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Some people swear by Guatemalan coffee. Others only like Sumatran. Still others go out of their way to find African coffees. In these cases, it’s not the roast of the coffee that people are looking for, but where it was grown. And most of the time, they’re searching for more than just a name.

Coffee beans taste different depending upon where they are grown. Soil, climate, altitude, species variety, harvesting and processing methods all are factors that affect the flavor of the coffee.

Even if you buy the same coffee every time, it may taste different. Flavor changes with each roast, and taste and quality of the green coffee beans vary with each harvest season and shipment. Each year, the coffee can have a subtly different flavor, or be of a different quality due to changes in some of the above variables. For this reason, we do cupping tests of our coffee before purchasing it, even when we’ve bought from the same region before, to ensure that the coffee meets our established quality standards for each region. More

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Saturday, November 1st, local multimedia artists Patricia Mendoza and Constanza Carballo will bring together community groups of all ages to beautify and enhance the Midtown Greenway (a nonstop bicycle highway and walking path within a Green corridor in downtown Minneapolis) with a commemorative mural and memorial procession in observance of the Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead. 

Though the event recognizes victims of violence around the world, the artists will specifically recognize women from the border town of Ciudad Juarez. During the past eight years, the bodies of an estimated 250 young Mexican women, all poor, most under age 19, were dumped near the Texas border. Advocates say the unsolved murder cases illustrate an acceptance of violence against women. In response, women's groups, human rights organizations and unions have launched a national anti-violence campaign. For more information on the 250 disappeared and murdered women, please click here. 

Dia de los Muertos is a three-day ritual that has been celebrated by the indigenous people of Mexico for better than 3000 years. More than 500 years ago, when Spanish Conquistadors landed in what is now Mexico and encountered natives practicing a ritual that seemed to mock death, they considered the ritual sacrilegious. Unlike the Spaniards, who viewed death as the end of life, the natives viewed it as the continuation of life. Instead of fearing death, they embraced it. To them, life was a dream and only in death did they become truly awake. The Spaniards tried relentlessly to kill the ritual, but like the old Aztec spirits, it refused to die.

Today, the Dia de los Muertos is celebrated each year not only in Mexico, but also in certain parts of Central America and the United States.

Here in the Twin Cities, the Dia de los Muertos event is the finale to a month-long creation process involving people of all ages and from diverse community groups. The celebration peaks on Saturday, November 1st, with a night time public event, including a procession of puppets, candles and flowers along the Greenway from Nicollet to Bryant where they will create a memorial and officially unveil the mural. Altars will line the edge of the Greenway honoring the lost lives of friends, community and family members. People are encouraged to bring photos or decorations in remembrance of their loved ones who have passed away. There will be an informal gathering in the Intermedia Arts parking lot with live music, Day of the Dead bread and hot beverages (including Peace Coffee). This artistic endeavor is one way we can further the beautification of the Greenway. It is also an open invitation for the community to explore the path and expand its use and vision. We hope you will join us on November 1st to honor the dead while bringing color and life to the Greenway path!

For more information, visit www.midtowngreenway.org/calendar/index.html#Special

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Peace Coffee crew member, Melanee Meegan (aka Mighty Mel), finished her first marathon this month. The Twin Cities Marathon, coined The Most Beautiful Urban Marathon in America, took place on October 5th, a perfect Sunday morning. The course wound through downtown MPLS, around the chain of lakes, straight down the Minnehaha Creek, alongside the Mississippi River, up the Summit Avenue hill, all the way to the State Capitol in St. Paul. Congratulations to all the runners and thanks to the supporters and cheerers who helped every step of the way!

Peace Coffee will also be running and serving coffee at the 2nd Annual Race to Stop Global Warming on October 18th. For event details, check out www.racetostopglobalwarming.org.

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In last month’s newsletter Scott shared his visit with an amazing woman, Zulema, who is a member of the women owned cooperative in Nicaragua that sews Peace Coffee’s one-of-a-kind shirts. Try out their incredible work for yourself by sporting an organic cotton Peace Coffee shirt with bright turtles and a positive message guaranteed to draw attention and make you feel good about the clothes you wear!

Buy yours today -- click here!

(click image for larger version)

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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!

Our judges were so moved by last month's Coffee Knowledge question that they decided to do a little experiment of their own. They put all the correct entries from last month's contest into a coffee filter and ran some hot water through it. The entry that filtered to the top belonged to Brandon Cline. Congratulations, Brandon . You're our winner!

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-- Joan Benoit Samuelson, marathon legend

• September 2003
• August 2003
• July 2003

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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
Katie Harrod
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

*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!

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

You are receiving your Fair Grounds e-newsletter because you told us you wanted to get it, or a good friend of yours suggested to us that you would like to get it. If you like it, let us know. If you want to suggest ways that we can make it better, let us know. Our e-mail is info@peacecoffee.com

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simply send an e-mail to: newsletter-off@peacecoffee.com and put your e-mail address in the subject line. 

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