Filed under: Fair Grounds Newsletter: February 2009, Recipe of the Month | Tags: Cafe Campesino, coffee recipe, Fair Trade Coffee, February Coffee, February Recipe, Organic Coffee, Recipe of the Month
Chocolate Coffee Lover’s Delight
This intoxicating blend of chocolate and coffee is the perfect compliment for a weekend curl up on the couch, and maybe a bottle of red…
Ingredients
- 2 cups non-fat milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 shots Café Campesino Fair Trade Organic Coffee
- 3 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips (semi-sweet or milk chocolate)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- small chocolate bar for garnish (optional)
- whipped topping for garnish (optional; see below for a cool recipe from last issue!)
Directions
- Pre-measure all ingredients.
- Heat milk approximately 3 minutes over medium heat, stirring frequently. Add sugar, cocoa powder, coffee, cornstarch and chocolate chips. Stir constantly for 6 minutes or until mixture becomes thick.
- Remove from heat and add vanilla. Divide among 4 small ramekins or serving bowls.
- Cool for 20-30 minutes. Garnish with chocolate curls or whipped cream if desired and serve.
Filed under: Fair Grounds Newsletter: February 2009, Producer Spotlight | Tags: Coffee Beans, Coffee Producers, Fair Trade Coffee
This month we spotlight Maya Vinic, our partners in Chiapas, Mexico, who spearhead the fight to maintain local customs and put an end to price gouging by incorporating Fair Trade and organic coffee practices into their farming.
Above: Las Abejas
Office: Sacred Soil – Martyrs of Acteal
Region: Highlands of Chiapas
Founded: July 31, 1999
Coffee: Arabica coffees, including varieties such as Typica, Caturra, and Mundo Novo.
Grown at altitudes of between 900 and 1400 meters, classified as Extra Prime to Strictly Hard Bean.
Coffee Characteristics: This smooth-bodied coffee offers balance in the cup with pronounced sweet, fruity flavor.
* Maya Vinic has 500 members in 36 communities, of which 284 are organic certified.
* In 2007 they exported 2.5 containers of fair trade and organic coffee.
* They have general assembly two times a year, with an anniversary on July 30.
For more detail on Maya Vinic, or to trace the origins of your coffee, from crop to cup, please visit: http://www.cafecampesino.com/Articles.asp?ID=157
Also, try http://coopcoffees.com/what/producers/maya-vinic-mexico/maya-vinic-mexico
Filed under: Community Caravan, Fair Grounds Newsletter: February 2009 | Tags: Americus Georgia, Community Caravan, Community Events, Fair Trade Coffee, South Georgia
Sister Maureen Jerkowski and friends at Maya Vinic Cooperative in Chiapas, Mexico
As this newsletter arrives to your inbox, Café Campesino is preparing to be honored as Small Business of the Year by the Americus-Sumter County Chamber of Commerce. The Feb. 5th event will include a dinner and ceremony at South Georgia Tech’s John M. Pope Center to honor some local businesses including our friends at Koinonia Farm, Agri-Business of the Year. A “thank you” to our Chamber and to our local community for their continued support and “congratulations” to Koinonia for their excellent work! Read more about this great honor in next month’s feature article.
Now we take this opportunity to introduce to you a partner in the global community effort to bring dignity to all workers and their families. Centro Mujeres de la Esperanza (Center for Women of Hope) is a multicultural and faith-based community of women in the geographical region of El Paso, TX, southern New Mexico, and Juarez, Mexico. For the last 15 years, this organization has been working to transform structures that oppress women and their families at local, national and international levels and to raise awareness of these issues. One of the ways they accomplish this is to promote and sell a variety of Fair Trade products, including Café Campesino coffee; in doing this, they have become the hub in El Paso for churches, businesses, and individuals interested in supporting the Fair Trade Movement. These coffee sales are also made in conjunction with and support another leader in “fair trading”, Catholic Relief Services (CRS).
Under the direction of Sister Maureen Jerkowski, Centro Mujeres actively pursues living a life of service and compassion, of education and empowerment, of dignity and justice for all. We’re so thankful for their good work.
Maureen shared with us about a recent trip that she and others made to visit one of our coffee partners (and theirs) – Maya Vinic Cooperative in Chiapas, Mexico. She told us of their time spent with a survivor of the December 22, 1997, event known as “The Acteal Massacre”. This person recounted the horrid tale of the government-sponsored assassination of 45 men, women (4 of whom were pregnant), and children who had gathered at a Catholic chapel to pray. Their gathering was a peaceful response to the ongoing conflict between the indigenous population that simply wanted the right to fairly benefit from the natural resources of their homeland and the national government who continued to oppress them and deny them these rights. About a year and half later, again in a non-violent act and through the strong will of the people, the Maya Vinic coffee cooperative was officially formed. The cooperative remains true to its roots and continues to produce wonderful coffee for our enjoyment and their livelihood.
