Posted by Coffee Kids on October 6, 2009 at 11:55am
The Canadian Coffee & Tea Show in Vancouver begins Wednesday, October 14 and runs through the 15th. Coffee Kids will have a booth (#205) in the exhibition hall and is also a sponsor of the show. If you plan to attend the show, stop by our booth and say hello to Coffee Kids’ Development Coordinator Joey Apodaca.The Canadian Coffee & Tea Show is a celebration of the global coffee and tea culture and is a comprehensive trade event that will showcase the finest products and ideas the industry has to offer. The Canadian Coffee & Tea Show is also host to the highly competitive 2009 Canadian BaristaChampionship. Sixteen baristas from around the country will each prepare four espresso, cappuccino and signature drinks in 15 minutes. The winner will represent Canada at the World Barista Competition to be held in London in June 2010.Special thanks to the Canadian Coffee & Tea Show for making our presence at the show possible by donating booth space
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Posted by Tara Shenson on October 5, 2009 at 6:22am
Even in Southern California, there are signs of fall evoking the question, “where did summer go”? Honestly, I’m not sure. It seems like just a week ago we all left Atlanta, energized from a great event and inspired to embark on a new set of projects. And then just like that…here we are, ready to start a new fiscal year.While our busy summer may seem like a blur, there are a number of progress points and accomplishments to remind us where the time went. So in true elementary school fashion, I thought it appropriate to give a “what we did last summer” report (or, some of what we did report anyway):• Planning began (well, continued) for an even bigger and better 2010 Annual Conference (aka The Event). The entire team is working hard, but a special mention to Cindy, Vennicia, and Laura who handle much of the advance work• Marcus and Mel were busy mapping out and expanding our regional training programs and barista competitions and even though it fell just after the equinox, we’re proud to report a sold-out skill-building workshop in NYC• Roaster’s Guild Retreat moved to a new location attracting a new crop of inspired professionals to the community• Ellie Matuszak, Board of Directors, rocked hard putting together SCAA’s new Instructor Development Program (IDP)• Ric continued to work with the Ethiopian coffee sector, addressing the needs of the specialty coffee industry (meeting scheduled in October, more information will follow later in the month)• Maria Hawkins was hired as our Membership Services Coordinator and she immediately began organizing and updating our records so members will soon be able to track coursework and certifications on-line• Tara Shenson joined the team as Marketing Manager and quickly expanded our presence in the social media world, making it easier to access information about various SCAA events and programs• After suffering a bit from lack of attention, the Golden Cup Award program underwent a make-over including new processes to improve our service levels• We finalized two new studies – the 2009 Retailer Survey and Roaster Ratio Study• Mansi led a major database overhaul, shifting to a much more user-friendly and feature-rich system (aka The Member Portal, Avectra, or the Wizard) with a tremendous amount of support from Irma and Adra to clean-up and transfer data as well as streamline our internal processes• Lily transitioned all resource center items to the new system (in The Store), making it much easier to order on-line• scaa.org redesigned and re-launched!!!!!
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Kat & Gail headed down to the Slayer HQ to check out the machine, interview the guys and have a demo. Founder Eric Perkunder and Sam from Equal Exchange gave us a great tour -- and some delicious espresso!Check out the video tour here.Read more detail on our blog post here.- Kat
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The seventh-annual Let's Talk Coffee officially kicked off today in Montelimar, Nicaragua, with about 350 people from all facets of specialty coffee in attendance. Presented by Portland, Ore.-based coffee importer Sustainable Harvest, Let's Talk Coffee brings together people from various steps of the coffee supply chain—including farmers, roasters and importers—to discuss topics such as how to improve supply-chain quality and how to implement practices to do so. Sustainable Harvest founder David Griswold kicked off this morning's festivities with a welcome address in which he stressed the need for transparency at every step of the coffee-production process.See the rest here: Fresh Cup's Facebook PageRead more…
I love coffee sacks. Don't get me wrong. I love the colourful designs and beautiful pictures of a colombian microlot. I love the soft texture, the basic identifying markings and the corded closing stitch of an co-op Ethiopian. But today there was no sweeter packaging than what my new Kenyan coffee came in. Kenya Ichanjeru AA Microlot comes in a square box with two 15 kilo vacuum sealed foil bags. Pulling one of those bricks of coffee made me think of the book Mr. Nice about a big time hash dealer from England. When I opened the first bag the smell of fresh alfalfa was so intoxicating that I felt nearly drunk! Once I was able to finally pull my nose away from the bag I ran my hands through the beans. Kenyas are usually clean and a very hard bean. So it through me to feel a soft spongy quality to the beans. The beans are actually a hard bean, however at this stage of freshness they felt like they had a velour coating on them. When roasting this coffee I have to be careful to push it into first crack and then really ease up on the temperature. This is a delicate coffee and must be approached with caution. The first batch I roasted I took a bit too fast and It ended around 430 degrees in 15 