Mr. German Humberto, Manager (back right of photo)
"Las Lajas is an agricultural cooperative of 213 small-scale farmers. About 70% of the roughly 900 hectares of farmland are devoted to coffee cultivation. We use the certification standards for coffee farmers set by the NGO Rainforest Alliance to improve our farming, the natural environment, and our lives in general. We are proud that we are practicing completely organic agriculture beyond the certification standards."

Mr. Juan Cojolon Chuy, Cooperative Manager (second from right in photo)
"We were referred to the coffee buying guidelines, or C.A.F.E Practices, in our dealings with Starbucks Coffee Company, and all of us in the cooperative decided to join the program. We are also working to eliminate the use of agricultural chemicals from our farms, with the help of Francisco from Unex (Guatemala), S.A."

Mr. Juan Francisco Urias, Unex (Guatemala), S.A. (right end in photo)
"We support 18 agricultural cooperatives nationwide, including Alotenango. Agricultural improvement programs like the C.A.F.E. Practices have many requirements, and it is difficult for small-scale farmers to meet all of them. But they are improving every year, and getting higher assessments from inspectors. The most difficult thing is convincing famers that they'll be OK even if they stop using the pesticides and herbicides that they have always used."

Mr. Rene Sanchez Lopez
Cooperative Manager
"We are a cooperative of 70 farms. Before, we were tenant farmers on a huge plantation. We lived like slaves: for example, we did not have the right to negotiate prices.But we all got together and borrowed enough money to buy our own land, and started farming for ourselves. Coffee farms are poor, and it is hard to make ends meet, but I would not trade the autonomy we have won together for anything."

UCC is continually increasing its imports of environmentally and socially conscious coffee, including Rainforest Alliance certified coffee. Spurred by customer demand, we expect to increase imports of these types of sustainable coffee even further in the future.
UCC Group, in support for the system of NGO "Rainforest Alliance" which recognizes and certifies coffee farms meeting high-standards such as conserving forests and eco-system, improving the living standards of farmers and etc., have started to handle coffee beans certified by Rainforest Alliance at the coffee mill stores in 2004 for the first time in Japan.
Aided by the growing concerns for safe and reliable foods and conservation of the environment, the sustainable coffees, including Rainforest Alliance certified coffee, are becoming accepted for commercial use and household use, and, with the increased imports every year, has grown to be one of popular products supported by cafés in hotels and coffee lovers.
Recently we receive such inquiries as "I would like to purchase the sustainable coffee," and "Where I could purchase the coffee?" We will be striving to promote the sustainable coffee in order for more customers to familiarize and purchase them by capturing all available opportunities.
Furthermore, in our consistent business activities "from coffee cup to coffee farm," with the objective to minimize the environmental impacts, we are conducting the comprehensive activities for reducing energy consumption and resource recycling. The example of such activities includes CO₂ emission reduction by resource saving by lighter product packages and more efficient distribution networks. Moreover, each factory have achieved 15% reduction of CO₂ emission intensity so far by such efforts as fuel conversion and persistent energy-saving activities.

Cacao is a tropical plant that grows mainly within 20 degrees latitude of the equator.
Cacao trees are generally planted and cultivated between tall shade trees. The shade provided by the branches allows just the right amount of tropical sunlight to get through. Saplings are grown from seeds, and healthy saplings are then planted in the ground. Saplings are often grafted as a way to maintain high-quality, stable cacao cultivation. For example, in Ecuador, agricultural cooperatives use regional cacao varieties that are highly disease resistant as their crop foundation, which are then grafted to cacao branches that produce highly aromatic fruit: this enables production of a stable supply of high-quality cacao.
Cacao trees bloom with countless small flowers, but less than three percent of the flowers end up bearing fruit. Small insects serve as pollen go-betweens and once pollinated it takes about six months for the flowers to grow into fruit that can finally be harvested. The period from the start of cultivation to when the trees bear fruit is around three to six years. High-yield hybrid cacao varieties may bear fruit in less than two years. Cacao is a tropical fruit, so it can be eaten as a fruit. Regional Ecuadorian cacao varieties include fruit with a sweet, flower-like aroma. There are also hybrid varieties that produce fruit with a refreshing lemon-lime aroma.
Cacao seedpods (=fruit) contain seeds that are used to make chocolate. Once the pods are harvested they are split open and the fleshy pulp and seeds are removed as soon as possible. Farmers harvest the cacao pod and remove the pulp from the pods all by hand. The next step is fermentation.

Pulp and seeds taken from cacao pods are fermented for several days. Yeast, acetic bacteria and other microorganisms activate various chemical reactions during the process of fermentation, which creates the basis of the chocolate aroma and foundation of its flavor. White pulp containing the seeds is gradually reduced during fermentation, eventually leaving only the seeds, which turn brown.
For agricultural cooperatives and export companies with well-established quality control systems in place, the entire harvest to fermentation process is managed by co-op farmers, contracted farmers, or directly owned farms from various regions; furthermore, the entire process until the start of fermentation is completed in the same day. It is also common for farmers not affiliated with any cooperative or organization to sell to brokers after individually conducting fermentation and drying. Even within the same country, there are various routes for the harvest to fermentation process.
After being fermented cacao seeds (cacao beans) contain water, so they are dried until the remaining water content is only 7% to 8%. There are several drying methods, including drying the beans under the sun or drying them with a mechanical dryer that uses gas heat. Since the climate is tropical, with high humidity and a rainy season, organizations like agricultural cooperatives and export companies that consolidate and process cacao in large quantities tend to use both sunlight and mechanical drying methods.

Chocolate imported into Japan goes to chocolate manufacturing facilities after passing through quarantine for residual agricultural chemicals and other quality and health inspections.
Pebbles, cacao branches and other foreign substances are removed in the cleaning process and the beans are then roasted. Roasting is a major factor determining chocolate quality, as is the blend of cacao beans that is used. The roasted beans are crushed and the shell removed and then pulverized in a grinder to make a paste called cacao mass.
Chocolate dough is made by adding sugar and cocoa butter to the cacao mass. For milk chocolate, milk powder is also added. Fine particles of cacao, sugar and other ingredients are ground with a precision-crafted metal roll refiner to create smoothly textured chocolate flakes. Next the flakes are processed for an extended period of time in a machine called a conche to complete the process.
Chocolate made through this process is then tempered, put into containers, cooled and hardened or is transported to confectionary manufacturers in melted form via tanker trucks.
Confectionary manufacturers process the chocolate into various sweets and candies and deliver them to consumers through retail outlets.