The Chiapas region of Mexico has long been recognized as a producer of high quality coffee beans and the fruits of their labor remain a favorite with many java lovers across the globe.
As our special for this month of February, we are happy to offer superb coffee grown in the highlands of northwestern Chiapas, roasted here in Americus, Georgia, and then delivered to you. Enjoy this sweet, smooth, balanced cup that is lightly acidic with nutty and chocolaty flavor at 10% off any size bag. Enter code mexfeb9 during checkout to receive this special price. Read More about Maya Vinic in this month’s spotlight.
Looking ahead:
-The 6th Annual Sustainable Business Day event will be held at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta on Feb. 12th. Once again, we’ll be serving coffee to those in attendance and showing our support for and dedication to sustainable, enviro-friendly business practices. Our presence is yet another reminder to our state legislators that we, as Georgians, need to be more mindful of how our day-to-day business operations affect the places we live. We hope you’ll join us in considering the ability and responsibility we all have to impact our environment in a positive way.
-As you may know, Café Campesino proudly partners with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) by donating a portion of profits from each designated CRS coffee or tea sale. ( http://www.crscafe.com/ ) While financial contributions are certainly essential to the program’s success, raising awareness of the issues facing those in disadvantaged economic circumstances is critical to making lasting changes in the way that everyone does business. One of the ways we stay connected in this journey towards “fair trade for all” is to collaborate with others who support CRS and the fair trade movement. Later this month, Feb. 27-28, friends will gather for the 3rd Annual CRS Fair Trade Weekend here in Americus, GA. Hosted by Koinonia Farm and Café Campesino, this weekend is slated to include a movie screening and discussion with Fair Trade experts as well as a day long workshop filled with the nuts and bolts of fair trade versus conventional trade, fair trade and our faith, and how to promote fair trade in our respective parishes and communities. We look forward to this informative time of fellowship as it invigorates and inspires us to consider and reconsider our effort in making trade fair and sustaining.
Looking back:
-Our first “Café Campesino presents…” event was a huge success. The café was at full capacity for both of Julia Easterlin’s performances as we were treated to the soulful sounds of this young and talented singer/songwriter/musician. What a great start for what we hope to establish as a regular occurrence here at our coffee house! A big “thank you” to Julia and all those in attendance. And special thanks to Patrick Owen, a talented local artist, who not only set up the sound system for the event but entertained with licks on his acoustic guitar.
-Jim & Margaret Favre gave us an excellent and informative slideshow presentation about their experiences from a recent trip to El Salvador as organizers and volunteers in a Fuller Center for Housing Blitz Build. The project week resulted in 16 houses at a site that will ultimately contain 50 houses for families in need of a simple, decent place to live. It’s always uplifting to see and hear about acts of kindness and service provided to folks in need.
Filed under: Fair Grounds Newsletter: February 2009, Newsletter Features | Tags: Catholic Relief Services, Coffee, CRS, Fair Trade, Fair Trade and Children, Fair Trade Articles, Fair Trade Coffee, Fair Trade Education, Orlando Diocese, Small Farmers
As a follow-up to last month’s piece in Community Caravan, this article looks at some of the additional initiatives being taken by students around the United States to “Make Trade Fair” in 2009.
Stephanie Bosse, Program Coordinator for the Office of Advocacy and Justice at the Diocese of Orlando, and Fundraising Coordinator for Café Campesino, brought 25 youth and youth ministers to Americus to experience an exceptional hands-on tutorial of the Fair Trade experience, accentuated by a visit to Café Campesino in Americus. It wasn’t your every day field trip. This special moment in our community serves to represent the greater story of young people nationwide taking to the cause of Fair Trade.
The group volunteered at Koinonia, a local Intentional Christian Community, drawing connections between how the community has much in common with the everyday fair trade farmer, with the emphasis on sharing, kindness, simple accomodations and respect for the environment. However, there was one major element of difference: Choice.
