Fair Grounds - Peace Coffee

Settling In With a Good Book
Book Review: Organic Coffee by Tim King
Becoming a Beer Activist by Melanee Meegan, Peace Coffee Advertising and Marketing Coordinator
Hot Off the Press: Fermenting Revolution
How Microbrew Can Save the World by Chris O'Brien
Roaster's Corner: The Winter Dance by Keith Tomlinson, Peace Coffee Head Roaster
Show Your Peace Coffee Pride and WIN!
Quote of the Month
Past Issues of Fair Grounds

With winter approaching (and the onset of -- ugh! -- colder weather), it's the perfect time to hang out someplace warm with a steaming mug of Peace Coffee and read a good book. So we thought we'd do something a little different in this month's Fair Grounds. We're offering up two book suggestions: Organic Coffee by Maria Elena Martinez-Torres and Fermenting Revolution by Chris O'Brien. Both are books endorsed by the Peace Cofee crew, and we sell both on our website. Also in this issue, Keith talks about the perfect shot of espresso in the Roaster's Corner, and we include a recipe to try for the upcoming Thanksgiving feast. Read on and enjoy...

(Back to Headlines)

by Tim King

What do Fair Trade and organic coffee have to do with sustainable development and what has that got to do with social capital? And what is social capital, exactly?

Maria Elena Martinez-Torres elegantly connects the four concepts in her book Organic Coffee: Sustainable Development by Mayan Farmers. Martinez-Torres' small book of big ideas examines these questions in her study of the Mayan coffee farmers in Chiapas, Mexico. What makes this book particularly relevant for Peace Coffee drinkers is that her studies include past and present Peace Coffee suppliers such as the Mut Vitz, La Selva, and UCIRI cooperatives.

Coffee was alternative development in Chiapas and Central America in the mid to late-nineteenth century, Martinez-Torres explains in her brief but fascinating history of coffee. But it wasn't initially grown on small farms.

"Coffee, like other export crops, was cultivated exclusively on large plantations, on which workers were severely mistreated, until 1910, when the Mexican revolution marked the start of a gradual process of the breakup of the large estates," she writes.

Read on...

(Back to Headlines)

by Melanee Meegan, Peace Coffee Advertising and Marketing Coordinator

I had the fortune of staying with Chris O’Brien, author of Fermenting Revolution, when I traveled to Ethiopia last year. Per his request, I traveled to Ethiopia carrying a six pack of Summit and Superior Ale. The first night I was there he set up a beer tasting to get opinions on some of the beer he'd been brewing. He then proceeded to give me an unofficial beer tour of Ethiopia which included stopping and drinking tella which is a fermented barley beer that women sell out of their home. They make their living room spaces into a bar area. If there is a cup on a stick in front of the house, it means the bar is open for business. Brewing and selling tella is a way that many women can have their own income. After leaving Ethiopia I had not only learned about the coffee industry but I had become very knowledgeable about the history and politics (and taste!) of beers and spirits of Ethiopia. Chris’s book has finally been published and I haven’t been able to put it down. My favorite chapter so far is titled “Putting the Ale Back in Female”! Get your copy today and join the beer revolution.

Chris’s blog can be found at www.beeractivist.com.

(Back to Headlines)

"If you like beer you'll love this book! And if you want to save the planet, you’ll be glad to know the work starts and ends with beer."

-- Fran Korten, Publisher, Yes! Magazine

Fermenting Revolution by Chris O'Brien delivers an empowering message about how individuals can change the world through the simple act of having a beer. It is also the first book to view all of the important trends in human history as fundamentally revolving around beer.

Globalization pitches the corporate worldview that is essentially selfish, rewarding the few while demeaning the many and devastating nature, against the sustainability movement that calls for cooperation, the protection and celebration of nature and the nurturing of equitable communities. Beer exemplifies the struggle. This book:

Traces the path of brewing from a women-led, home-based craft to corporate industry;
Describes how craft breweries and home-brewing are forging stronger communities;
Explains how corporate mega-breweries are saving the world by pioneering industrial ecology; and
Profiles the most inspiring and radical breweries, brewers and beer drinkers that are making the world a better place to live.

The return to beer as a way of life is communal, convivial, democratic, healthful, and natural. The American beer renaissance champions ecologically sustainable production, and is helping to create thriving community places. After reading Fermenting Revolution, mere beer drinkers will become "beer activists," ready to fight corporate rule by simply meeting their neighbors for a pint at the local brewpub -- saving the world one beer at a time.

Available on the Peace Coffee website for $18.95:
www.peacecoffee.com/order/order.php?category=3

(Back to Headlines)

by Chris O'Brien

The world's cup runneth over with living beer traditions. But this vast repository of cultural brewing capital is under attack by global corporations. The top five brewing companies, all of which are American- or European-owned, control 41 percent of the world market. Perversely, economists and politicians calculate the conquest by industrial breweries as economic growth while the value of small-scale traditional brewing goes uncounted. Much will be lost if this global "beerodiversity" is lost to the forces of corporate-led homogenization.

The globalization of beer not only destroys the social, spiritual, and health-related benefits of small-scale home beer production. It also undercuts the vital role that home brewing plays in sustainable development throughout the world. For 10,000 years, brewing has been conducted at home, primarily by women, who were entrusted with safeguarding traditions that strengthen social bonds and build community identity. As an important component of diet, beer was distributed by female household heads according to the values of the community, which moderated consumption to socially acceptable levels. As an inherently small-scale and local endeavor, brewing also has had a low impact on environmental resources, relying on renewable energy sources and requiring little or no packaging or shipping.

Read on...

(Back to Headlines)

There was no Peace Coffee pride winner this month but here's something to give you inspiration for next month's contest:

Red Bull Pride!
The Weisman Museum in Minneapolis was host to the Art of the Can Exhibit. Minnesota artists created works out of red bull cans and other scrap materials. Check it out at: www.redbullartofthecan.com/

If you feel inspired to make something out of our beans/packaging/burlap sacks, we’d love to give you some coffee in return! Bring on the Peace Coffee Turtle!

We’ll choose one entry to appear in the following Fair Grounds newsletter. If we choose yours, you’ll win a pound of your favorite Peace Coffee coffee. Please send your entry to mel@peacecoffee.com.

Contest ends: December 8th

(Back to Headlines)

"Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza."

-- Dave Barry

(Back to Headlines)

Fair Grounds is produced by:
Peace Coffee

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*:
Beth Backen
Anna Canning
Derek De La Paz
Tom Hudson
Nick Johnson
Andy Lambert
Melanee Meegan
Scott Patterson
Ryan Seibold
Nate Stevens
Keith Tomlinson

*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.

Fair Grounds is designed by:

Starstruck Design
335 West Gill Road
Gill, MA 01354

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