4.30.2008 - 05:39pm ET

(CSRwire) BATON ROUGE, La., April 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Community Coffee Company welcomed special guests from Colombia, including coffee farmers and students from the towns of Toledo and Labateca, as well as the director of the Colombian Coffee Federation. The students attend a technical school that Community Coffee Company customers help to fund. This occasion marks the coffee growers' first opportunity to see where their coffee beans are roasted and packaged for use in Community(R) Private Reserve(R) Colombia: Toledo-Labateca Single-Origin Coffee available at CC's Community Coffee House(TM) and online at http://www.CommunityCoffee.com.

"We are honored to welcome our Colombian partners to our Louisiana-based roasting facility," said Matthew Saurage, fourth-generation family member and president of Community Coffee Company. "Our partnership enables us to provide specialty quality 100% Colombia coffee, while continuing to invest in the quality of life where our suppliers, employees and customers work and live."

In 2001 Community Coffee Company discovered the villages of Toledo and Labateca in the highlands of the Andes Mountains, where cool mountain breezes mingle with the humid air of the savannas to produce Arabica coffee beans of the highest standard. After its coffee-tasting experts experienced this exceptional coffee, they quickly struck a long-term agreement with the farmers of Toledo and Labateca. Today, Community Coffee Company is still the exclusive U.S. importer and roaster of their distinctive beans.

Since 100 percent of the economy in Toledo and Labateca is dependent on coffee, Community Coffee Company guarantees the purchase of the farmers' coffee beans before they are ever picked so they can devote their full resources to growing the best specialty coffee. This agreement united Toledo and Labateca, which had experienced political and religious differences over several decades. Today, both towns share the common goal of growing some of the best coffee in the world; thus, the stamp on the bag of the Colombia: Toledo-Labateca Coffee symbolizes the uniting of these two towns farming coffee together.

For every bag of Community Coffee Private Reserve Colombia:
Toledo-Labateca that is purchased, ten cents goes into an endowment for social development projects in Colombia. Through this endowment, education is impacted in the two towns, in many ways mirroring the local Community Cash for Schools(TM) program. In the first five years, this endowment combined with support from the Colombia Coffee Federation, state and local governments, and Ecopetrol provided enough funds to convert a 200-year-old colonial ranch into a technical school for high-school-age children. In addition, the funds allowed for the construction of coffee drying patios to improve coffee quality as well as the purchase of livestock to improve farmers' diets. Over 280 children attend the school which offers professional training classes for coffee growers, among other classes. This year, the funds will be used to install 15 new computers along with internet connectivity in the "hogar juvenil" (student housing). This will not only allow students a new and powerful education resource, it will allow them to build long-distance relationships with Cash for Schools-participating schools in Louisiana and surrounding Gulf Coast states.

"Few companies demonstrate the same kind of long-term commitment and results as Community Coffee Company," Alejandro Renjifo, U.S. Coordinator and Promoter of the Coffee Relationship Partnership project. "The Coffee Relationship Partnership is translated into Spanish as 'Amigos y Socios en Cafe' which means friends and partners in coffee. Community Coffee Company has certainly demonstrated what it means to be a true friend and partner in helping these Colombian coffee growers."

Community Coffee Company was founded in 1919 in Baton Rouge by Henry Norman "Cap" Saurage. Today, the Company is still family owned and operated and is the largest family-owned retail coffee brand in America. Community(R) brand products are available in Louisiana, Texas and the Southeast in grocery stores, offices, restaurants, hotels and convenience stores. Specialty quality Private Reserve(R) coffees can be found at CC's Community Coffee House(TM) locations in Baton Rouge, Lafayette and New Orleans, as well as in grocery stores in the area and through CommunityCoffee.com. Community proudly roasts and packages its fine coffees locally, in Louisiana. For more information, visit CommunityCoffee.com, call 1-800-525-5583 or write Community Coffee Company, Post Office Box 791, Baton Rouge, LA 70821