Kōkako Organic Coffee, one of Auckland’s organic pioneers, is leading the way again with fully te reo Māori web option.
Established in 2001, it was the city’s first organic coffee roastery. Mike Murphy purchased the company in 2007 with a vision to build an organic coffee brand that was way before organics had moved mainstream. Believing that “healthy food grown in healthy soil creates healthy people,” Murphy committed towards becoming officially certified with Biogro, which was achieved in 2009.
“We were really the only one that was focused on the organic and sustainable approach in coffee in New Zealand at the time,” says Murphy. As well as long being certified organic, the Kōkako Roastery is also Fairtrade and Climate Neutral accredited.
In 2017 Murphy investigated the journey made by our morning coffee. His discoveries, from Papua New Guinea crop to Kiwi cup were documented in Good magazine.
Kōkako has always been an innovate leader in the sector over their 20-year journey. There are currently over 300 coffee roasters in New Zealand but even now, as the industry has somewhat caught up, only a small percentage of these companies roast certified organic coffee.
A couple of months ago Kōkako added a small switch was added to the top of their website. Flick the switch and almost the entire our entire website translates into te reo Māori. The team says the switch is another step in journey to be better treaty partners — and that the project has taken many months, many Google docs, many hours on the phone and many lost-in-translation moments with kaiwhakamāori, Ratu Tibble (Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau a Apanui).
“We know there are likely to be mistakes in the huge sea of words — even with Ratu studiously checking, rechecking and rechecking (!) — especially as we update the website and we (collectively) try to keep on top of it but we hope you enjoy taking a look around. If you spot anything, we’d love you to share it with us.”
Matariki is a time for gathering, remembrance of those past, feasting and planning for the year ahead. The Kōkako Roastery team suggest preparing for the upcoming Matariki celebrations by stocking up on supplies before heading to the official website to understand more about the significance of the Māori New Year.
In 2017 Murphy investigated the journey some of our morning coffee has made – from Papua New Guinea crop to Kiwi cup.
