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We
were saddened to learn of the effect of December's
earthquakes and tsunami on our friends in Sumatra.
So to help in the continuing relief efforts in our
Sumatran coffee producer’s region of Aceh, Peace
Coffee has developed the Tsunami Relief Roast. Ten
dollars from the sale of the Tsunami Relief Roast
will be sent directly to Gayo Organic Coffee
Growers Association (PPKGO) in Aceh. In this issue
of Fair Grounds, we provide an update on the
situation with our Sumatran growers. We also offer
more in the continuing adventures of Brad the Bike
Messenger, the results of a coffee science
experiment from Rachel Hiltsley, and a new trivia
question. Read on…
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 Peace
Coffee, through its membership in Cooperative
Coffees, imports our fine fair trade, organic,
shade grown Sumatra coffee from the PPKGO
farmer’s cooperative located in the Aceh region
of Sumatra. Sadly, the recent tsunami and
earthquakes have taken the lives of at least two
of our producers from the PPKGO cooperative and
damaged the cooperative’s processing facility
and the roads to the port. Numerous producer
farmers’ homes have been destroyed and many of
the producers have lost family members and
friends. Peace Coffee asks you to join us in
helping with the current relief efforts so that
this coffee project, which has grown to become the
largest "single origin" Fair Trade
project in the world with membership currently
numbering 1,832 small-scale farmers among 24
communities, can get back on its feet. Thank you.
The
following are updates that we have received about
the situation in Sumatra:
December
30, 2004
-- from PPKGO & ForesTrade: This just came in
from Aceh. Unfortunately it looks as though
farmers from PPKGO are among the casualties of the
quake. (The following is an excerpt from a letter
from ForesTrade): We continue to receive reports
about the extent of the damage to lives and
infrastructure suffered by our partners and their
families and communities in the Central Aceh
coffee-growing region in northern Sumatra. As
previously mentioned, the latest message this
morning is that two of our producers died in the
collapse of their homes in one of the 32
communities participating in the project. This
community is in one of the most accessible areas,
and we are greatly concerned that further reports
from other communities will add to the toll.
Additionally,
we know that many of the farmers send their
children to secondary schools and colleges in the
lowland areas, primarily the provincial capital of
Banda Aceh, one of the areas of highest
concentration of casualties. Our local director,
Mr. Muhammad Salim, whom many of you have met
during his visit to the U.S. in 2003, has three
daughters in college in Banda Aceh. He and several
of his PPKGO neighbors left with a convoy of
vehicles from Takengon to Banda Aceh yesterday,
and we haven't heard from them yet.
January
3, 2005
-- From the staff at the PPKGO cooperative: The
latest information coming out of Sumatra indicates
that there had actually been three earthquakes in
Aceh. The first one was on the 26th followed by
two more on the 29th, 5 minutes apart. They were
significant seismographic events. Buildings have
been damaged around Takengon (location of the
coffee processing facilities) and people are
focusing now on helping others in need rather than
on the repair of buildings. The PPKGO members are
dressing in their uniforms and are traveling to
Banda Aceh for three days to help with the relief.
However, coffee is still being harvested. Sadly
though, bodies are still being found constantly
though survivors are not able to keep up with the
burials around the coast. Many of the soldiers and
rebels that were in hiding have perished. One of
the coop’s inspectors has lost his mother and
youngest child. There are many babies now without
parents and many people in local churches have
begun adoption efforts. In Padang the people are
very traumatized as they are encountering
many family members or friends who have been
affected. There was a warning for another tsunami
on the 30th and everyone fled to the hills. During
the evacuation thieves came and robbed homes. The
mayor finally went on the radio to let people know
it was a false alarm and that they could return to
their homes.
January
5, 2005
-- From the staff at Forestrade USA - …feeling a
little cheerier this morning despite the
continuing bad news. I received an email from
Lucia saying that many volunteers from the PPKGO
formed an envoy of 8 trucks filled with vegetables
and rice and headed to Banda Aceh yesterday.
They'll stay for 3 days and then return. Then
there's other volunteers from the PPKGO who will
go next week for 3 days.
