United States-led embargo against the prevailing dictatorship that many farmers burned their coffee trees to produce charcoal for sale in local markets.

Haiti coffee, another Caribbean origin with a long and distinguished tradition, virtually disappeared from the specialty coffee menu. Decades of disorder had so depressed the quality of this once celebrated origin that few in the coffee world probably even noticed or regretted its absence.

Today, however, with the help of an international development agency, a cooperative of over 7,000 farmers called Cafeieres Natives produce and market a revived specialty coffee from Haiti trademarked Haitian Bleu.

At its best, Haitian Bleu is rich, opulent and sweetly low-toned, another fine example of the Caribbean coffee. It is difficult to control quality with 7,000 participating farmers.

Haitian Bleu can be very inconsistent. Nevertheless, if you like rich, full coffees with dry tones ,well balanced by sweetness, as many American coffee drinkers do, and if you want to make your dollars count to help the Western Hemisphere's most impoverished farmers, Haitian Bleu is worth trying.