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This
month, we hear from two Peace Coffee friends about
their recent travels. Anneka Kmiecik of Birchwood
Café (one of our best customers) tells how a trip
to Nicaragua made the promise of Fair Trade more
real for her. And Bill Harris, founder of
Cooperative Coffees (of which Peace Coffee is a
member) gives his first hand account of the
volatility of the current coffee market. Also in
this edition, we introduce our new Peace Coffee
Bike Delivery t-shirts, profile an adventurous new
coffee brew that will really make you howl and
report on our new association with the Catholic
Relief Services. All this plus a new trivia contest
and recipe makes for a jam-packed issue.
Also,
please don't forget that we're still trying to
reach our $30,000 goal for tsunami relief. The
Banda Aceh region is still in need of support
especially through non-governmental agencies like
Forestrade that have been accepting Peace Coffee
contributions. We are frequently updating our
Sumatran Relief Page to include Forestrade updates
from the communities in Aceh who grow our coffee.
Check it out at www.peacecoffee.com/sumurgent.htm.
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to Headlines)
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by
Anneka Kmiecik, Birchwood Café
 I
work in a café. Mostly the am shift. to be exact. And
every morning the people come in. The sleepy ones, eyelids
drooping and last night’s dreams still hovering at their
mind’s edge. The hurried ones, cars impatiently waiting
outside, eager to zoom off. The leisurely ones with a
paper or book tucked under an arm, sizing up the open
tables for a sunny window or favorite spot. The friends,
getting together for a chat and companionship and some
laughs. The business people, popping open briefcases,
painting the tables white with papers and plans. And me,
behind the counter, taking orders and watching the parade.
more...
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to Headlines)
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by
Bill Harris, Cooperative Coffees
Recently
returned from two months in Guatemala, Bill Harris
(founder of Cooperative Coffees, a green coffee
importing cooperative of which Peace Coffee is a
member) offers a sobering
summary of the time he spent in Guatemala,
addressing critical issues central to the Fair Trade
of coffee and its ability to benefit producers now
and into the future.
Have
you ever stumbled through a work experience that
shattered many of your past assumptions and left you
asking yourself the fundamental questions -- What
are we doing? Why are we doing it? Is this working?
I’ve just returned from two months in Guatemala
unexpectedly burdened by these basic questions. My
plan was simple - escape the office in Americus for
a few months in order to relax and reflect on our
coffee work, visit with producer cooperatives in
Guatemala and Mexico, and take another stab at the
language that continues to elude me. Well, some
folks on Wall Street tossed me and the coffee
cooperatives a huge curve ball.
more...
(Back
to Headlines)
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 The
newest Peace Coffee Shirts are here and are a big
hit, at least in our office! Every day, at least
two employees wear their Peace Coffee shirt to
work. Maybe it's because spring has finally sprung
in the Midwest so all of the Peace Crew chooses to
bike to work. But the shirts, made by American
Apparel & TS Designs, are also popular due to
the 100% organic cotton fabric that makes them
feel better than 800 count Egyptian sheets!
If
you don't already have one of our shirts or you'd
like to add another to your collection ORDER
HERE. This is one you'll want to wear 24 hours
a day. Yes, it's true -- some of us wear ours to
bed because it's so comfy!
(Back
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by
Duff McKeggin
 Brewmeister
Mike Hoops has done it again. He created a coffee
beer so good that it makes people proclaim with
delight, “I should drink my coffee with beer ALL
the time!” By a graceful swoosh of his magical
wand, Brewmeister Hoops blended grains, hops,
yeast and Peace Coffee to create a subtle, dry,
light stout called “Midnight Howler”. The last
time Town Hall and Peace Coffee collaborated, a
beer revolution was almost born. The product of
their first collaboration was called “Black
Snow”, a porter-style coffee beer that sold out
in nearly record time. BeerAdvocate.com,
a well-respected world wide online beer critique
forum, gave “Black Snow” a 90% ranking with an
average of 4.13 points out of 5. By request, the
coffee character is a bit subtler in the stout as
compared to the porter.
“Midnight Howler” was unleashed on April 6th
at Town Hall Brewery, located at 1430 Washington
Ave. S. in Minneapolis. If you haven’t tried it
yet, stop by and have a pint of “Midnight
Howler” on Town Hall’s beautiful patio or pick
up a 64 oz. "Howler Growler" and enjoy
your spoils at home, if I don’t drink it all
first.
(Back
to Headlines)
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 This
month, Peace Coffee, along with 14 other Fair
Trade coffee roasters, committed to a partnership
with the Catholic Relief Services Fair Trade
Program. The CRS Fair Trade Program creates
opportunities for catholic individuals to make
trade fairer for poor people overseas through the
choices they make every day about what they eat,
drink and buy. This means every time you buy Fair
Trade coffee from Peace Coffee through the CRS
Fair Trade Program, your purchase guarantees that
the farmer who grew your coffee gets a fair price,
and at the same time you are supporting CRS work
with low-income farmers and artisans around the
world! For more information about the CRS Fair
Trade Program and how you can get involved, visit www.crsfairtrade.org.
You can also make a purchase in support of the CRS
Fair Trade Program on the peace coffee website (www.peacecoffee.com).
Be sure to enter "CRS" as your promotion
code when you check out so that your purchase can
be counted!
(Back
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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!
Ed
DeAntoni is the winner of last month's Coffee
Knowledge question. He knew that Captain John
Smith is generally credited with introducing
coffee to North America. Congratulations, Ed!
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"If
it wasn't for coffee, I'd have no discernible
personality at all."
--
David Letterman
(Back
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- March
2005 Andy's Chiapas Journal (part two) by
Andy Lambert, Converging For Fair Trade
- February
2005 Update On The Aceh Fund, Return To Chiapas (part one) by Andy Lambert, In Praise Of Hot Chocolate
by Rachel Hiltsley
- January
2005 Tragedy's Wake: Update From Sumatra, How I Spent My Floating Holiday by Brad the Bike Messenger, A Coffee Science Experiment by Rachel
Hiltsley, Resident Equipment Expert
- December
2004 Great Coffee the French Press Way, The Best Coffee in Town,
Coffee+Beer=Friggin' Good. eh?
- November
2004 My Other Bike is a Biodiesel,
Biodiesel: It's What's Inside
- October
2004 A Peaceful Alternative to Petroleum,
Don't Just Do It. Do It With Justice
- September
2004 Santa Anita de la Union, The Beauty of the St. Paul Classic
- August
2004 Crema Café: Home of Sonny's Ice Cream,
- July
2004 Exploring
Our Origins: Ethiopia
- June
2004 Journey through the Life of a Bean
- May
2004 Report
from Colombia and Brad
's Big Bike
Adventure
- April
2004 Nicaragua:
Coffee and
the Community at CECOCAFEN
- March
2004 Fair Trade Friends: United Students
for Fair Trade
- February
2004 Mut Vitz
and APECAFORMM Trip Reports
- January
2004 10
Good Things about a Bad Year
- December
2003 Global Exchange Fair Trade Challenge
- November
2003 Barriers to Fair Trade: NAFTA on
Steroids
- October
2003 Dia de
Los Muertos
- September
2003 Report
from Cancun: Victory
for Fair Trade
- August
2003 Fair
Trade Friends: Oxfam America
- July
2003 Exploring
Our Origins: Sumatra
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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:
- You may have more than one e-mail address on our list.
- Your e-mail address may have changed.
- You're going on a six month visit of Latin American
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,
you are always welcome to visit our website at http://www.peacecoffee.com
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