January
12, 2005
-- From ForesTrade co-founders Thomas and Sylvia
Fricke: It's great to hear that Coffee Kids will
send their $30,000 donation today. We hope to have
another $17,000 in place tomorrow so that we can
send two full shipments of supplies out to Banda
Aceh this Saturday. We plan to get special
"blue books" or official permits for
entering Aceh upon entry to Indonesia on Friday
morning. Sylvia and I plan to accompany two of the
coffee trucks returning from Medan this Saturday
to meet with several of our colleagues in Bireun
about halfway to Banda Aceh. Unfortunately we are
also bringing several thousand meters of Muslim
burial shrouds in addition to food and medicinal
supplies for the survivors. We have also been
invited by the U.S. Consul's office in Medan on
Friday and Saturday to attend the international
relief coordination group daily meetings at one of
the main hotels there. We expect to dispatch a lot
of information from the group and directly through
discussion with our colleagues over the weekend.
Our
Sumatran Coffee Farmers and others need your
support!
*
Purchase our TSUNAMI RELIEF ROAST
www.peacecoffee.com/order. Ten dollars of this
purchase will be sent directly to the Gayo Organic
Coffee Growers Association, PPGKO. These funds
will help provide shelter and food to farmers and
their family. It will also be put toward
rebuilding their processing plant which was
severely damaged by the earthquake.
*
TAX-DEDUCTIBLE: Log on to www.coffeekids.org
and follow the website instructions. These
donations are going directly to PPKGO.
To
make general contributions to Tsunami Relief
Programs, check out these organizations:
www.oxfam.org/eng/programs_emer_asia.htm
www.nonviolenceinternational.net
www.doctorswithoutborders.net
(Back
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 by
Brad the Bike Messenger
Ugh…
another January and the city’s getting kind of
nasty. Streets and sidewalks are rimmed with the
remains of three inches that fell weeks ago, though
now the snow is mottled by salt, brake dust, and
exhaust fumes. When making deliveries it’s nearly
impossible not to track slushy, gravel-laden
effluvium across floors, and I worry what all these
grocery managers and bulk buyers must think of this
kid and his drippings. "I’ll bet he left the
back door wide open too," they’d wonder as I
hand them their bill.
more...
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(Lab
Coat and Goggles Not Required)
by Rachel Hiltsley, Resident Equipment Expert
 The
vacuum coffee maker is a rather odd looking
contraption; antique models are often mistaken for
tools of science by those not in the know. This is
a fairly accurate description of it, though not
complete; for the vacuum coffee brewer is so much
more than just a piece of glass that forms a
vacuum, it is also a coffee brewer. Yes
this magical equipment charms the uncharmable as
it brings the great gift of coffee as its final
product.
While probably not the most practical of everyday
brewers like the French press, it is easily the
most beautiful. Water is filled to the 8-cup line
in the bottom carafe. The filter is placed inside
the top, the spring is pulled down and attached to
the bottom edge and the whole bit is placed snugly
inside the bottom. Fill the top with 8 (bodum)
scoops of ground coffee and place on the stove.
(If you have a gas stove it’s good to use a
diffuser)
 Now
begins the fun. As you clean your kitchen (or
whatever dutiful thing you do to make the time
pass) the water in the bottom is heating causing
the H2O atoms to expand. This creates a vacuum
effect, forcing water through the glass tube where
the coffee patiently awaits it. First it’s a
seeping bit, soaking the grinds, priming them for
the water yet to come. All but _" of the
water is by this time out and the coffee at top is
rollin’ and tumblin’, this should go on for
about 3 minutes, then, very carefully, remove the
whole setup from the heat source. Place it in its
little plastic stand and watch. Within a minute
the coffee should swoosh down from the top filling
the handy carafe with tasty coffee. Pour yourself
a cup. Yum.
Santos
Makers are available on our website at:
www.peacecoffee.com/order
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| We're
giving away coffee!
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!
Kali
Williams of St. Paul, Minnesota, is the
winner of last month's Coffee Knowledge contest.
She knew that the answer was A -- only one quarter
of all the blooms of most coffee plants actually
mature into harvestable green coffee cherries.
Congratulations, Kari!
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to Headlines)
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"Life's
most urgent question is, what are you doing for
others?"
--
Martin Luther King, Jr.
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to Headlines) |
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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
Rachel Hiltsley
Andy
Lambert
Melanee Meegan
Michelle Ramier
Jamie
Schumacher
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
Lynn Nichols
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
If
you would like to unsubscribe to the Fair Grounds
E-Newsletter because:
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Coffee Cooperatives (Take us with you).
- or any other reason
simply send an e-mail to: newsletter-off@peacecoffee.com
and put your e-mail address in the subject line.
Remember,
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