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The fifth largest island in the world and the third largest in a 13,000- island archipelago, Sumatra accounts for one quarter of Indonesia's total landmass. With its lush rainforests, active volcanoes, canyons, lakes, Amazon-like rivers, exotic flora and diverse fauna, including the two-horned rhino, the black gibbon, the tapir, the endangered Sumatran Tiger and 582 species of birds, the country is truly an eco-traveler's (and a coffee-lover's) paradise.

Sumatra's population of 40 million people (more than 20% of the total population of Indonesia) inhabits an area roughly the size of Spain and is comprised of more than a dozen major ethnic groups speaking some 25 languages and hundreds of local dialects. Today, some of the main groups are the Acehnese of the north, renowned for their fierce resistance to Dutch rule, the Gayo, located in Central Aceh (pronounced Ah-Chay), West Sumatra's Minangkabau, generally recognized as the intellectual elite and thought to be descendants of the youngest son of Alexander the Great, the Batak of the country's interior and the largest group, the Malays, who descend from Asia's seafaring traders.

In almost every way — strategically, politically and economically — Sumatra is Indonesia's most important territory. With its rich oil and natural gas reserves and extremely fertile soil from which rice, coconuts, rubber, tea, cacao and, of course, coffee is produced, it has the most vigorous export activity in Indonesia. Geographically, the island's large flowing rivers and abundant resources brought it to the attention of adventurers and invaders from the beginning of its history.

Find out more about the history of Sumatra and the peace-loving people of the Gayo Highlands who bring us our Sumatra Gayo origin by clicking here.

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In early March of this year I was fortunate enough to travel to Indonesia to visit our coffee partners in Sumatra. I landed in Medan, the third largest city in Indonesia, and drove immediately ten hours to Takengon, which sits on a tiny lake bordering the renowned Gayo Mountain coffee region. The dry processing plant for all of the Gayo farmers is located in Takengon and referred to as Trimaju.

When we arrived at Trimaju on our first full day, we were greeted with a huge celebration. Over 500 farmers and community members had gathered to welcome our small group of visitors, which included Dean Cycon from Massachusetts-based Dean's Beans (a member of Cooperative Coffees), Mane Alves from Coffee Lab International and Thomas Fricke from Forestrade and me.

For more on Melanee's adventures in Sumatra (plus some great photos) click here.

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My husband and I recently drove out to the Pacific Northwest where we ditched the car for about three weeks while we toured around Washington and British Colombia on our bicycles. It was very liberating experiencing life with so few possessions in tow. Our daily decisions were whittled down simply to what we were going to eat and where we were going to sleep — and with a camp stove and a tent in our packs, we felt very free. It was very beautiful biking alongside the ocean with mountains in constant view. We had a great time, of course, even though there’s not a flat stretch of land in the entire region!

Some great photos of our trip can be found here.

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The Midwest Renewable Energy Association Fair in Stevens Point, WI was an extremely advantageous event for Peace Coffee. After three years of attending the event, it seems certain that the MREA and Peace Coffee are well matched. Though all three Peace Coffee representatives were new to the event this year and were unsure what to expect, our nervousness was soon quelled as we were welcomed warmly and enthusiastically, and assured by the coordinators that we would be quite popular over the weekend.

The MREA Fair is an extremely engrossing event. Though a huge range of businesses, non-profit organizations and concerned citizens from all walks of life attend the fair, the ideological make up is surprisingly harmonious. From alternative urban transportation ideas to wind and solar power innovations, vegan kitchens to plastic bag cleaning/re-use devices, the event was overflowing with practical ideas for conservation and sustainability. The synergy of these alternative thinkers and warm encouraging attitude of the event coordinators created an extremely positive energy that flowed through the whole weekend. We were continually met with warm smiles, good conversation and genuine appreciation of the extra effort we put into serving a great tasting, conscientiously minded cup of coffee.

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Think you know a lot about coffee? Then enter our Fair Grounds Trivia Contest. Click here for our question of the month. Entering is easy and it's FUN!

— Thich Nhat Hanh

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Fair Grounds is produced by:
Cooperative Coffees

Contact Information:

Orders and General Information
Phone - 612.870.3440 or 1.888.324.7872 
Fax - 612-677-3989
E-Mail - info@peacecoffee.com
Web - http://www.peacecoffee.com

Peace Coffee Crew*:
Anna Canning
Beth Backen
Melanee Meegan
Michelle Ramier
TJ Semanchin
Scott Patterson

*We work together to get the coffee out to our customers. Although we have specific job titles, we all take turns switching roles and putting in time where it's needed most.

Peace Coffee Bikers*:
Brad Wilson
Kirsten Collins

*Our bikers pack a mean trailer full of coffee. They are speedy as speedy gets. Watch out, when they are on the street, they mean business!

Summer Interns*:
Katie Harrod (St.Olaf 03')
Louis Deering (McGill University 04')

*These two interns bring a lot of good energy to Peace Coffee. They are bright, innovative and motivated.

Fair Grounds is designed by:

Starstruck Design
335 West Gill Road
Gill, MA 01376

Contact Information:
Don Kruger - dkruger@starstruckdesign.com
Lynn Nichols - lnichols@starstruckdesign.com
Phone - 413.863.7752
Fax - 413-863-7752 
Web - http://www.starstruckdesign.com

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