Republica Organic | The Divine Company

We sat down with the amazing Jacqueline Arias the Founder and Director of Republica Organic, her passion and advocacy for organic and fair trade is truly inspiring. 

Republica Organic


Thanks so much for your time Jacqueline, you have a very interesting background and we would love to know the driving force behind your passion for Fair Trade and Organic. 
How does this effect your everyday life? Do you use organic products? If so why is this important to you?

It’s simple, if I was offered to choose between ‘a cup of coffee made from coffee beans that were sprayed with chemicals and a cup of coffee made with coffee beans grown with no chemicals, I know which one I’d choose. No chemicals Thank You.’

To me it’s really important that what I and my kids put in our mouth and our body is chemical free. But the reality is that organic is not always an option in everything we consume on a daily basis, but we can always try.

I guess the biggest thing we would love to know is why Coffee? Where did you see a gap and what was your inspiration?

It was a trip to Colombia that had a profound affect on me, it’s my birth country and produces some of the best coffee on the planet.  I grew up Australia hearing hearing stories from my parents about life on coffee farms when they were young.

When I went back to Colombia with my two Aussie kids and Canadian husband we had expectations that we’d be drinking fabulous coffee, but sadly it wasn’t so. The best coffee is exported to 1st world countries, like Australia, and the left over bad coffee is left for the locals. Most people drink instant coffee and if you want a ‘good instant’ then you need to buy an imported coffee brand like Nescafe.

Most of us don’t think about where a lot of the products we eat daily come from, like coffee, tea, rice, chocolate, spices are produced. Most of these products are grown by the world’s hungry people, who work hard to give us their best, yet they go hungry themselves. How is this fair?

There’s over 25 million coffee farmers, who live in poor developing countries and produce most of the world’s coffee. These farmers rely on market prices to pay them ‘fairly’ and there’s no social welfare, medical assistance or even basic education in these countries.  So they live below the poverty line without any hope of breaking the cycle.

And that’s why Fairtrade is important, farmers get a guaranteed price for their coffee plus a premium which they can use to build roads, provide health care and primary education.

That was the gap in the market, Republica Organic was the 1st Fairtrade and Organic Certified coffee on supermarket shelves across Australia. It’s something I’m very proud of.

We absolutely love your Timor Gourmet Blend, what is makes this blend unique? 

Republica Organic source coffee from three coffee producing continents and countries including: Guatemala, Colombia,  Ethiopia and closer to Australia, Timor.

We only source AA grade coffee beans because at the end of the day the taste must stand up to the discerning palette of our customers. We’ve built a strong reputation for delivering superior coffee and that’s because we don’t compromise on the quality and taste of the coffees we source. Timor is a very high quality and strong taste coffee, it’s amongst the best in the world.

If you would like to know more about Republica Organic please visit the website www.republicaorganic.com.au or on Facebook

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