Fair Grounds - Peace Coffee

Getting Out and About for Fair Trade
Newsletter Special: Colombian Heavy Pedal
Join the World's Largest Coffee Break
Miles, Pounds and Speed by Andy Lambert, Peace Coffee Bike Courier
Events Calendar: The Fun Never Stops!
Roaster's Corner: Dominican Returns!
Show Your Peace Coffee Pride and Win!
Quote of the Month
Past Issues of Fair Grounds

Spring has finally sprung here in the Twin Cities, and the Peace Coffee crew is pretty darn glad about it! Like sleepy bears, we can finally come out of hibernation and, fueled by our favorite brew, get out and enjoy the great outdoors. As one of our bike delivery couriers, Andy Lambert is certainly happy the weather's getting warmer. In this issue of Fair Grounds, he talks about how Peace Coffee's bike delivery program impacts our carbon footprint. We also invite you to join Peace Coffee in the World's Largest Fair Trade Coffee Break, taking place on World Fair Trade Day (May 10th). And we've got a full events calendar and a winning haiku in our Peace Pride contest. Grab a mug of Peace Coffee, settle back and read on...

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Wish you could brew the right bean and save money too? This month, in honor of the biking season, our newsletter special is 15% off your order of our Colombian Heavy Pedal coffee. Just type the special code FGApr in the box provided at checkout. You'll be glad you did!

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This year, on May 10 at 3 pm EST and noon PST, thousands of people across North America and Canada will join together to enjoy a Fair Trade Coffee Break at the same time. The Guinness Book of World Records reports that the current record for the World's Largest Coffee Break consisted of 3,000 people enjoying the same break. We can break this record! Peace Coffee is committed to helping break this record by offering to mail a pound or two of ground coffee & a sleeve of 50 compostable cups, along with some educational materials like Coop America's Fair Trade Guide Magazine, cool stickers and magnets that promote Fair Trade, to anyone that is willing to host a Fair Trade Coffee Break. All you need to do it read over the Action Guide below, decide your plan of action & email orders@peacecoffee.com for your free pound of coffee and more! Be sure to include: your name, your address, what you are going to do to help us break the record and why you support Fair Trade. Deadline for emailing us your coffee request is Thursday May 1st, 2008.

Worlds Largest Coffee Break (WLCB) Action Guide

more...

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by Andy Lambert, Peace Coffee Bike Courier

There is something beautiful about physical labor that makes the soul rest easy at the end of a long day. It’s not just fatigue and lactic acid settling in the joints, it’s emotional. I’ve come to this realization since I made the switch from coordinating events and outreach here at Peace Coffee, to joining Josh in the bike delivery department last August. About this time last year, we began taking a hard look at our bike delivery program to see what could be improved, and how it could become a more sustainable position for the person/people pedaling everyday, 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year.

We conducted a fairly thorough analysis of our bike delivery program over the course of about 6 months. We used mapping software, conducted surveys with various types of accounts that receive bike delivery, and we held staff-wide and departmental brainstorming sessions to clearly articulate, "Why does Peace Coffee and its customers value bike delivery?" Our analysis revealed opportunities to grow the bike delivery service territory, and we heard overwhelmingly positive remarks about our chosen method of local delivery.

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First off, the Jim Hightower event was a lot of fun. He spoke to a packed crowd of 350 people and signed books for almost an hour afterwards. We'd like to send a big thanks to St. Joan of Arc Church for hosting the event and to our co-sponsors IATP & Wellstone Action. If you didn't get to make it, check out a snippet of his speech on youtube.

On April 26th, Peace Coffee will be at sold onsite at the St. Paul Craftstravaganza Rogue Arts & Crafts Fair @ MN State Fairgrounds: 9am-6pm. Admission and parking is free at this unique opportunity to purchase unique, handcrafted, and locally-made items. Volunteers drink free.

Also on April 26th, check out Bikes vs. Roller skates @ the North Star Roller Girls Bout at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Doors open at 6:30 pm, the bout starts at 7:30 pm. We've been working together since December, but this month Peace Coffee will take our sponsorship of the North Star Roller Girls to the next level. Join us at the March bout to see our bike delivery team challenge the Roller Girls to a little fun and danger on wheels. The NSRG league is a skater-owned and operated organization dedicated to providing quality entertainment through competitive athleticism. Come see what they can do. Get there early for track-side floor seating in the "nosebleed" section.

From May 2-5th, Peace Coffee will be at the Specialty Coffee Association of America trade show. Each year SCAA has an annual conference and trade show. This year, Minneapolis is hosting the event. Beginning the first week of May, baristas, roasters, equipment representatives and most importantly coffee producers from all over the world will touch down in our hometown. Peace Coffee and our friends from Cooperative Coffees will both have a booth at the trade show and will be speaking on various panels throughout the conference. If you are a coffee fanatic, you can volunteer to receive a reduced price on your conference fee.

From May 6th-8th, Peace Coffee kicks off a coffee producer tour in Minneapolis. Farmers from Peru, Guatemala & Mexico will participate in store demos, speak to student groups and present at a public event at Common Roots Cafe on Wednesday May 7th, 5:30-7:30 pm. Come for the coffee and good conversation.

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Susan Wolowitz, of Oak Park, IL, enjoyed Peace Coffee on a visit to the Common Roots Cafe in Minneaplis, and sent us this haiku:

Minneapolis Café culture
wish'd were here.
Chicago needs Peace coffee.

Congratulations, Susan, you're this month's winner! And lucky for Susan, Peace Coffee will be in Chicago May 17th & 18th. For the second year in a row, we will have a booth at the Chicago Green Festival. It's a great event for folks in the Chicago area to attend. There are great workshops and speakers and lots of Fair Trade, organic and environmentally conscious products are sold there!

If you're passionate about Peace Coffee, show it! Send us:

-- a photo showing your "Peace Coffee Pride”

-- a short written testimonial about how much you love us

-- an original coffee poem or haiku (three lines, 5 syllables in the first, 7 in the second, 5 in the last)

Each month, 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: May 12th

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"Make your life a mission - not an intermission."

~ Arnold Glasgow

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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*:
Stacy Adrianson
Anna Canning
Derek De La Paz
Kyle Feldman
Andy Lambert
Josh Lavelle
Melanee Meegan
Joe Moskowitz
Meagan O'Brien
Natalie Ryno
Ryan Seibold
Brian Steehler
Megan Tardiff
Keith Tomlinson
Lee Wallace
Liz Wawrzonek

*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

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