Visiting Cafe Campesino, the children connected how their day of labor was a form of shared solidarity with coffee growers across the world, those who craft the precious commodity of coffee that we often take for granted, even if we do understand the challenges faced by Fair Trade farmers. At one point, back at the roastery, Tripp asked the group if what they had done at Koinonia (picking up fallen sticks from the pecan orchards) was long, boring and monotonous. Then, after the group responded affirmatively, he asked, “Did you do it for 12 hours? Sunup to sundown? Everyday? Did you do the work on a steep incline high up in the mountains? Did you have to pick which sticks were ripe and which were not?”
It was this realization that precipitated one of those lightbulb learning moments, one that made an impact in the education of the next generation of Fair Traders.
“Cafe Campesino showed our young adults the value of fair trade- they get it,” said Bosse. “But taking them to [Cafe Campesino] to see the coffee and hear personal stories clicks things to a new level. It’s a higher degree of understanding when you form a relationship with growers and see the pictures; the experience then becomes unique,” she added.
An essential component of the group’s education involved learning an appreciation for the value of not only labor, but people. Fair Trade asks us to give value to people; Bosse calls this concept, “one small ticket on the train to heaven.”
The Orlando group plans to continue exploring and expanding their knowledge of Fair Trade issues, using a grant from Catholic Relief Services (CRS). In December the CRS Fair Trade Fund committee came together in Baltimore to consider applications that either work to help producers enter the Fair Trade market or encourage consumer participation. Since 2005, they have awarded more than $500,000 worth in grants that either encourage consumer education and involvement, or help producers connect with Fair Trade markets. Every time someone makes a purchase from one of CRS’ Fair Trade coffee, chocolate or handcrafts partners, a percentage goes to the CRS Fair Trade Fund.
Bosse noted, ”Because of the committment of Cafe Campesino not just to a great and important Fair Trade product, but also, and more importantly, to education… the success of that first retreat allowed us to continue with the retreats.” This year the Orlando group will be holding three youth and young adult retreats under the CC umbrella, with the goal of utilizing the students involved to create a youth and young adult leadership team of Fair Traders – with goals and expectations that commit to word of mouth marketing for the Fair Trade mission.
There are many more young adults across the United States making their voice heard and taking a stance on Fair Trade issues, seeking not only to educate themselves with each relationship they build, but spread the word to others. There are more than 150 active Fair Trade student-run organizations in the U.S., involved in international exchanges and leadership building training, seeking to help sustain the movement of Fair Trade with a new generation of youth.
With an ambitious strategic action plan focused on education, community building and global as well as local activism, United Students For Fair Trade shows the future of the movement is in good hands. For more information on how to get involved locally and globally, contact Lisa East, Coordinator for the Southeast Region.
There is no better way to start your new year than to do something right, for the right reasons, side by side with the right people.
Filed under: Fair Grounds Newsletter: February 2009, Producer Spotlight | Tags: Fair Trade, Fair Trade Coffee, fair trade partners, peru, Producer Partners, producer profile
Producer Profile: CAC Pangoa
Bean Harvest, Pangoa
“With the Fair Trade price we hope to increase
our organic production so that we can improve
and conserve the soil and subsequently increase
our productivity. With increased revenue
from Fair Trade sales, we plan to improve
all technical aspects of our production.”
-Esperanza Dionisio Castillo,
CAC Pangoa General Manager
CAC Pangoa was founded in 1977 by 50 small farmers in the district of San Martin de Pangoa, 280 miles from Peru’s capital Lima. Since then CAC Pangoa has grown to 721 members. The co-op members, a majority of whom cultivate coffee on 12-25 acre plots, work side by side with the co-op’s team of directors, technicians and employees to compete in a complicated international market.
CAC Pangoa uses revenue from Fair Trade coffee sales to sponsor initiatives to support members, such as crop diversification programs, insurance, credit and savings support, infrastructure improvements, and technical assistance to its farmers.
Read the complete overview of Pangoa.
Read more about the history of Peru.
Visit here to trace your PANGOA coffee from crop to cup.
Filed under: Fair Grounds Newsletter: February 2009, Recipe of the Month | Tags: Coffee, coffee recipes, Fair Trade Coffee, holiday recipes, Organic Coffee, Recipe of the Month, whipped cream recipe
Jimmy’s Winter Whipped Cream
This month, we feature an eclectic recipe that pairs well with a variety of holiday desserts; it’s especially effective in evening out the super sweetness of Pecan Pies.
Ingredients
1 Pint Heavy Whipping Cream
1 Tablespoon Reese’s Pieces
¼ Teaspoon Cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon Peppermint Snow
¼ teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup real maple syrup
¼ cup eggnog
1 to 2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 shot Cafe Campesino Espresso
Preparation
Whip heavy cream in hand held blender on low for 3-5 minutes
Add Reece’s pieces, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, peanut butter; blend on medium until almost desired consistency.
