Coffee Break

It’s Only the Good Friday again and I have another good coffee pick. This one is good for a lot of reasons…

When you first hit the web site at Marley Coffee , you’re greeted by the unmistakably uplifting strains of Bob Marley - and there’s a good reason for that. The coffee company is owned by Marley’s son, Rohan Marley, and his friend Shane Whittle, and is the fulfillment of Marley’s dream to return to his home and grow coffee on his family farm. Who knew that Marley was a coffee farmer?

Marley Coffee sells five coffees, including my favorite Ethiopian Yrgacheffe which I’ll defnitely be ordering for myself. When I do, I promise a review. It sounds absolutely lovely, and I can’t wait to try it. The other coffees include Lively Up, Simmer Down, Mystic Morning and Jammin’ Java. The Ethiopian, One Love, is a single origin coffee. The others are all blended coffees with coffees from Indonesia, South America, Africa, Central America and Jamaica. All the coffees are organically grown without pesticides or herbicides, and, according to Marley, ethically traded. In addition, Marley Coffee has established the Marley Coffee Foundation which uses part of the proceeds to support soccer opportunities for young children in Jamaica.

Marley Coffee will also be the first certified organic coffee farm in Jamaica, Marley says. Want to know more about Marley Coffee and the organic movement? Watch:

If you ride the MBTA, this is your lucky morning. As part of the celebration of World Fair Trade Day - that was last Saturday if you happen to be counting - volunteers from TransFair USA will be handing out coupons for free Green Mountain coffee to T riders at 7 MBTA stations.

The free coffee is a joint “thank you” from Bruegher’s Bagels, Green Mountain Coffee, TransFair USA and the MBTA. It’s part of the Fair Trade Coffee Break - you know, where the Fair Trade Resource Network is trying to hit 55,000 participants to take back the title of “largest Fair Trade Break ever”. Finland took it last year with a Fair Trade Break that fielded over 50,000 participants.

Each packet of coupons will contain a coupon for one free hot coffee from Bruegher’s Bagels, one free iced coffee from Bruegher’s Bagels and $2.50 off one package of Green Mountain Coffee from your local supermarket. That’s worth going one or two stops out of your way if you normally take the T or getting out to take a little ride if you don’t usually.

You can get your free coffee coupons from Bruegher’s and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters at one of the following MBTA stations:

South Station (Atlantic Ave. & Summer St.)

Kenmore (500 Commonwealth Ave @ Brookline Ave.)

Porter Square (Somerville @ Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge)

Longwood (Chapel & Longwood St. in Brookline)

Downtown Crossing (Washington St. & Summer St.)

Government Center (Tremont, Court and Cambridge St.)

Back Bay (Dartmouth St. @ Copley Place)

One of the parts of the Fair Trade movement that is often overlooked is how it affects  and is affected by women. In many of the coffee-growing countries, it is women who run the farms where coffee is grown - and in a growing number of those countries, women are taking on new roles in the coffee cooperatives that make the deals that bring in more money  for their families.

According to Cafe Femenino , about 30% of the small coffee farmers that produce 75% of the world’s coffee are women. That’s 30% of 25 million or about 7.5 million small coffee farms run by women. That doesn’t take into account the many more millions of farms where women do most of the work but aren’t given any ownership of the farms themselves.

OPTCO is a coffee import company formed by Gay Smith and her husband Garth back in 1990. Their intent was to source and import Fair Trade and certified organic coffee. Over the years, Gay traveled throughout the world, meeting with coffee farmers and their families and learning about their lives. She has become regarded as a knowledgable authority on all things concerning Fair Trade coffee.

In 2004, Gay Smith, working with several other organizations, got together with 460 Peruvian women coffee producers to found Cafe Femenino -coffee grown and processed by women. The purpose - to empower women with social and educational opportunities by working together and selling their coffee.

In the five years since its birth, Cafe Femenino has grown to include over 1,500 women in four different countries. The Fair Trade premium paid on Cafe Femenino goes directly into a fund controlled by those women. An additional 2 cent per pound premium also goes directly to the fund. Many coffee roasters who sell Cafe Femenino sweeten the pot still further - Equal Exchange, for instance, contributes 10 cents for every pound of Cafe Femenino to the Cafe Femenino Foundaton, which funds special projects that affect women and coffee growing families in Peru, Bolivia, Guatemala, Colombia and the Dominican Republic.

This morning, while you’re enjoying your Mothers Day coffee - and I hope it’s Fair Trade or direct trade coffee! - take a few minutes to think about how your purchase of Fair Trade coffee affects so many women and mothers of the world - and then have another cup!

Help! I want to be part of the Fair Trade Coffee Break, but I don’t know where to get Fair Trade Coffee!

Is that you? Lucky for you, I’ve got a list of places where you can get yourself a cup of Fair Trade coffee - right now, today, without wating! Here’s how to get a cup of Fair Trade Coffee so that you can join me in a Virtual Fair Trade Coffee Break and help the Fair Trade Resource Network reach its 55,000 participant goal: (more…)

Yes, it’s today - World Fair Trade Day is happening all over the world today, May 9, 2009. How did I celebrate so far?

My coffee this morning was Paul Newman’s Own Organic Blend - Fair Trade sourced and sold through Green Mountain Coffee Roasters . I had Fair Trade bannanas on my cereal, bought at Trader Joe’s .  I’m also celebrating by asking all of my blogging friends to enjoy a Fair Trade goodie today and then link back to your blog on the Virtual Fair Trade Coffee Break page. Why? (more…)

 How To Buy Fair Trade Coffee

So you’ve heard about Fair Trade coffee and you think it sounds like a cool idea. You’re ready to do your part to help the Earth and make sure that coffee farmers and pickers get a fair wage for their work - but what’s your next step?

Finding Fair Trade coffee is actually pretty easy. In the United States, all Fair Trade coffee is certified by TransFair USA. If a product is Fair Trade certified, it will carry the little black and white Fair Trade Certified logo - (more…)

Fair Trade Coffee Fact:

In 2004, retail sales of coffee in the U.S. topped $80 billion. Only about $5 billion of that ended up back in the countries where that coffee was grown. 

Special Fair Trade Coffee Offer for Mother’s Day:

From my mailbox last night: Y’all know that I love Dean’s Beans and buy my green coffee beans for home roasting and my own custom blend coffee there. Dean Cycon is a Fair Trade pioneer whose company now sells only certified organic and certified Fair Trade and directly traded coffees. He also makes an impact back here at home by partnering with charitable organizations to design and market custom blends of coffee with proceeds contributed to the organization. From now till Mothers Day, Dean’s Beans has a special Happy Mothers Day coffee blend (regular or decaf) on sale for $7 pound (more…)