minutes. I will try again for a 420 roast in 14:30 the next time. Cupping my "darker" (430) batch I get the body and sweetness, but it lacks the citric acids that I am looking for in this beautiful coffee.The packaging is what I really wanted to focus on. George Howell loved the coffee from this particular exporter in Kenya and told them that he would buy their coffee if they changed the packaging. So George helped them set up the equipment and started buying their coffee. This vacuum packaging keeps the coffee at peak freshness for as long as the vacuum holds. The clarity of the coffee holds longer and you do not get the usual spoils of transportation. Moisture, light, air and time are no longer a factor. One can sample fresh greens and know that the rest of the shipment will taste the same even if it gets lost in transport somewhere in Africa. The only concern that I have is the plain unmarked box that it comes in. No longer do you see beautiful art on a burlap canvas. It reminds me of buying a record off itunes. Great sound quality with easy to use functions, but it is not like buying an LP record with liner notes and cool cover art. There are somethings in life that just can not be beat. The double Japanese import Kiss album with the 20 page booklet on the history of Kiss is on of them, but fresh, I mean really fresh green beans are another. All I ask is that vacuum packed coffees come in a uber cool printed box. The Clover when it was hot came in collector boxes. I got one of five Godzilla print boxes. This was the selling feature for me and made the $$$$ easier to swallow. A balance needs to be found between the quality of the product and the packaging that surrounds it.
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Posted by Coffee Kids on October 1, 2009 at 5:59am
A recent article in Time Magazine looked at Fair Trade and some of the problems coffee farmers are experiencing (Fair Trade: What Price for Good Coffee?). Rick Peyser of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, who serves on our board, is interviewed in the piece. It all seems to come back to, 'coffee is not enough.' In many of these communities, there is such a heavy dependence on the crop that families can never afford to get ahead.Fair trade is great tool to build consumer awareness of the problems farmers face and provide a more just price, but in order for the farmers and their families to improve their quality of life they need alternatives to coffee.More than anything, coffee-farming families need help diversifying local economies, and expanding educational opportunities and access to health care.The article perfectly illustrates the importance of Coffee Kids' efforts. We help coffee-farming families create programs in health awareness, education and training, microcredit and economic diversification, and food security. Each of the 25 projects our partners are managing this year (see a rundown here) meet a specific community need identified by people there.
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I'm so excited. We're doing our first fair and I'm running around like a chicken without a head! I'm equally excited. Anyone have any tips for me??
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Coffee Protects the Brain from CholesterolHigh cholesterol is responsible for many illnesses, not the least of which is a heightened risk of stroke. A 2008 study published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation suggests that caffeine equivalent to 6-7 cups of coffee a day just might protect the brain from the damages caused by cholesterol.High cholesterol levels increase the risk of stroke in a number of ways. Cholesterol increases the risk of heart disease, which is a risk factor for strokes. More directly, cholesterol deposits can narrow the carotid artery which carries blood to the brain, reducing the amount of oxygen and nutrients that your brain cells need. A third way that cholesterol can increase the risk of stroke is with deposits of plaque and cholesterol in the tiny capillaries of the brain itself.The brain is protected from much of the damage it might otherwise take by the blood brain barrier, a sort of protective “net” that filters substances from the blood before they reach the brain. It was once believed that the blood brain barrier (BBB) was extremely efficient, but more recent research shows that the BBB is a rather leaky barrier that can be affected by many things. Cholesterol is one of those things that researchers believe damages the blood brain barrier, leaving it with holes through which plaque and other harmful substances can permeate the brain.Researchers at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine decided to test a theory that caffeine might help protect the BBB from the damages caused by high cholesterol. Their subjects were a strain of New Zealand rabbits that are often used in medical research. The group of rabbits in the study were all fed a cholesterol-enriched diet. Half the group drank regular water. The other half of the group drank water that was laced with about the same amount of caffeine proportionally as is found in a cup of coffee – essentially, replacing their water intake with coffee.At the end of the twelve week study, the researchers found that the rabbits who had been drinking caffeinated water showed significantly less BBB leakage than those who had been drinking plain water. Based on this, the researchers suggest that caffeine might have a place in treatments for cholesterol reduction, stroke management and Alzheimer’s disease treatment.This research also lends credence to several recent studies that suggest those who drink coffee regularly throughout their lives are less likely to suffer from either stroke or Alzheimer’s disease. If the UND researchers are right, they may have discovered why coffee reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and stroke.
