Archive for August, 2007
Posted on August 9, 2007 - by deCadmus
Brewing Justice — The Book — and The Principles
On the recommendation of Just Coffee’s Matt Earley, I’m picking up a copy of Brewing Justice, by Dan Jaffee.
Who is Matt, you say, that he should know from Fair Trade? (Apparently today you are a mensch… I don’t know why.) Matt and his crew at Just Coffee make up one of those small, really admirable coffee roasters that’s trying to raise the bar in terms of of transparency. For them, Fair Trade is a movement, not just a market. (Says so, right in their logo.)
I like the work that Matt’s doing, despite his tendency to talk crap about roasters — like Green Mountain — who offer a number of Fair Trade coffees (currently about 30% of coffee sales) but don’t offer Fair Trade coffees exclusively. This isn’t uncommon. In fact, it’s becoming something of a tradition among “self-certified” Fair Trade roasters… those who’ve who’ve cast aside third-party certification for their own flavor of a Fair Trade label. What tends to get lost in kerfuffles like this is that — despite the noise — the essential principles of companies like Just Coffee and Green Mountain are the same: a fair price for farmers, long-term relationships with growers, and support for sustainable and ecologically sound practices all around.
“Fair traders have been way too reluctant to take a critical look at what we are trying to build and this book accomplishes that objective and does it well. Dan makes the point that FT needs to re-connect with other organizations and movements for social and economic justice instead of selling out to the corporations that they oppose. We could not agree more.”
– Matt Earley, Just Coffee
I’m looking forward to some interesting reading.
Posted on August 8, 2007 - by deCadmus
Wanted: Adventurous Travelers for Coffee Kids Costa Rica Trip
Ever thought about what it *really* takes to get coffee from seed to cup? What life is like in a coffee-growing community? There’s really only one way to learn… make a trip to origin!
Coffee Kids — by any measure, a terrific non-profit group that does great work in coffee growing lands — is hosting a trip to coffee communities in Costa Rica in November…
Coffee Kids and JavaVentures will host a fun and informative tour in the coffee lands of Costa Rica, Nov. 6-11. This five-day tour will focus on coffee communities and a student scholarship project supported by The Rural Children’s Education Foundation (FHC) and sponsored by Coffee Kids. Deadline for registration is Saturday, Sept. 15.
On this trip participants will have the opportunity to learn how coffee and grassroots community development serve as critical elements to providing families and communities a higher quality of life and hope for the future.
The cost of the trip is $1,295… the benefits — priceless. For a complete trip itinerary and more information, visit www.javaventures.com or www.coffeekids.org or call 415-595-2924.
I have to warn you… a trip like this will forever alter how you look at your cup… and how you look at the world.
Posted on August 7, 2007 - by deCadmus
PT’s Coffee: Kenya AA Kieni Auction Lot
Rating: Rating: 
I’ve known Jeff Taylor for nearly half a dozen years. Jeff’s a coffee guy through and through. He’s a heck of a barista, an international WBC judge, and a talented coffee roaster… which he puts to good use as co-owner of PT’s Coffee in Topeka, Kansas. PT’s had a coffee shop up the street from me a ways when I was in Overland Park, Kansas… I understand they now have another only a block or two from my old place. (Clearly, one or the other of us needs to work on timing.) (more…)
Posted on August 7, 2007 - by deCadmus
For the Price of a Cup of Coffee
It’s the kind of thing you can almost set your watch by. No, not Old Faithful… but the slow-news-day, non-story that laments how much we’re spending on our (thrice) daily fix of caffeine, courtesy the corner coffee shop. This time out its ABC’s Chicago affiliate taking a whack with Coffee Crazed, a hard-hitting piece that dares to uncover… how much we’re really spending for our caffeine addiction.
Elizabeth Grandberry works in the Loop and visits her Starbucks about five times a week, spending anywhere from $3 to $5 each time.
“It used to be unheard of to spend more than a dollar for coffee,” said Grandberry.
It used to be unheard of to spend more than a nickel for a candy bar (back in the days when we could eat them without guilt) or thirteen cents for a postage stamp. It was similarly unheard of to spend thirty-nine cents on a loaf of bread, or a buck a gallon for gas. Surely, ABC, you can do better than this? Don’t you have, like, a financial expert that could put this all in perspective? Oh, why yes. Yes, you do…
Financial experts say that money spent on multiple coffee runs could turn into a small investment.
“Say you’re spending $4 a day every workday, that’s $80 a month times 12 months a year. That’s almost $1,000 a year,” said Christine Benz, Morningstar.
Why… that’d buy a couple pair of shoes for well-heeled Chicagoans. Maybe three if they’re on sale!
