Podcast: Kosher coffee and chocolate maker sells for social impact

Welcome to Times Will Tell, The Times of Israel’s weekly feature podcast.

This week, we speak with Jeff Abella, chief executive of Moka Origins, a kosher boutique coffee roaster and chocolate retailer based in Honesdale, Pennsylvania, on the grounds of the Himalayan Institute, a yoga and meditation retreat.

Abella and his staff of 15 roast and grind coffee and cocoa beans, creating their artisanal chocolates and coffee for a greater purpose.

The products are part of the institute’s humanitarian efforts to help subsistence farmers in Cameroon find better ways to earn money and support themselves and their farms under better conditions. Moka Origins is also looking ahead to helping farms in other countries, including Uganda, Costa Rica and Mexico.

For Abella, it’s all about excellent coffee and fine chocolate, but it’s just as much about social entrepreneurship. He wants more people consuming fine craft chocolate and coffee in order to broaden the net of people engaging in their social impact project.

As Abella says, “The more chocolate and coffee we can sell, the more good we can do.”

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