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History of Coffee in GuatemalaWhile the world coffee crisis of the past few years has increased problems faced by the Mayan people in Guatemala, they have been facing a permanent crisis for centuries, ever since the Spaniards arrived and began to disrupt indigenous ways of life. This began when the Spanish crown awarded large swaths of land to settlers, and what had been traditional Mayan lands became large estates upon which the indigenous people were forced to work. Throughout the colonial period and after Central American independence in 1823, various laws around land tenure either drove indigenous people off their land or converted them into “residents” of the new plantations.With the invention of chemical dyes in Europe in the 1800s, the export market for Guatemala’s indigo and cochineal collapsed. Coffee was developed as an export crop to take their place, supported by the government through preferential trade and tax treatment. By 1859, over a half million coffee trees had been planted around Antigua, Coban, Fraijanes and San Marcos and close to 400 quintales (100 lb. bags) were exported to Europe. The next year, production tripled to over 1100 quintales1.Guatemalan dictator Justo Rufino Barrios made the export of coffee the backbone of his government’s program in the 1870s. Barrios expropriated land belonging to the Catholic hierarchy, as well as communal lands held by Mayans, and by 1877, Barrios had virtually eliminated communal ownership of land in Guatemala. By 1880, coffee accounted for 90% of Guatemala's exports2. While exports of sugar, bananas and other fruits and vegetables, as well as beef and clothing, have also grown, coffee remains Guatemala’s largest export3.The social unrest resulting from the world-wide economic depression of 1929 led to the Matanza (massacre) of 1932 in neighboring El Salvador; to Guatemala it brought the presidency of Jorge Ubico in 1931. Ubico’s dictatorship inaugurated a 13 year repressive campaign against trade unions and other forms of popular organization. The tide began to turn in 1950, when populist Jacobo Arbenz was elected president and slowly began implementing a land reform, incurring the wrath of the large coffee plantation owners as well as the United Fruit Company and the US government. The Arbenz government was overthrown by a CIA-organized coup in 1954. The land reform was reversed, the unions and popular organizations disbanded, and thousands of people were murdered, including organizers and members of agricultural cooperatives.The terror unleashed by the US overthrow of Arbenz continued through a succession of governments, leading to the outbreak of civil war in 1962, which lasted through 1996 when Peace Accords were finally negotiated. The war functioned as a laboratory for methods of terror as a means to control the population. Entire villages were wiped out as the military, right-wing paramilitary, and government-organized “village patrols” murdered mostly rural, mostly poor, mostly indigenous people with impunity. The Guatemalan civil war resulted in an estimated 200,000 deaths and a society in which violence, distrust of government and law, and a culture of fear continue to this day.The accomplishment of the peace agreements was that they brought an end to the longest war in the Americas. However, the causes of the conflict -- poverty, hunger, unequal land distribution, and racism faced by the indigenous population -- continue today and continue to define Guatemala’s coffee economy.Labor relations in the coffee sector have not changed much in the last century. Plantation residents continue to complain of indentured servitude as some farms promote indebtedness through rents, credit policies at the company store, and loans for emergency health care. Many say they were evicted from their ancestral homes without being paid legally-mandated severance benefits. Others, however, have been able to negotiate land titles in exchange for leaving their places of origin. Tensions around land have resulted in some large growers establishing private security forces, increasing the levels of fear, violence, and inequality in rural areas4.The coffee harvest depends on a massive, seasonal influx of migrant workers who travel to supplement the meager income generated by their small plots of land in the highlands. Seasonal and sometimes daily contract laborers, instead of permanent employees, represent significant savings for growers by not demanding year round wages and benefits. This arrangement also tends to lower wages in general, and makes access to food (and the land to grow it on), housing, medical care and schooling more difficult. In general, a season’s worth of work will only generate 1/3 of a family’s corn and bean calorie requirements for a family5.Guatemalan coffee production peaked at the turn of the 21st century when it reached around 5 million quintales; however, production fell by 1/3 in just a few years (to 345,000 quintales in 2004) as coffee prices dropped drastically6. The decline in coffee’s price and production increased the already difficult conditions for Guatemala’s peasant farmers.About the same size as the state of Ohio, Guatemala ranks second in the world (after Colombia) in the amount of high grade coffee it produces, and it has the highest percentage of its crop classified as high quality. Over half its coffee is exported to the US, representing 1/8 of the country’s GNP and generating about 1/3 of Guatemala’s foreign exchange. But when these hundreds of millions of dollars trickle down, this intense labor generates little for the coffee workers. Refugees International’s Larry Thompson believes that in the recent crisis, “those fortunate enough to have found work in the coffee harvest saw their wages fall from a previous average of about $3.00 per day to about $2.00 per day.”7 These starvation wages occur despite