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February 2009
A Cooperative Coffees e-Newsletter for and about Fair Trade
Issue No. 9 February 2009
In this issue...
Reach out!!
Despite the cold, gray weather common at this time of year (at least for many of us "up North"), the flurry of activity in January -- and the election of a promising, new US President -- has kept our spirits and our expectations high! It has also kept our agendas busy. Coop Coffees participated in yet another fruitful and fun visit to a producer country, this time to Nicaragua and accompanied by key personnel from the Larry's Beans crew. The trip began with a 3-day intensive meeting with project managers from Catholic Relief Services, who officially launched their CAFE Livelihoods Program involving a number of Coop Coffees' producer partners and utilizing CC's technical expertise in issues of quality control and management. We finished off the trip with a visit to CECOCAFEN and the SolCafe lab, as well as to one of our community based, partner coops PROCOCER (member of CECOCAFEN) up in Las Segovias.
Speaking of travel, roaster-member Just Coffee has released the dates for the 2009 travel delegations which are open to anyone interested in seeing Fair Trade and its impact at the source.
Finally, as the excitement of last month's historical, US presidential inauguration settles and the reality of the task at hand kicks back in... questions about what this "Big Change" will mean for Fair Trade have quickly surfaced. Though we can try and predict what may or may not happen over the course of this next administration, only time will be able to give us any concrete answers.
So settle in, grab a steamy cup of Fair Trade coffee and - as always: Enjoy your read!
Let us know what changes you'd like to see in this newsletter by emailing us at bignews@coopcoffees.com.
** SPECIAL: Donkey Meter! **
 | Since launching the CoopCoffees/OROMIA donkey project in December, we've had a great response from roasters and friends interested in donating donkeys to our partners in Ethiopia. If you're interested in helping lighten the load of a producer family in Ethiopia by sponsoring a donkey for $75, please contact us at bignews@coopcoffees.com. |
Outreach and Special Projects
Coop Coffees partners with CRS on CAFE Livelihoods Project
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| Coop Coffees ally and Fair Trade supporter, Catholic Relief Services has officially launched a "Coffee Livelihoods" program that will incorporate several producer coops -- including some of our partners -- in Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Mexico. The project objectives include improving farmers' yields, quality capacity adn control, management and financial literacy over the course of the next 3 years. Coop Coffees, along with social lender and ally Root Capital, will help facilitate several of these technical workshops. |
Meet Coop Sol's new intern, Sophie Verdon
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| Coop Sol is happy to welcome to our team Sophie Verdon, a student in International Relations at the Autonomous University of Quebec in Montreal. Sophie will be helping us research and produce material for internal discussion and for our public, monthly newsletter. |
Roaster News
Just Coffee releases the dates of its 2009 Travel Delegations
| Every year, Just Coffee organizes several public delegations to visit producer organizations around the coffee-producing world. These trips are open to "Just Coffee customers, friends, community members, avid coffee drinkers, and anyone with an interest in Fair Trade and cultural identity." This promises to be an excellent way to dive beyond your morning cup and deeper into Fair Trade coffee! |
Producer News
Meet our new producer partner: PROCOCER
 | During a trip to Nicaragua in January together with Larry's Beans, CoopCoffees met with CECOCAFEN and one of the member coops PROCOCER -- where we source much of our Nicaraguan coffees. With the wealth of information they graciously offered us, we've put together a brief profile so that you can get to know them a bit better! |
Travel: Where in the world is Coopcoffees?
CC accompanies Larry's Beans to Nicaragua
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| In what is now becoming a January-tradition, Larry’s Beans and Coop Coffees organized an early season cupping session at the SolCafé lab – run by CECOCAFEN in Matagalpa. After a long round of slurping and savoring roast samples in their lab, the group headed out into the country to visit one of the supplying groups, PROCOCER, whose coffee Coop Coffees is happy to have as a primary element of our Nicaraguan lots! Read more... |
The Latest in the Fair Trade Movement
What does Washington's big change mean for Fair Trade?
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| As the newly inaugurated President of the United States steps up to the plate to fill one of the most powerful positions in our day, the world anxiously awaits to see what will become of his ambitious plans – and promises – for change. Promoters of Fair Trade are just as eager to see what will become of Obama’s rhetorical shift towards fairer and more equal terms of international commerce. |
