New Nexternal Live Client: Gwandu Coffee
The Gwandu Coffee Company was established in 2011 by Paskali Gwandu and Catherine Moore. Paskali was Catherine’s guide through the forests of Karatu in Tanzania, and he knew by heart the names of every songbird, bush, and tree — in Latin! He is a brilliant naturalist. When she arrived back home, Paskali sent me a package of coffee from his village farm as thanks for our visit. It was the most wonderful coffee our family had ever tasted.
Catherine became curious why this coffee was so good and discovered that almost all coffee is sold through auctions, kept in warehouses, and shipped long distances in humid cargo holds — a process that leaches out flavor and continually degrades the coffee. Also, she discovered that the farmers don’t make much money on their coffee because they don’t have easy access to markets. Rather, they rely on middlemen who buy up their coffee at low prices and then distribute it around the world. Catherine felt that if the farmers could sell their coffee directly to coffee drinkers, the drinkers would be delighted by a unique, fresh taste they had never before experienced, and the farmers would benefit by getting the world price directly for their coffee. So, Gwandu Coffee was born.
They now deliver the finest fresh hand roasted coffee directly from coffee farmers to coffee lovers worldwide. Their coffee is grown on small, carefully hand-tended family plots by individual families. By selling direct, farmers can realize up to five times the value for their coffee crop by avoiding the low prices and market control imposed by corporate buyers and middlemen.
To purchase any of Gwandu Coffee’s delicious roast, you can shop their online store, which is now up and running, powered by Nexternal’s eCommerce platform!
Coming from a medical and non-profit management background, Taryn has extensive experience in customer service and marketing. She is a Senior Account Manager for Nexternal and loves working with her clients to develop social media and marketing strategies to improve their online presence. In her spare time, she also runs a successful eCommerce jewelry and essential oils business.
