On May 11, Gaby Kafie, founder/owner of Kafie Trading Company, LLC and president of Kafie 1901 Cigars, announced the launch of Kafie 1901 Coffee Company. As a family-owned and operated business, the new US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cigar regulations will have a significant impact on the business. In recognition of the tireless work of Cigar Rights of America (CRA), from the sale of each bag of coffee, a percentage will be donated to the CRA to assist their efforts to defend and protect the rights of family-owned cigar businesses.
Below is a Facebook post from Gaby Kafie:
"May 4, 2016, we decided to launch Kafie 1901 Coffee, a specialty coffee roasting business featuring the finest organic 100% arabica bean coffee from Honduras, the country where we are from and the country where we grow tobacco and make our premium cigars. It combines two great passions. A couple days later the FDA announced its plans to regulate premium cigars. As a family owned boutique cigar company, we have always been under pressure in a highly competitive industry with limited resources. Now the FDA has decided to chop our heads off. We will not allow this to happen. It is for this very reason that our coffee company has now redirected its mission. Apart from the finest quality coffee, we will now donate a percentage of each sale to benefit the mission of Cigar Rights of America, which works to protect the premium cigar industry in the United States as well as in Honduras, and throughout Latin America. This is in our power, this is our calling. We must all do what we can to campaign against the FDA. We love you all, and want to thank you in advance for all your support and generosity. We know this will be a success for our business, coffee and cigar lovers, and our rights as tax paying citizens of these United States."
In another statement, Kafie states "If you think we're passionate about our cigars and our family, wait until you see how passionate we are about fighting the FDA!"
Kafie 1901 Cigars are manufactured in Danlí, Honduras out of Tabacalera Puros Aliados, and are available in three blends: Kafie 1901 Sumatra, Kafie 1901 Connecticut, and the Don Fernando Maduro Collection.