the existence of a legal daily rural minimum wage of $2.488.Although statistics vary significantly, even the more conservative sources like USAID estimate that 56% of the population lives in poverty, and 20% in extreme poverty. Infant mortality is among the worst in the region (39 per 1,000 live births), maternal mortality is extremely high (153 per 100,000 births) and chronic malnutrition remains a serious problem (49%)9. Others believe that as many as 85% of children under 5 are malnourished, and that stunted growth affects up to 95% of non-Spanish speaking children in some regions10. A survey of a region in eastern Guatemala in October 2001 found 2.1% of children under five suffered from acute malnutrition; a March 2002 re-survey of the same region found that acute malnutrition had increased to 4.3%11.Increased access to land and income in rural areas continues to be key to resolving these stark issues of malnutrition, disease and mortality. Unfortunately, solutions remain among the failed promises of the Peace Accords as real land reform and an end to discrimination against the Mayan peoples seem to be absent from the government’s agenda. While only a small step toward rectifying centuries of injustice, fair trade coffee is helping to improve the situation for Guatemala’s small coffee farmers.One of Equal Exchange’s partners in Guatemala is Manos Campesinas (Farmers Hands). Founded in 1997 by 620 farmers organized in 6 cooperatives, it now has 1,073 members organized in 7 cooperatives located in the Departments of San Marcos, Quetzaltenango, Retalhuleu and Solola12. The majority of these farmers each own less than 2 ¼ acres of coffee. In their first season (1997-1998), Manos Campesinas exported one container of coffee. The following harvest, they exported four containers. Over the next three years, their exports increased to six, nine and thirteen containers respectively. In 2003, they exported 16 containers, 40% of their total production. Considering that the fair trade price for coffee that year was $1.26, while the market (unfair) price was 60 to 70 cents13, the improvement in coffee farmers’ lives, health and nutrition becomes obvious.According to Jerónimo Bollen, former General Manager of Manos Campesinas, “Fair Trade keeps farmers on their land. While low coffee prices have forced thousands of farmers to emigrate to Mexico and the U.S., none of our members have had to give up their land.”14Carlos Reynoso, current General Manager of Manos Campesinas, agrees: “About four or five years ago, coffee prices began to fall. That made our existence and our lives that much more difficult. We received less income for our production, but that also meant less money for food, health care, and education. The premiums we receive from fair trade help us send our children to school, and provide food and medicines for our families.”15The incentive to organize into cooperatives promoted by Equal Exchange and other fair trade partners is perhaps just as important for survival as is the extra income. When Hurricane Stan devastated Guatemala in October 2005, Manos Campesinas was able to mobilize to help its members and their neighbors. Jerónimo Bollen noted: “In an attempt to alleviate the problems caused by Hurricane Stan, Manos Campesinas first worked to provide emergency assistance such as food and supplies as well as medicines and medical assistance. Once the majority of these needs were met, Manos Campesinas was able to shift its focus onto the reconstruction of houses and infrastructure, economic reactivation, coffee production and the demarcation of landslides to ensure safety.”16In a world in which inequality and hunger are increasing as a result of corporate-led globalization, Fair Trade is a good example of how globalization-from-below helps to improve people’s lives and strengthen their communities.A good, readable book about the role of coffee in Guatemalan history from Arbenz through the peace accords is Daniel Wilkinson, Silence on the Mountain: Stories of Terror, Betrayal, and Forgetting in Guatemala (Houghton Mifflin, 2002).
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The Canadian Coffee & Tea Show in Vancouver begins Wednesday, October 14 and runs through the 15th. Coffee Kids will have a booth (#205) in the exhibition hall and is also a sponsor of the show. If you plan to attend the show, stop by our booth and say hello to Coffee Kids’ Development Coordinator Joey Apodaca.The Canadian Coffee & Tea Show is a celebration of the global coffee and tea culture and is a comprehensive trade event that will showcase the finest products and ideas the industry has to offer. The Canadian Coffee & Tea Show is also host to the highly competitive 2009 Canadian BaristaChampionship. Sixteen baristas from around the country will each prepare four espresso, cappuccino and signature drinks in 15 minutes. The winner will represent Canada at the World Barista Competition to be held in London in June 2010.Special thanks to the Canadian Coffee & Tea Show for making our presence at the show possible by donating booth space
It all seems to come back to, 'coffee is not enough.' In many of these communities, there is such a heavy dependence on the crop that families can never afford to get ahead.Fair trade is great tool to build consumer awareness of the problems farmers face and provide a more just price, but in order for the farmers and their families to improve their quality of life they need alternatives to coffee.More than anything, coffee-farming families need help diversifying local economies, and expanding educational opportunities and access to health care.The article perfectly illustrates the importance of Coffee Kids' efforts. We help coffee-farming families create programs in health awareness, education and training, microcredit and economic diversification, and food security. Each of the 25 projects our partners are managing this year (