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It may be the dead of winter, but that's not keeping the Peace Crew from getting out and about spreading our Fair Trade message. Check out our upcoming schedule in this month's Peace Spokes and come out and support our community efforts. You can also read about Andy's new promotion, learn about the Sustainability is Sexy initiative, read Ton Tran's yearly recap of the Peace Coffee Bike Team, find out how to improve your home brewing and see a Peace Coffee bag turned into a nifty homemade java jacket. Pour yourself a mug of your favorite Peace Coffee, kick back and read on...
 In 2006, it is estimated that paper cups accounted for 252 million pounds of garbage resting in landfills. Paper cup use in 2006 also accounted for 4 billion gallons of water wasted, 6.5 million trees cut down, and 4,884 billion BTU’s of energy used. [1] In an effort to reduce such negative environmental impacts on our planet caused by disposable coffee cups the organization, Sustainability is Sexy, was founded. Their mission is to motivate coffee drinkers to use reusable coffee cups instead of using disposable paper cups.
Read more...
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by Ton Tran, Peace Coffee Race Team Coordinator
 2008 -- what an unbelievable year! I think I'll just call it crazy ol' 8. It seems that it had all of us living on the edge with lots to worry about; the high gas prices, the bursting of the housing bubble, and of course the uncertain change coming in the political world were just a few of the worries we had to face in crazy ol' 8. And that you can never change that, no matter how much you train.
On the lighter side of things, the Peace Coffee Racing Team went through some cool changes as well.
Read more...
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 From Bean Peddler to Bean Hook Up! After hauling 83,659 pounds of coffee over 5,446 miles & going through:
6 pairs of break pads
2 chains
2 rear derailleurs
3 packages of bar tape
2 sets of tires
4 pairs of Carhartt pants
3 pairs of bike gloves,
and thousands upon thousands of calories...
Peace Coffee Bike Courier Andy Lambert has officially moved from the bike saddle to an exercise ball chair in the office where he will work as Peace Coffee’s sales manager (otherwise referred to as the Bean Hook-Up!)
He is available anytime to help customers large and small, new and old, with all their coffee and equipment needs. Just send an email to andy@peacecoffee.com or call (612) 870-3440 ext. 202 with any Peace Coffee related questions or concerns. He’ll still be riding his bike around town taking care of our beloved accounts -- just without 300 pounds of coffee trailing behind him! Congratulations Andy... now go sell some beans!
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Wine, Espresso, Theatre and more...
The Peace Coffee events team has been keeping busy since the beginning of the year, participating in several community events, in-store demos and brewing workshops. We will be continuing our involvement in the community this month, so don’t forget to check out our upcoming events listed below.
February 21-11am-12:30pm
Home Brewing 101 at the Seward Co-op Grocery and Deli- Peace Coffee’s head roaster Keith Tomlinson will be demonstrating how to make a good cup of coffee at home. Attendees will receive a Peace Coffee mug and useful handouts that will make home brewing easy! The new Seward Coop is located at 2823 East Franklin Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Please pre-register at the Seward customer service counter.
February 21-22
Coffee Fest in Chicago- Peace Coffee will be attending the 2009 Coffee Fest. The festival includes educational classes and workshops on barista training, coffee quality control, expansion alternatives and much more. Espresso Partners will be there pulling delicious shots of Peace Coffee Espresso. Stop by booth 1000 for a taste.
Feb 24 5:30 -10 PM
Nonviolent Peaceforce Carnival- Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP) is a nonpartisan peacekeeping force composed of trained civilians from around the world. Peace Coffee will be serving coffee at the carnival and talking to folks about the company. Location of Event: The Cedars Hall, St. Maron’s Church- 602 University Ave NE, Minneapolis, 55413
February 27- March 7
Night Train to Bolina- A play by Nilo Cruz, about two children who attempt to escape from the painful realities of their life by creating a fantasy world called Bolina—the city where lost kites go. While this play is set in an unnamed Latin American country, it encompasses human rights issues that cross boundaries. Moreover, by confronting the audience with actual emaciation and bruises, it challenges the audience to envision starvation and violence not just as abstract phenomena but as they are actually experienced by millions of children worldwide.
