Higher Grounds Trading Company

Roasting 100% Fair Trade and Organic Handcrafted Coffees

• Visit Us
  • The Coffee Bar
  • The Roastery
  • Cuppings & Tours
  • Directions & Hours
• The Farmers
  • Colombia
  • Ethiopia
  • Mexico
  • Nicaragua
  • Peru
  • Sumatra
  • Uganda
• The Coffees
  • About the Beans
  • Roasting Philosophy
  • Brewing Tips
• Giving Back
  • Coffees for Change
  • Chiapas Water Project
  • On the Ground
• About Us
  • Our Mission
  • Our Blog
  • Our Friends
  • Fair Trade Tours
  • eNewsletter
  • Contact Us

Go Shopping

• Single Origin
• Blends
• Decaf
• Coffees For Change
• Green Beans
• Coffee Samplers
• Monthly Java Clubs
• Gift Baskets
• Gift Certificates
• Fair Trade Olive Oil
• Fair Trade Chocolate
• Gifts and Gear
• Equipment
• Music

Free shipping
on all retail orders
over $150!

Our Friends

In our journeys at home and abroad, we've met so many amazing people who are working hard for a better world. Please take a moment to check out some of the folks we admire:

Gear & Tools for Social Change

• Green America
  Working to harness economic power to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.
• Proletarian Threads
  Sweatshop-free bike tees & political tees, screenprinted by hand in Traverse City.
• Center for a New American Dream
  Helping Americans consume responsibly to protect the environment, enhance quality of life, and promote social justice.
• Peace Supplies
  An independent media project printing stickers, buttons, tees and more on union-made, fair-trade, organic products. Large selection of products promoting peace, justice, and green living. Printing services for progressive groups, too.

On the Front Lines of the Coffee Industry

• Coffee Kids
  Working to improve the quality of life for children and families who live in coffee-growing communities around the world.
• Cooperative Coffees
  Higher Grounds is a member of this green fair trade coffee importing cooperative. Co-op Coffees is committed to supporting equitable and sustainable trade to the benefit of farmers and their exporting cooperatives, families and communities.
• CRS Fair Trade Program
  Creates opportunities to make trade fairer for impoverished people overseas.
• Global Exchange: Fair Trade Coffee Campaign
  Working toward social development, economic independence and environmental sustainability for family farmers around the world.
• Jubilee Economic Ministeries: Fair Trade Coffee Campaign
  Educating groups and individuals about the importance of buying fair trade products.
• Make Trade Fair: Oxfam International
  Provides various reports on coffee, farmers, and how international trade rules lead to poverty and oppression in the developing world.
• Sexto Sol Center for Community Action
  Working toward the elimination of poverty and the restoration of the damaged environment by promoting cooperative enterprise, environmentally sound agriculture, appropriate technology and conservation in Mexico and Guatemala.

Social Justice and Environmental Sustainability in Northwest Michigan

• Absolute Michigan
  Connecting you to the best local enterprises in Michigan.
• Earthwork Music
  A collective of musicians creating original music with the goal of building community in Northern Michigan and creating awareness of social and environmental issues.
• Food for Thought, Inc.
  Organic and wild-harvested preserves and products, promoting local agriculture and sustainability.
• ISLAND
  An innovative NGO working to create spaces that explore the integration of art, natural design and sustainable living.
• Leelanau.com
  Your guide to Leelanau County, the birthplace of Higher Grounds and one of the most beautiful regions in the Midwest.
• Michigan Land Use Institute
  Protecting the environment, strengthening the economy, and enhancing the quality of life in Northwest Michigan.
• Traverse Gourmet
  Your online connection to northern Michigan artisan food.
  
  

Our Friends in Chiapas, Mexico:

• Carlos Fuentes on Chiapas
  Fuentes is one of Mexico's most famous writers and provides here a great explanation of the significance of Chiapas for the unacquainted.
• Center for Economic and Political Investigations of Community Action, A.C. (CIEPAC)
  An in-depth site which examines the economic and political realities of Chiapas.
• Chiapas Indymedia
  News on the latest happenings in Chiapas.
• Chiapas Watch
  Comprehensive page with links to articles and other organizations working in Chiapas.
• Global Exchange's Mexico Program
  Working to support the peace process and grassroots initiatives for social change in Chiapas.
• Mexico Solidarity Network
  A coalition of more than 80 organizations struggling for human rights, economic justice and democracy in the United States and Mexico.
• Organic Consumers Association's Sustainable Chiapas Project
  Leading organic eco-tours to Chiapas to learn about economic alternatives to create community sustainability. This organization also assists indigenous community groups in the creation of community gardens and seed banks to grow food and medicinal plants.
• Schools for Chiapas
  Cooperating with the Maya peoples' efforts to build dignified schools while promoting social justice in Mexico.
• Travel Chiapas
  Information for planning a trip to Chiapas.
• Ya Basta
  Latest news on the Zapatista movement.