During hard economic times, few businesses are courageous enough to seek to thrive, not just survive. Even fewer businesses thrive while helping others. Every morning at the Land of a Thousand Hills coffee house in Roswell, customers receive a cup of comfort. Specialty coffee is served with the skilled hand of a latte artist and with a smile from a barista who knows you by name. This coffee house, rated Third Best Coffee Shop in Atlanta by Creative Loafing and the Best Coffee Shop in North Fulton, is not only bringing warmth and jobs to the Atlanta area where they now employ 33 people, but they also provide a livelihood to 2,000 farmers and 8,000 family members in Rwanda. From Roswell to Rwanda, Land of a Thousand Hills invests in sustainable business through specialty coffee, cultivating community and promoting social justice.

Mayor of Roswell, Jere Wood, was one of the first to encourage Jonathan Golden, the owner of Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee, to open a roastery and coffee shop on S. Atlanta Street. When the coffee company opened her doors to serve local costumers and ship freshly roasted coffee nationwide, the area south of Roswell’s historic downtown district was not yet developed into the flourishing, family friendly street it is today. Wood supported the inauguration of Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee as an anchor for creating community in this side of Roswell.

In April of this year, Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee received a long awaited shipment of coffee beans from Rwanda – one full container of green beans from the Bukonya Farming Cooperative and from Bufcafé .  A portion of the beans were cultivated in the village where the coffee company invests in microfinance, community development, and in caring for malnourished orphans. When the beans finally arrived from Kigali, Rwanda, in their container (the size of a semi), and after each 150 lb bag was unloaded into the greenhouse behind the Roswell coffee house, Land of a Thousand Hills had a celebration. In addition to their staff, Mayor Wood helped welcome Samuel, Gilbert and Jean Claude, three visitors from Rwanda, and congratulated the Rwandan guests and the Land of a Thousand Hills business team for creating jobs and encouraging the economy from Roswell to Rwanda.

Samuel’s mother, Epiphany, founded the Rwandan coffee cooperative Bufcafe. Epiphany is an entrepreneur and one of the first widows to grow coffee after the genocide. Samuel now manages the cooperative and was thrilled to see his beans in Roswell. Gilbert and Jean Claude, leaders in the SPREAD Project, were also excited to see Rwanda coffee find a home on the U.S. market. Gilbert and Jean Claude explained how SPREAD helps farming cooperatives in Rwanda find the highest paying buyers, hopefully ones like Land of a Thousand Hills that are willing to pay fair, Living Wages.