Finally, eggnog, maple syrup, espresso and peppermint shavings and blend for another 3-5 minutes, until it is the texture of whipped cream. Garnish with cinnamon or Pirouette sticks.
The finished product should be full of holiday flavor, and can be used on top of ice cream. Or, put some on a cappuccino or in your Café Campesino fair trade coffee!
Filed under: Community Caravan, Fair Grounds Newsletter: February 2009, Visit Our Archives | Tags: Americus, Community, Community Caravan, Community Events, Georgia, Happenings, Things to Do
Live Music at the Coffee House!
On Saturday January 17th at the Coffee House, from 7:30 to 10:30, Cafe Campesino will feature Julia Easterlin with a live music performance. The show will take place inside the coffee house with a special set-up, to make sure we keep the audience away from the cold!
Julia, lead soprano in the Grammy Jazz Ensembles, grew up in Georgia as a cousin of Bill and Lee Harris (must have been a rough life), and now lives in Boston, studying and performing at Berklee College of Music. She has a gift for spinning a contemporary confidence with impressive technical skills, and has her own creative and original presentation. CDs will be available at the show. For a preview of Julia’s hearty voice and its impressive range, check out any of the following links:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/juliaeasterlin
www.myspace.com/juliaeasterlin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMoe_T6wZeA.
On December 17th, Cafe Campesino hosted a wonderful Open House, where over 200 people showed up for the annual event. Bill called the night a “Exceptional time of sharing coffee, food and fellowship, with an outstanding community turnout.” The record crowd enjoyed smoothie concoctions and simply celebrated the season. Thanks to all for your overwhelming support of your community coffeehouse!
Birthday Wishes
Fair Grounds wants to send out warm birthday wishes to the man with the vision, our friend and colleague, Bill Harris. January 19th is the big day. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILL!
Fuller Center Presentation on El Salvador Blitz Build
On Friday morning, Jan. 16, our friends, Jim and Margaret Favre, will stop by the Cafe for a couple of very important reasons: 1) their daily cups of coffee (thanks, Jim and Margaret, for your loyal patronage!) and 2) to educate and entertain us with stories and pictures from their recent trip to El Salvador. The Favres participated in a blitz build project sponsored by The Fuller Center for Housing (for whom they volunteer quite extensively) and we’re thrilled that they’re taking time to share their experiences and insights with us. As you may well know, Cafe Campesino roasts and sells coffee cultivated in El Salvador and we relish this opportunity to learn more about the country and the people that produce such a wonderful coffee.
Look out for next month’s “Caravan” and more great events involving the Americus and Fair Trade communities.
Keep an eye out for more Cafe Campesino Presents events in the future!!!
Filed under: Community Caravan, Fair Grounds Newsletter: February 2009 | Tags: ACOES, Cafe Campesino, Coffee, Coffee Shop, Contemplatives in Action, Fair Trade Coffee, Florida Diocese, Habitat for Humanity, koinonia, Newman Catholic Center, Organic Coffee, Prince of Peace, School of the Americas, SOA, SOA Watch, VOSH, WHINSEC, Young Ministries
So much going on, so let’s take that first sip…
When our good friends Don Rogelio Surano and Oscar Ortiz Montano from ACOES in El Salvador visited us in October, we delivered a box containing 100 pairs of new reading glasses for them to distribute to members of their coop. We recently received a lovely report and letter of thanks from them, learning that they not only had taken care of the needs of their immediate coffee coop, but had also taken the time and initiative to deliver an additional 60 or so pairs to members from their surrounding community. We acknowledge our friends at ACOES for their service to the community and reaffirm our feeling that it is an honor to be their trading partners and friends.
While we here at Cafe Campesino feel good about our small role in making this happen, the real thanks goes to Volunteer Optometric Service to Humanity (VOSH). VOSH volunteers Larry and Ruth Hauler along with Chrstine Smith took the time to assemble the reading glasses and get them to Cafe Campesino so that we could deliver them (and the necessary acuity/testing charts) to our friends from ACOES. VOSH has been going on eye missions in developing countries for 18 years, setting up clinics and seeing an average of 2500-3000 patients each week The people who undertake these missions are optometrists, opticians and lay people, who pay their own way and donate their time and skills to helping people who perhaps have never had a pair of glasses before. As of 2007, VOSH has helped over 200,000 patients in Mexico, Guatemala and Haiti. They have also been to Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba and St.Lucia. On behalf of our producer partners at ACOES and their surrounding community, Cafe Campesino thanks VOSH and Ruth, Larry and Christine, in particular, for helping us deliver the reading glasses. This is an example, albeit small, of the potential of Fair Trade, bringing people and resources together to make change where change is needed.
