug.

Growing Agave for weaving is another way of bringing economy to the Valley for the Women


The Agave plant is harvested and layed to 
dry in the sun 
Once it is dried it is spun and woven into
coffee bags that cover the plastic bag

Below are a few examples of the handy work of the women of the Cloud Forest
they make many different purses, hats and belts from the Agave Plant
many colours are available from the natural dyes of the area