To amplify public awareness of children’s rights issues, University Theatre is partnering with Amnesty International and Peace Coffee to offer several public events in conjunction with the show. Peace Coffee will provide coffee for all events and will have information available for those interested in sustainable agriculture and trade. In addition, representatives from Amnesty International will be present at showings of Night Train to Bolina with information on the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
For show times and tickets please click here.
February 26-28
MOSES Organic Farming Conference- Peace Coffee will be participating in & providing coffee at the Organic Farming Conference. This is the largest organic farming conference in the U.S. Click here to register.
 February 28: 10am-6pm & March 1: 11am-5pm
Minnesota Monthly Food and Wine Experience – This is Peace Coffee’s seventh year participating in the Food and Wine Experience. We will be sampling three different types of coffee and pairing it with fair trade Theo Chocolate. Our head roaster Keith Tomlinson will be leading a workshop on coffee/ chocolate pairing. Come and experience excellent food, wine, chocolate and Peace Coffee!
March 11: 6:30am- 8am
Uptown YWCA Member Appreciation
If you are a member of the YWCA, don’t forget to workout on the morning of February 12 and grab a free cup of Peace Coffee at the Uptown YWCA!
March 14: 11am-3pm
International Women’s Day Celebration - Join Peace Coffee in celebrating International Women’s Day in the Great Hall (Coffman Union) at the University of Minnesota. We will be serving coffee from 11am to 3pm for all attendees!
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Home Brewing 101
 Two weeks ago at Linden Hills Cooperative, I presented a class on at-home brewing. This weekend I will be doing another one in the classroom at the new Seward Cooperative. I’ll be presenting this class several times over the next year. While brewing is a fairly elaborate chemical process, there are some simple things everyone can do at home to improve the quality of their brewing.
First, there are some variables that you will want to keep consistent: water temperature, water volume and steeping time. Water temperature should always be between 195 -205 degrees F. Your steeping time and water volume are dependent upon the brewing method you are using. Be sure to use a timer if you are making a French press. Time is especially crucial for this brewing method. I also recommend that you use filtered watered because most tap water imparts off-flavors to the coffee. Some minerals are essential to coffee flavor, so do not use distilled water.
 The other major variables that you want to play with are your grind setting and the amount of coffee you are using. Grinding your coffee immediately before brewing is one of the best ways that you can help yourself. Ground coffee starts going stale immediately and most of the aromatic compounds will dissipate within an hour of grinding. On a very basic level your two variables of grind setting and amount of coffee control flavor and strength respectively. If your coffee is bitter, then your grind is too fine; if it is flat, then your grind is too coarse. If your coffee is too strong, then you are using too much coffee and if it is weak then you aren’t using enough.
Happy brewing! And I hope to see you at a brewing class in the future.
Cheers,
Keith
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This month, order a stainless steel Peace Coffee tumbler or anything from our website and get 15% off your entire order (before shipping charges
are added). Just enter SIS in the Promo Box at checkout.
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Marta Wesenick of New London, Wisconsin, sent us this month’s crafty project. She took an ordinary cardboard coffee sleeve from a local coffee shop and opened it on the seam. Then, she took a base of the Peace Coffee bulk bag, and sewed it onto the sleeve so it would be all one color. Then, she sewed the stickers and little turtles pieces onto it, and fastened the two ends back together with a needle and thread. On the first one she made, she put it back together by punching holes with a hole punch and using ribbon to thread them together but it didn’t lay as flat as the thread and needle version. She said you could easily just sew the sleeve onto the cardboard without cutting any pieces out and the decoration part could also be done with glue for the non-sewing types. The final product not only looks great but has a nice heavy feel to it, and can be used again and again.
How do you reuse our coffee bags? Send us photos of your crafty reusable creations to crafty@peacecoffee.com. We will share them with readers in next month's newsletter. In trade for your creativity and effort we'll give you a Peace Coffee t-shirt and a pair of Peace Coffee socks which you can use for making Sock Monkeys!
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"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts."
~
Abraham Lincoln
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Peace Spokes is a monthly publication from the crew at Peace Coffee.
ph 612-870-3440
ph 888-324-7872
fax 612-252-1821
info@peacecoffee.com |
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