Rapunzel Products Coffee, cocoa and instant beverages

Hero coffee

Will make you alert and attentive for a just world

Our hero coffee was named hero coffee because it is produced by real heroes. Our heroes are the coffee farmers who create flourishing biodiversity on their farms. The cultivation of coffee in mixed culture and underneath shade trees results in stable and biodiverse ecosystems and extraordinary high-quality coffee beans.

The farmers’ intensive care of the coffee bushes, their thorough manual labor and their careful selection of the beans create the finest organic and 100 % fair-trade coffee enjoyment – grown by real coffee heroes.

HAND IN HAND together with the local farmers - our coffee heroes - we take care of the high-quality organic coffee - from the flowering coffee plant all the way to the store. HAND IN HAND is a unique promise of excellent organic quality and fair trade.

Working HAND IN HAND stands for more than just fair wages. Personal contact at eye level, long-term cooperation and the support of local, eco-social projects express the high appreciation that we have for our coffee heroes.

Cultivation under shade trees

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As is the case with wine, the soil quality, the hours of sunshine and the amount of precipitation during the maturation period greatly influence the taste of coffee. The sensitive coffee plants need a balanced climate without extreme heat or cold throughout the entire year as well as sufficient precipitation and lots of shade.

The higher the altitude at which coffee is grown, the lower the average ambient temperature and the slower the growth of the coffee bean. This is an advantage, because slow growth gives the coffee bush more time to develop its beans. This has a positive effect on the aromatic intensity and flavor diversity in the coffee bean.

Coffee farmers from the ANEI Cooperative in Colombia

Cultivation in mixed culture promotes biodiversity.

The coffee plants for Rapunzel's Hero Coffee are cultivated in mixed culture by small peasants. The cultivation underneath shade trees lets the coffee beans mature slower, giving them more time to develop their aroma.

Shade trees, however, do not only provide shade but have numerous other advantages: they protect against wind and erosion, loosen the soil, improve soil humidity and therefore protect the coffee plants in multiple ways.

The shade trees also provide the coffee plants natural protection against pests. In addition, falling leaves from the trees and ground-covering plants facilitate weed regulation.

This results in a more stable ecosystem that contributes to the natural health of the coffee plants and the entire ecosystem.

Good quality requires manual work

During the harvest period, only the ripe, red coffee cherries are repeatedly picked by hand. After the harvest, the farmers check the plants once again picking ripe cherries that have still remained on the coffee trees, because left over coffee cherries increase the risk for pest infestation and diseases.

Also the thorough annual trimming of the coffee bushes is manual labor. Compost from the pulp of the coffee cherries is used for fertilization.

This way, the nutrient cycle is closed and the coffee plants get back as many nutrients as possible.

The farmers and the cooperatives process the harvest immediately: the coffee beans are removed from the cherries. For Arabica coffee, this is done using a "wet processing" method: the beans are peeled from the pulp, fermented, washed and dried. After the beans have been sorted thoroughly, the green, raw coffee is prepared for export.

Hero coffee: manually harvested and manually tended

Rapunzel’s coffee roastery in the Allgäu

A single coffee bean contains approximately eight hundred flavors that are unfolded in the roasting process and that will shape the individual coffee character.

For the roasting process, the beans from our coffee heroes are shipped into the Allgäu. Here, the beans are roasted in the Rapunzel roastery. Our well-experienced roast masters pay great attention to the high quality of the raw coffee beans and see to it that the perfect roasting time and roasting temperature is found for every bean and for every coffee bean origin.

Our coffee is roasted in a traditional drum roaster in a gentle, long-lasting process at low temperatures. This gives the coffee time to unfold its great flavor variety.

This process is gentle on the beans, but also on the environment, because the energy that is released during the roasting process is reused through recirculation and waste heat recovery.

Why organic & fair is so important for coffee:

Organic... for nature

sustainable cultivation as shade coffee in mixed culture
no use of pesticides
organic fertilization
gentle harvest by hand

Fair ... for the people

fair prices and additional fair trade premium for farmers and workers
longterm partnership and purchase guarantee
humane and safe working conditions
social security for employees
ban on child and forced labor

HAND IN HAND ... with the peasant farmers

HAND IN HAND integrates 100 % organic and fair
direct and personal contact and purchase
support and advice to local farmers on organic farming techniques, processing and quality assurance issues
promotion of charitable projects in the countries of origin
fair product prices including organic and HAND IN HAND premium