Really, if we’re going to talk about the opportunity cost of our caffeine fix, why don’t we think big? What could you *really* get for your coffee dollar, if you knew how to spend it?
For the price of a cup of coffee, maybe you could discover how to live for 300 years. You could mitigate mercury pollution. Or even achieve enlightenment.
What silly, caffeinated, people we are.
P.S. For a more sobering view (i.e. one that asks questions that matter) see, What’s the Hidden Cost of a £2 Latte?
Posted on August 6, 2007 - by deCadmus
Another View on Black Gold & Fair Trade
Hasbean’s Stephen Leighton offers a point of view on the Fair Trade coffee documentary, Black Gold, that’s informed and thought-provoking, and that will surely cause some to get their shorts in a bunch. And that’s just fine.
The Fair Trade system as we know it today does admirable things. It is not, however, a panacea. And it’s got some warts. And the only way to make it better is to keep the dialog going, otherwise folks who are serious-minded about coffee quality are simply going to route around it. Point of fact, they already are… witness the rejection of Fair Trade certification by some, and the various and sundry Direct Trade models that have begun to circulate.
I don’t think third-party certification is going to become irrelevant any time soon, but I worry that greater numbers of ever more prominent roasters may fold up their tents in favor of systems that offer equal transparency, more equity for farmers — no matter whether they’re a single-family farm or a coop or an estate — and increased respect for coffee quality as a part of the equation.
Posted on August 6, 2007 - by deCadmus
Selling Coffee to Kenyans
Oh sure, it sounds like the punchline to a joke. Something like “selling ice to Eskimos.” Instead, it’s an idea who’s time has come. Finally.
Most coffee growing countries you may visit you’ll have a hard time scaring up a good cup of coffee. Ask for a cup and often as not you’ll get instant – granules spooned from a tin or a jar kept above the stove. Only Ethiopia — the birthplace of coffee — has had a coffee-consuming tradition for as long as the bean has been cultivated. (Yemen, too, but somewhat less so.) This is changing, and one of the most profound changes may be in Kenya.
For most of Kenya’s 100 years or so of coffee production, it’s been illegal to roast beans for local consumption, all to better assure a steady supply of beans for foreign trade. Those rules have been relaxed… and many more of the traditionally rigid, compulsory practices of the Kenya Coffee Board are being reexamined as Fair Trade principles — and Fair Trade’s higher prices — find their way into the Kenyan economy. 
Thus, the latest entry into the Kenyan coffee culture… the iconic coffee shop –
“People thought we were crazy to try to sell coffee to Kenyans,” said Jon Wagner, an American former relief worker who co-founded the company eight years ago, and has seen revenues grow every quarter since. “It was virgin territory but we believed a good cup of coffee would always find a market.”
Posted on August 3, 2007 - by deCadmus
We can rebuild it — better, stronger, faster…
Welcome to the new home of Bloggle.
Bloggle’s been served out of the same data center since 2001. While I’ve never had anything but wicked good customer service from my old host, their uptime and availability have been problematic for me of late. And so I’ve moved on. I hope that my new home on the web will be half as good on the customer service side… and twice as good in terms of speed and reliability.
The move is now complete, and — short of missing a couple of comments from a single day only (today, of course) — I think all the bits are aligned and working.
Should you find something wonky, please do let me know.
Posted on August 3, 2007 - by deCadmus
Congrats to the World Barista Champion
Congratulations to James Hoffman (whom you may know as Jim Seven (that’s his blog in the list down yonder) on capturing the top honors at the World Barista Championship in Tokyo. 
His performance was — in a word — artistic. Poised, relaxed — or doing a damn fine job of looking relaxed — Jim wowed the judges with his technical skills, his presentation, and a signature espresso drink that combined separately-pulled single origins from Costa Rica and Kenya (an intensely blackcurrenty Gethumbwini) with a tobacco and cream infusion, topped with a biscotti foam. (I’m thinking it’d probably be labeled illegal in the U.S.)
If you’re at all wondering what the Barista Championships are all about, watch the finalist videos at ZacharyZachary and be amazed. (As a bonus the videography is quite good!)
Congrats to Jim, and congrats to *all* of the national barista champions (and that means you, too, Heather Perry!)
Posted on August 3, 2007 - by deCadmus
Some construction going on…
Pardon the dust while some things get worked on behind the scenes. Hope to have all resolved, shortly.
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Hello.
Bloggle is the online playground of Doug Cadmus, a usability guy, author, photographer and sometime dramatist who moved to Vermont for the coffee. When not writing, reading or walking his neurotic golden retriever, he roasts coffee in his garage and is the Web Guy for Green Mountain Coffee in Waterbury, Vermont. Flickr Photos
