Summary: My guests today are Paul Kurtz and Mike Swartzentruber from Hunter’s Blend Coffee. This is not just ordinary coffee dropped into a bag with antlers on it to attract hunters to buy it. Hunters Blend partners with organizations like the Sportsmans Alliance to help protect our hunting heritage by fighting anti-hunting organizations like PETA and the Humane Society of the US. These groups have one goal and one goal only, to chip away at our freedoms as gun owners and hunters, a little bit at a time, and by the time we notice what’s going on, the sort of hunting has either been radically transformed if not totally vanished. Groups like the Sportsman’s Alliance constantly watch for and fight against anti-hunting and second amendment legislation. Hunter’s Blend has also changed the way coffee is sourced and brought to you the consumer. There are so many things about that process that I did not know, so many middle men that stood between the grower and the roaster, and those middle men, many of them, are the very ones who support anti-gun and anti-hunting legislation. I bet you didn’t know that did you? I didn’t. Mike and Paul have established a direct trade model with the farmer and established new ways of compensating those farmers and the impact on those communities has been incredible. They are now seeing parents who can support their families, the poverty was so bad because there were so many people in the process that had to add their profits along the way, that many women were getting caught up in the sex trade, you don’t see that anymore with the direct trade model. You see churches that are self sustaining now all because guys like Mike and Paul decided to challenge the status quo and do things differently. We had a fantastic discussion, it was really interesting and I hope that after listening to the podcast you’ll be a little more wise about where your money is going and maybe make a small change, something as simple as where you buy your coffee has impacts in people’s lives around the world.
