coffeebean.JPG

Chris Treter is working with farmers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to grow specialty coffee sold by his Traverse City company, Higher Grounds Coffee. (Courtesy of Higher Grounds Coffee)

TRAVERSE CITY, MI -- Chris Treter downplays the danger of his travels to war-ravaged Democratic Republic of the Congo. He's grown a little blase about having firearms, and in one case a bazooka, pointed in his direction.

"I had to duck because of an illegal checkpoint. I thought they were going to shoot," said Treter.

"It's a calculated risk," he says of his 10 trips over the past three years.

So what's the reward? Really good coffee.

"It's a well-balanced coffee," Treter says of the distinctive taste that comes from beans grown in the African country's eastern highlands. "It has a juiceful flavor with an aftertaste that lingers. It triggers your glands to salivate in a good way."

The eastern Congo region has ideal conditions for growing what some describe as the world's best Arabica coffee beans: high elevation, a frost-free climate and rich soil. Because pesticides and other chemicals haven't been introduced into the soil, the premium coffee beans grown there are also organic, making them even more valuable.

Still, there's probably an easier way to make a living as a coffee wholesaler. From the beginning, Treter has seen this commodity as an avenue for his real passion: human rights.

He co-founded Higher Grounds Coffee 15 years ago after completing his graduate thesis on the impact of fair trade coffee in the Mexican state of Chiapas. The social movement aims to create better trading conditions for poor farmers and makers of other products that promote sustainability in developing countries. This is done by connecting them with consumers on the other side of the world who are willing to pay more for a product that has a social impact.

Raising the standard of living for these subsistence farmers can transform their lives in basic ways like providing extra money to send their kids to school and take them to the doctor when they get sick.

Treter's recent efforts in Congo is garnering some attention after he was featured in a Wall Street Journal story, The Most Dangerous Cup of Coffee in the World, last week.

"Congo is one of the last frontiers in a global scramble for the world's best-tasting coffee," writes WSJ reporter Alexandra Wexler, explaining why the industry sees big potential in the region despite the high rate of violence and kidnappings.

"For me, it's the Wild West of specialty coffee and the last bastion of specialty coffee," Treter told the WSJ.

Treter credits the national story for an uptick in recent orders. But longer term, he is hoping the attention will further efforts to strengthen farm cooperatives so multi-nationals can't come and force lower prices on the farmers.

"There is a battle in the coffee industry that isn't talked about," Treter said. It's about "leaving more money there and getting the highest quality coffee out."

Like Chiapas in southern Mexico, the African region is scarred by decades of violence between government and rebel forces. The biggest difference may be the scale of genocide in the African country. More than 5 million people have died in a brutal 20-year civil war that raged through 2008. Those deaths, primarily caused by starvation and disease, are more than all the war-related deaths since World War II.

Treter credits his "very good" connections within the government and burgeoning coffee industry for giving him an extra layer of protection when he travels there.

Getting there usually involves flying into adjacent Burundi or Rwanda, and taking an hours-long car ride to the border. He needs to arrive before the crossing closes for the night at 6 p.m.

Along the way, he has to navigate unofficial checkpoints manned by armed men demanding bribes. The challenge is discerning when to pay, and how much.

He describes one time when the weapon of intimidation was a bazooka, a rocket launcher used to take out tanks and other vehicles. It was in the arms of a young man, looking no older than 16, who calmly watched the occupants of Treter's cars while smoking a cigarette as his comrade demanded $100.

The bribe was negotiated down to $5.

"Everytime I cross into the Congo, it is an adventure like you see in movies and books," Treter said. "If my eyes could be cameras, it would be one hell of documentary."

Chris Treter is working with farmers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to grow specialty coffee sold by his Traverse City company, Higher Grounds Coffee. (Courtesy of Higher Grounds Coffee)

He created the country's first coffee competition, drawing international buyers as judges. The inaugural 2015 competition was held in a dilapidated government building in the city of Bukavu that lacked both running water and electricity. Water for the cupping process had to be heated at a nearby humanitarian agency.

A week earlier, his on-the-ground partner who was helping with the competition abruptly died, leading to speculation he was poisoned. Police later concluded the cause was more likely a heart attack. But initially Treter had to convince the police to let him have the keys to the building so the competition could take place.

Even with a rebound in the coffee bean harvest Treter has helped usher in, the output is still at a tenth of the amount exported before the Second Congo War started in 1998.

"It's a huge opportunity because the war has devastated the infrastructure," Treter said. "There's a number of farmers who want to grow coffee."

Higher Ground now buys from three coffee cooperatives made up of Congolese farmers.

On the Ground, a nonprofit started by Treter, has so far invested $200,000 in the region. Priority for the organization is supporting gender equality projects in a country that has been labeled the rape capital of the world. Sexual violence is used as a war tactic in the region.

One way the organization is raising the value of Congolese women is by teaching them basic finance and providing them with micro loans to start their own businesses.

Higher Grounds sells its Congo-sourced coffee by the bag and cup at its location in the Village Commons, a former mental health hospital transformed into a $60 million trendy retail space in Traverse City. But most of its sales come through major retailers like Whole Foods, Meijer and SpartanNash, which carry its brand.

The premium coffee sells for about $11 for a 12-ounce package, which is about the same price Starbucks charges for its premium coffee.

Higher Ground pays 30 cents per pound extra to the farm co-ops above the standard rate market, which usually falls between $2.50 to $3 a pound. Most of the coffee's retail price reflects the costs associated with the distribution process, from shipping to marketing. Retailers collect a 30 to 40 percent cut, and even more when the coffee is sold by the cup.

Aside from the coffee, Treter has clearly grown fond of Congo, its people and the region along Lake Kivu, one of the African Great Lakes. The mix of lush green landscape and deep blue waters reminds him a lot of his own Northern Michigan backyard.

"It's an outrageously beautiful place that people have little access to because of the conflict," Treter said.