The dog days of summer are here and the temptation is to just lay back in a hammock and let the world go by. But although it would be fun, sitting back and doing nothing wouldn't advance the cause of Fair Trade, nor would it help the farmers of the coffee lands feed their families or educate their children. So we grab another cup of Café Campesino and press on.

Promoting Fair Trade sustains us. And it's gratifying to know that we're not alone. This month in Fair Grounds, we take a look at the good work being done by our Fair Trade friend Oxfam America. We've also got an article on the art of roasting beans, a Community Caravan update, a new Dr. Coffee, a Fair Trade fact, a recipe for Eskimocha (yum!) and a new trivia question. So grab a mug of iced Café Campesino and read on!

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As I rode through the back streets of Cabo San Lucas in Mexico, I watched in shock at scenes I’d only seen on television. Simple homes lined the dirt streets, most without running water or electricity, while mere blocks away Americans and Canadians complained to the front desk at their hotel of running out of hot water.

Scenes such as these are not uncommon, not even within the United States. Poverty rages around us, while many of us don’t even realize how close to home it is. As fair trade coffee sellers, we are committed to helping those who produce the coffee we enjoy by purchasing their coffee at a living wage, and in our journey, we have come across other like-minded organizations, such as Oxfam.

Oxfam America (http://www.oxfamamerica.org) is a member of an international organization dedicated to finding long-term solutions to poverty, hunger, and social injustice around the world. Oxfam believes that changes are needed to trade and investment rules in the Americas to reduce poverty and promote respect for human rights and sustainable development. To that end, one of their big campaigns is the "Make Trade Fair" campaign.

Find out more about Oxfam America, its Make Trade Fair campaign and its Activist Center by clicking here.

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For many people, opening a bag of fresh coffee is usually followed by a deep inhalation of the wonderful smell of roasted coffee. Even people who don’t like to drink coffee often love the smell. That smell is, of course, a product of the type of bean and the roasting style, both of which control the taste of the coffee.

Roasting coffee is truly an art. The type of roast used on a particular bean should be one that brings out the best characteristics of the bean. Some varieties of beans do well at several different roast levels, while others have to be roasted to a precise degree, otherwise the flavor will be off. A roaster has to spend the time with each bean, determining what roast works best for that bean.

Here at Café Campesino, we have three different roasts: medium, full city and dark. Each creates its own distinctive flavor in a bean, and while some people may find a certain type of roast wonderful, others may shy away at the acidity of one roast or the strong body of another.

Find about more about the process that gives Café Campesino coffee its delicious flavor and distinctive character by clicking here.

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The Sentient Bean, located on beautiful Forsyth Park in historic Savannah, Georgia, serves a wide variety of our coffees to their loyal neighborhood coffee crowd. Owners Kristin Russell and Kelli Pearson opened the shop in September, 2001, and immediately raised the coffee standards and social consciousness of this coastal Georgian city. Stop by for a visit with the good folks at The Sentient Bean on your next trip to Savannah!

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The summer is fast slipping away, but at Café Campesino, we have a big ending planned. This year’s Cooperative Coffees annual meeting will be held here in Americus, GA, in September, bringing many of our fellow small coffee roasters together.

A workshop in cupping (the art of tasting coffee) is planned in Atlanta as people arrive on Thursday with the rest of the meeting taking place at the historic Windsor Hotel in Americus. We’ll also take fellow coop members on a tour of our roasting facility, which will be just over a year old by then. The meeting is set for September 18-21.

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Think you know a lot about coffee? Then enter our Fair Grounds Trivia Contest. Click here for our question of the month. Entering is easy and it's FUN!

Our judges have always wondered why their house cats so jealously guard the bags of coffee beans after delivery. But now they know! And so did Erik Hovland! Congratulations Erik, you're our Coffee Knowledge winner! 

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— Theodore Roosevelt

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