As we gather around the harvest table with our families and friends this Thanksgiving, we're particularly grateful that we're succeeding in our two-pronged mission -- providing great-tasting coffee to our customers and promoting the Fair Trade model of self-reliance and economic justice for the hard-working farmers of the coffee lands. Of course, we're a little bummed that the weather's turning colder, signalling that winter is on its way, but we know that biking season will return again (as will the smiles on our faces). In the meantime, we'll just kick back and enjoy a steaming cup of Café Campesino!

In this month's issue of Fair Grounds, we offer a commentary from Bill Harris on a Fair Trade dilemma, spotlight our longtime customer Koinonia Partners, introduce you to Lucuma Designs, provide a staff update and feature a new recipe and trivia question. Read on and enjoy…

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by Bill Harris

I've been told that Café Campesino is far too focused on the ethical and philosophical aspects of our small company. Friends have repeatedly asked – why are you always talking about the farmers and the fair trade model? Why do you often forget to mention how great Café Campesino coffee tastes? This question arose again during a recent marketing planning session (yes, we are actually doing things like this now at CC – right out of MBA101!). Anyway, as each of us eloquently jabbered on and on in answer to the question "What does Café Campesino mean to you?" – the familiar phrases were recorded on the wall: Fair trade. Integrity. Direct Trade Relationship. Organic. Farmers first. We care…So there we were again – focused on mission, neglecting the product.

Then I smiled as I considered what a similar session might sound like at one of many large corporations who are preparing to add fair trade coffee to their extensive offerings: We've got to do something! Those $#%& activists. Don't these students have classes to attend? And why are they so worried about coffee farmers? What exactly is a long term, mutually beneficial trade relationship? How much of this fair trade coffee do we have to buy?

More...

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No bricks and mortar, mind you, but possibly a comparable amount of work. Within two weeks – target date of December 1 – Café Campesino will launch a new online store. We've been working on this project since April and are finally ready to roll it out! If you have ordered from us before and the email address you used to place that order is active, you will receive an email from us when the store is ready.

The new store will allow you to create your own personal account making things easier and faster for you to check in and check out. You'll also be able to place gift orders for your friends and family so that they too can enjoy our fine coffee products. For those of you who would prefer to have us ship your coffee on a regular basis, our site will feature a Coffee Club. Simply log into the club with your account information and make changes to your order. We'll do the roasting and shipping so that you can spend more time doing the things you like to do – like drinking an excellent cup of coffee while listening to the funky sounds of Putumayo.

We are super-excited about this improvement and hope you enjoy the new web shopping experience!

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One of our earliest customers--and the reason Geoffrey, a long-time volunteer on the farm, works with us--is Koinonia Partners, Inc. (http://www.koinoniapartners.org). Koinonia is a Christian organization committed to nonviolence and peaceful solutions to society's problems, reconciliation among all people, Christian discipleship, and the empowerment of the poor, the neglected and the oppressed. As part of their cooperative beliefs and to finance their operations, they harvest and sell baked goods, pecans, peanuts, pecan bark, and, of course, fair trade coffee from Café Campesino, just to name a few of their items. A gift of Koinonia candy and chocolate would make an excellent gift for the holidays!

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While Café Campesino has led the way in the Fair Trade coffee industry, other innovative companies have worked diligently to develop the market for other Fair Trade products. Each month, we will spotlight one of our Fellow Fair Traders.

In the Fair Trade spirit, Lucuma Designs brings you outstanding contemporary fine crafts and folk art to tickle your imagination while supporting creative work for women and small producers in Peru. This holiday season, decorate with natural petite gourd Christmas ornaments and share the joy with our hand carved gourd art boxes, knitted finger puppets, 3-D arpillera art quilts, jewelry, treasure boxes, art paintings, mirrors and many more original handcrafted gifts. Visit them at www.lucuma.com.

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This weekend, Café Campesino will be serving coffee to the thousands of people who will travel to Columbus, GA, to protest the continued existence of Fort Benning’s School of the Americas, the U.S. Army’s training ground for Latin American soldiers. The annual vigil draws student, religious and human rights groups from all over the world for a weekend of peace training, speeches and non-violent action. This will be the fifth year that we will serve coffee from fair trade farmers in countries that are directly affected by those trained at the school. We will be joined by volunteers from the Newman Catholic Center in Illinois, as well as friends from Koinonia Partners (http://www.koinoniapartners.org) here in Americus. Read more about the SOA Watch at http://www.soaw.org.

On November 30, Bill will travel to Savannah, GA, to speak to the Unitarian Universalist Church about — you guessed it — the concept of Fair Trade. The Georgia coast will host the G-8 summit next June and since international trade typically dominates this summit, the congregation wants to learn more about the free trade alternative — Fair Trade. Visit the church’s website at http://www.jinglebellschurch.org/ to learn more about Jingle Bells!

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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!

Last month we asked, "If your coffee tastes bitter it is probably due to the following:..." We gave you three possible answers. Many of you gave us a fourth answer that our judges deemed as absolutely correct! 

If your coffee tastes bitter it is probably due to the fact that you didn't start with Café Campesino Fair Trade Coffee!  

We love all of your creativity and our Coffee Knowledge winner is Kevin Gilmore. Congratulations, Kevin!

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"Giving is the secret of abundance." 

— Swami Sivananda

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