Drink Coffee. Do Good.

Nearly three years ago, I published a guidebook called 100 Places Every Woman Should Go. Ever since, I’ve kept my eyes peeled for new places to add to the mix, and just discovered another one over the holidays: Land of a Thousand Hills Coffeehouse in Roswell and Atlanta, Georgia. Every coffee bean on Land of a Thousand Hillsthe premises hails from two farming cooperatives in Rwanda: the Buf Café Cooperative and the Coadeka-Bukonya Cooperative. Buf Café, I was delighted to discover, is owned by Epiphany Mukashyaka, a widow who became Rwanda’s first female entrepreneur after the genocide that killed nearly one million ethnic Tutsi and moderate Hutu sympathizers over a 100-day period in 1994. Started in 2006, Epiphany’s cooperative now provides work for more than 2,000 farmers. A good portion of her coffee beans are shipped to Georgia, where they are roasted, blended, and brewed daily by the good folks of Land of a Thousand Hills. Profits from these popular Georgian cafes are being used to support a number of projects back in Bukonya, Rwanda, including micro-finance loans for other widow entrepreneurs and a sustenance farm for orphans. Not only is this a terrific cause, it is a great place to hang out, as my friend Daphne and I discovered. We visited the Roswell cafe on 352 South Atlanta Street and fell into peaceful bliss as soon as we walked through the door. Dozens of people huddled around tables and lounged atop couches, reading, talking, laughing, tapping at keyboards. Apparently, it’s a popular place for book clubs, study groups, and community meetings, plus live music on the weekends. And the coffee is outstanding: a smoky aroma with a hint of walnut and dark chocolate. No worries if you’re nowhere near Georgia: you can buy this social joe online.