Sailing coffee to Germany: A sustainable trade model? – DW – 06/14/2025
Cafe Chavalo promotes fair, sustainable coffee trade. The beans are grown on organic farms in Nicaragua, then sailed to Europe. From there, bike couriers deliver the coffee to cafes.
In 2014, German journalist Jens Klein founded the cooperative Cafe Chavalo after visiting coffee farms in Nicaragua. These farms, organized into local cooperatives, soon became part of his vision for more equitable trade.
Today, around 250 families are part of the initiative. Instead of relying on the volatile global market, they now receive a fixed price per pound — offering them a more stable and fair income. Every spring, Cafe Chavalo's organic coffee beans are shipped across the Atlantic on the Avontuur, a wind-powered cargo vessel.
The journey from Nicaragua to Hamburg takes about four months. While the project doesn't aim to transform the global coffee trade, its founders hope it sends a clear message, calling for fairer trade and greater sustainability amid the climate crisis.
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DW
16 hours ago
- DW
Sailing coffee to Germany: A sustainable trade model? – DW – 06/14/2025
Cafe Chavalo promotes fair, sustainable coffee trade. The beans are grown on organic farms in Nicaragua, then sailed to Europe. From there, bike couriers deliver the coffee to cafes. In 2014, German journalist Jens Klein founded the cooperative Cafe Chavalo after visiting coffee farms in Nicaragua. These farms, organized into local cooperatives, soon became part of his vision for more equitable trade. Today, around 250 families are part of the initiative. Instead of relying on the volatile global market, they now receive a fixed price per pound — offering them a more stable and fair income. Every spring, Cafe Chavalo's organic coffee beans are shipped across the Atlantic on the Avontuur, a wind-powered cargo vessel. The journey from Nicaragua to Hamburg takes about four months. While the project doesn't aim to transform the global coffee trade, its founders hope it sends a clear message, calling for fairer trade and greater sustainability amid the climate crisis.
DW
17 hours ago
- DW
Sailing coffee: A sustainable trade model? – DW – 06/14/2025
In 2014, German journalist Jens Klein founded the cooperative Café Chavalo after visiting coffee farms in Nicaragua. These farms, organized into local cooperatives, soon became part of his vision for more equitable trade. Today, around 250 families are part of the initiative. Instead of relying on the volatile global market, they now receive a fixed price per pound - offering them a more stable and fair income. Every spring, Café Chavalo's coffee beans are shipped across the Atlantic on the Avontuur, a wind-powered cargo vessel. The journey from Nicaragua to Hamburg takes about four months. While the project doesn't aim to transform the global coffee trade, its founders hope it sends a clear message: calling for fairer trade and greater sustainability amid the climate crisis.
Local Germany
19 hours ago
- Local Germany
Germany and last Kaiser's heirs agree to keep treasures on display
The agreement ends a century-old dispute between the state and the Hohenzollern family, descendants of the last German emperor and king of Prussia, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who abdicated after World War I. "After 100 years, we have amicably resolved a dispute dating back to the transition from the monarchy to the republic," said Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer, hailing the "historic success". The collection reportedly covers 27,000 objects including paintings, sculptures, coins, books and furniture. "Countless works of art that are of great importance to the history of Brandenburg, Prussia, and thus Germany will now be permanently accessible to the public and continue to form the centrepieces of our museums and palaces," said Weimer. Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia said in a statement that "it has always been my goal to permanently preserve our shared cultural heritage for art-loving citizens and to make it publicly accessible". "The solution now found provides an excellent basis for a new partnership between the state cultural foundations and my family." Under the agreement, previously disputed objects will be transferred to a non-profit Hohenzollern Art Heritage Foundation, with two thirds of the board made up of public sector representatives, and one third by the aristocratic family. Advertisement Lost behind Iron Curtain The ancient House of Hohenzollern ruled the German Empire from its establishment in 1871 until Wilhelm II was forced to abdicate in 1918, going into exile after Germany's defeat in World War I. The Prussian royals were initially to be stripped of their properties but a deal was later worked out under a 1926 law. The imperial family received millions of Deutschmarks and kept dozens of castles, villas and other properties, mainly in and around Berlin but also as far away as today's Namibia. However, after Nazi Germany's World War II defeat, Soviet occupation of eastern Germany and communist rule led to additional expropriations. The riches lost behind the Iron Curtain only came back into reach for the Hohenzollern family with the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall. Under a 1994 law, people whose property was expropriated by the Soviets have a right to claim compensation -- but only if they did not "lend considerable support" to the Nazi regime. The family fought for years to recover the treasures but dropped the bid in 2023 when a family representative acknowledged that Kaiser Wilhelm II "sympathised with the Nazis at times". The deal announced on Friday was sealed after the German Historical Museum Foundation gave its approval, following the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation and the Prussian Castles and Gardens Foundation in Berlin-Brandenburg.
