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January 2011 - Happy New YearIn this issue
Happy New Year! As we go to “e-print” with this month’s edition of Fair Grounds , we find ourselves in the southwest corner of Georgia recently having dug ourselves out of a 1/8” inch snowstorm… a "flurrypocolypse" if you will. On Monday, once the first nano-sheen of snow hit the roads, Americus became a ghost town and we knew that if we were going to carry on with business, it would take a super human effort on the part of everyone here. Despite the “slush-mageddon” we received, the staff at Café Campesino would not be deterred, with each staff member braving bitterly cold 33-degree temperatures and wind gusts of up to 8mph… to get to work so that they could roast your coffee and get the latest in goings-on here written up and out to you all! My gut tells me this will become lore that is passed down for many hours to come. But seriously… first and foremost we want to thank you all – customers, friends and other supporters - for a great 2010! We also want to thank our hard working, coffee-farming trading partners throughout the world for their continued hard work, perseverance, and support; after all, they are the very reason for which Café Campesino and Sweetwater exist! In this edition of Fair Grounds, we feature a really beautiful piece – Web of Life - by our own Bill Harris, Café Campesino’s and Cooperative Coffees’ founder. As he embarks on a new chapter in his life, Bill reflects on the origins of Café Campesino and Cooperative Coffees, tying together how people, organizations, and the pursuit of bliss conspired (and continue to conspire) to make our organizations what they are today and will be in the future. This is a must read. In the spirit of Bill’s article and our world wide web of relationships and connections, this month’s newsletter special is 10% off any of our tasty blends. Our blends bring together our trading partners' diversity of coffees from throughout the coffee lands to create unique flavor profiles. Read more about our blends online here or call us so that we can help you choose the right blend for you or a friend. Also in this edition of Fair Grounds, we profile our trading partners in East Timor at Café Timor, we update you on the latest goings-on with Community Caravan, and we offer a fun fact, as well as a soul-piercing quote (ok, maybe not soul-piercing but certainly thought-provoking). Before you read on, though, we want folks to remember that while we pride ourselves on roasting truly great, specialty grade, organic coffee, what drives us day-in and day-out is our commitment to our trading partners and building community – from crop to cup. Over the next few months we will be working hard to better communicate what we are doing, why we are doing it, and why it matters. There are many messages floating out there today regarding sustainability, what makes a company sustainable, and specifically what makes a company “Fair Trade.” For our readers and supporters, we at Café Campesino and Sweetwater are working hard to help clarify and simplify what our approach is all about. To be clear, we prefer that folks think about us in terms of identity rather than brand, consumers as people rather than demographics, and our trading partners as small scale coffee farmers rather than suppliers. In a nutshell, we are committed to fair, direct, and transparent trading relationships with small-scale coffee farmers and their cooperatives throughout the world’s coffee lands. Further, we are committed to connecting our customers and other friends and supporters with our coffee-farming partners, their families, and their communities throughout the coffee lands. In the next few editions of Fair Grounds, we will expand on what this all means… in the meantime, we hope that you enjoy this edition… with a big mug of Café Campesino at your stead, of course. BREAKING NEWS 
Newsletter Special - 10% off all BlendsPick any (or all!) of our blends and use coupon code blend2011 to save 10% on every pound. Offer ends January 25th. Shop now. *Please note that this offer applies to retail orders only and cannot be combined with any other discounts or special offers. 
Feature Article - Our Worldwide WebBy Bill Harris I love “small world” stories. I embrace “deja vu” experiences. And I pay attention to those “coincidental moments” like receiving a call from someone you were just thinking about. After 13 years of incredibly rewarding work and adventures in fair trade coffee, I am stepping back a bit from our coffee work and starting an organic blueberry farm. And as a result of this transition, I find myself contemplating the long path to this moment, and reflecting upon all of the small world stories, the seemingly random encounters and coincidences that helped create this coffee web that we have spun over the last decade. I am stunned when I consider how many seemingly random incidences conspired to create a coffee roasting company and coffee importing cooperative in Americus, Georgia. I can't share them all, but will cover some of the highlights. And I will go ahead and share a little advice – pay attention! Pay attention to everyone that you meet, be open to the moment, look for the connections - and don't be surprised when they appear. We consider ourselves to be a child of Habitat for Humanity, based just down the street from us. Habitat is a child of Koinonia Farms , located about 8 miles outside of Americus. What if Clarence Jordan had not studied agriculture before attending the seminary in Louisville? No Koinonia Farms and therefore no Habitat. What if Millard and Linda Fuller had not stopped by Koinonia in the mid-1960's for a quick lunch – and stayed instead for a month – and then devoted themselves to Koinonia? No Habitat for Humanity – no Cafe Campesino. My brother won a Star Trek trivia contest many years ago – the prize was an all expense paid safari for two – and I joined him on this adventure. We were there to see the animals and the land, but this was the first time that I had witnessed developing world poverty and this trip changed my life. The experience led me to Botswana building homes with Habitat. In Botswana and Zimbabwe, I discovered fair trade projects and concepts. No Star Trek – no