Hamodava


Hamodava Coffee Company is a beverage manufacturer specialising in coffee and based in Auckland, New Zealand. Hamodava distribute exclusively Fair Trade and Organic certified products. Salvation Army officer Herbert Booth started the business in Melbourne, Australia in 1897 and it ran successfully until 1929. Hamodava was relaunched in September 2016, with the company's operations being moved to Auckland.

History

a Salvation Army officer, and son of its founder William Booth, was appointed to the command of the organisations operations in Australia and New Zealand. H Booth founded the Hamodava Tea Company in 1897 along with Bundaberg native Ashley Lamb as a means to provide funds to support the work of The Salvation Army. Lamb sourced tea from Sri Lanka, and blended and packed the product for retail in Melbourne. With the success of the original product, Hamodava also introduced both a cocoa and a coffee product to the line two years later. The Hamodava Tea Company continued strong trading up until 1929 when international tea prices collapsed, and with the onset of the great depression the company was disbanded. The name Hamodava comes from the Signhalese word for 'army'.
Hamodava is notable for its role in pioneering ethical and fair trade practices. The company not only sought to pay a fair price to the farmers who grew the produce, but also developed a scheme by which the farmers could make payments towards purchasing plantations from The Salvation Army.
In September 2016 The Salvation Army relaunched Hamodava.

Hamodava Café

The Hamodava Cafe, is situated on Bourke Street in Melbourne, Australia. The cafe operates out of a heritage building that once housed the original company in the late 1800s. It is a community centre providing breakfast and lunch, as well as support to people from all walks of life, especially those living on the margins of society.