Click Here to read a PDF of the report from ACOES – definitely worth reading (it’s in Spanish, so if you don’t understand Spanish, that’s ok… the pictures and images included alone are worth it).
Prince of Peace Friends at Coffee House
On Saturday, November 1st a group of 25 or so youth and youth ministers from the Orlando, Florida Diocese traveled up to Americus to participate in the first ever “Youth Ministry Fair Trade Weekend.” The service retreat was put together by Prince of Peace Youth Minister Mike Buckler with support from our very own fundraising program coordinator Stephanie Bosse and long-standing amiga and supporter Simone Blanchard, Catholic Relief Services’ Southeast Program Officer. The group stayed with our friends at Koinonia, the birthplace of the Cotton Patch Gospels and Habitat For Humanity. On Saturday morning, they worked at Koinonia, picking up sticks and pulling out pecans from hiding spaces in gullies, something that the equipment there can’t do but is critical to pecan production. That evening, they joined Tripp at Café Campesino for an evening full of Fair Trade!
Stephanie Bosse described the evening as follows: “Cafe Campesino pulled together how our labor [at Koinonia that morning] allowed us to stand in solidarity with coffee growers around the world. Tripp Pomeroy helped us process our day by asking about how work that day had been for us. Was it tedious? Was it long, boring, monotonous? Then Tripp asked, did you do it for 12 hours? Sun-up to sun-down? Did you do the work on a steep incline high up in the mountains? Did you have to pick which sticks were ripe and which were not? Comparing our conditions to those of coffee farmers in mountain highlands definitely put our work, and our blessings, into proper perspective.
At one point during Tripp’s talk, youth minister Mike Buckler was struck by a new appreciation for Fair Trade. Mike asked all of us, “Do you understand what power you have? That just by purchasing Fair Trade coffee alone, you have the power to make real change? YOU have the POWER to save lives…” By choosing to purchase organically grown, Fair Trade coffee, WE have the POWER to answer Christ’s question of Peter, to love Christ as he asked the rock of our church…to feed his sheep!
On behalf of our producer partners and everyone here at Café Campesino, we want to thank this truly wonderful group of young people and their equally inspiring youth ministers for including Café Campesino in this most thought-provoking and empowering event; we look forward to the next one!
A big thanks to Geoffrey, Jeh, Bill, Dave, our friends from Koinonia, the Newman Catholic Center at Eastern Illinois University and from Contemplatives In Action in New Orleans who spent the weekend of November 22-23 in Columbus, Georgia where they served up tons of Café Campesino coffee to the thousands of students, people of faith, and human rights activists attending the annual vigil at the School of the Amercias. The School of the Americas Watch (SOAW) is a grassroots movement that stands in solidarity with the people of Latin America to close the SOA/WHINSEC and to change what many believe is the oppressive U.S. foreign policy that the SOA represents. This marks the tenth year that Café Campesino has served coffee at the SOAW. Profits from the event go to SOAW.
Café Campesino is proud to announce that we have partnered with Contemplatives in Action, an urban ministry and retreat experience in New Orleans, to provide A Sign of Relief Blend. One of our favorite blends of Mexico Chiapas Full City, Sumatra Full City, and Nicaragua Dark Roast, proceeds from this blend support CIA and their continued efforts to build capacity with local non-profits in order to improve the lives of residents in a city still recovering from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and its subsequent flooding. Experience A Sign of Relief and offer A Sign of Relief to others. Purchase your coffee here or contact Contemplatives in Action directly for ways you can be a CIA Agent in your community!
Our annual Open House is scheduled for December 11th. Please join us at 725 Spring Street from 5 to 9 pm for an evening full of coffee, espresso, hors d’oeuvres, holiday shopping, and, well, just a darn good time!
Holiday Schedule: Please note that Cafe Campesino will be closed on Thursday, December 25th for Christmas. The Coffee House will be open on Friday December 26th from 9 am to 4 pm. We have posted our order/delivery cut-off dates in this edition of Fair Grounds and on our blog, so be sure to get those orders in early to avoid running out of coffee or missing the opportunity to share the gift of Café Campesino Fair Trade coffee! On Thursday, January 1, 2009, the Coffee House will be open from 9 am to 4 pm, though the roastery will be closed.
We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and we wish you and your family happy holidays and a prosperous New Year!