Cafe Campesino and no Cooperative Coffees. These connections may seem like a stretch, but for me they are so vivid and obvious. You just have to pay attention and listen. We gather with our fellow members of Cooperative Coffees several times a year, and I am always struck by the quality and commitment of the people that have migrated towards the organization. How did we find each other? Monika met Chris and Jody of Higher Grounds and Matt and Mike of Just Coffee while they were studying indigenous issues in Chiapas, Mexico and she was advising coffee cooperatives. I met Monika while driving through Chiapas in '97 and then randomly encountered her in a Guatemalan restaurant in '98 and reconnected. Monika connected me to Hal Taussig and Judy Wicks who then provided desperately needed funding for us to purchase coffee for Peace Coffee. A chance encounter in a Nepalese tea shop with a hiker from Louisville led to an introduction to Heine Bros. Coffee. Coincidentally sitting down between Bob Bernstein of Bongo Java and Gary Heine of Heine Bros. at a specialty coffee conference attended by 600 people led to their joining Cooperative Coffees. Meeting Tadesse Meskela at a trade show while walking down one last aisle leads to our first Ethiopian imports from OCFCU. A banker randomly walking into my office asking if we might have a job for his son got the cooperative our initial financing. My brother, Lee, stayed in close touch with a Habitat volunteer who passed through Americus in 1989 and that volunteer, Tripp Pomeroy, moved back to Americus in 2004 to run Cafe Campesino. I could go on and on. I'll close these ramblings with a final story. I left a secure job and future in 1993 in search of new direction and motivation. I committed to a three month bike ride across the states to kick off this search. A friend convinced me to turn the ride into a Habitat for Humanity fundraiser and then decided to join the adventure. Our fundraising brochure, professionally crafted by Habitat, included the famous Joseph Campbell quote “Follow your bliss.” The full quote, however, is much more powerful and less likely to be misunderstood, “If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are—if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time.” When I read the brochure's first draft, I didn't know who Joseph Campbell was, nor did I really understand this powerful statement. But as I consider the caffeinated web that we have woven at Cafe Campesino and Cooperative Coffees, I realize that virtually every important moment and relationship that built these organizations was unexpected or spontaneous. Not all paths are well marked. Ours has primarily resulted from a trust in the proverbial gut feeling, paying attention to new people and ideas, embracing those coincidences, and following our bliss. Back to top^
Producer Profile - Cooperativa Cafe Timor (East Timor)East Timor coffee production is small in the global coffee context, producing less than one percent of the international total. Nevertheless, coffee is crucial to the country’s overall economy. It is the most important source of foreign exchange for East Timor and it serves as the primary source of income for about one-fourth of the country’s population, or some 44,000 families. Cooperativa Café Timor (CCT) was founded in the wake of the destruction of much of East Timor after it gained independence from Indonesia in 1999. In 2000, a group of farmers, in an attempt to successfully market their coffee internationally, united to form CCT. Today, the organization has grown to include 19,600 members from 16 base cooperatives and 494 small-scale farmer groups. CCT obtained Fair Trade certification from Fairtrade Labeling Organizations International (FLO) in 2001 and has since greatly benefited from the Fair Trade price. Read more Back to top^
Fun Fact - Did you know?Did you know that the coffee plant was introduced to Brazil in 1727 as a part of a “mini-drama” involving French, Dutch and Brazilian officials? An official from Brazil was asked to negotiate a border dispute over French and Dutch Guiana in South America. The Brazilian official negotiated the dispute between the two officials, but he also slept with the French diplomat’s wife, who gave him ripe coffee berries (disguised in a bouquet of flowers) as a parting gift. Today, Brazil produces more than one-third of the world’s total coffee production, according to the International Coffee Association. Fun Fact found in Mark Pendergrast’s book, Uncommon Grounds, that chronicles the history of coffee. Back to top^
Community CaravanAtlanta - The Sweet Auburn Curb Market is working with a new urban farm "Wheat Street Urban Gardens" around the corner to compost the market's waste on the farm. Coffee grounds are great for compost as they're high in nitrogen, and Cafe Campesino Atlanta is proud to participate in this radical alternative to traditional waste management. Come check out the Market and Farm to experience our local food system first-hand! We're looking forward to participating in Georgia Organic's Fruit Tree Sale again this year, it's an amazing opportunity to purchase some beautiful native fruit trees and we'll be there serving up coffee, hot cocoa, and scones! Americus - Last week brought some more visitors to our coffee house & roastery. A Florida St. University campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity was in town to visit HFHI headquarters, Koinonia Farm, and Cafe Campesino. A chilly morning visit was greeted with hot coffee and breakfast foods. A tour of the roastery and some Q&A about Cafe Campesino and Cooperative Coffees punctuated the visit. Thanks, FSU, for taking time learn about fair trade coffee. Jan. 29th - The Rylander Theater in Americus hosts a fun musical event - "Almost Elton John" starring Craig A. Meyer promises to be an entertaining event for young and old. Visit www.rylander.org or call 229-931-0001 for ticket info and come out to support our local theater as well as see a great show. Door prizes (coffee and chocolate, anyone?) and refreshments available. Back to top^
Quote of the Month - PlatoThe happiest man is he who has no trace of malice in his soul. ~ Plato Back to top^ Fair Grounds is produced by: Café
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