Yet another reason to buy fair traded organically grown coffee

[OceanMomma]

Quite an interesting article on loss of habitat of endangered animals & cheap coffee beans.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2979941.stm

If the link doesn't work, go to www.news.bbc.co.uk & the article should be on the front page or look in the science & nature section ( I think )

[Quirky]

Thanks for posting that! Great, if extremely depressing, article. You should cross post the link in the Good Eating forum!

[Els' 3 Ones]

If ya'll don't already know, Trader Joes has a great FT coffee for $6.99 a pound. The best price I've found anywhere. We switched for good awhile back. The difference in taste is amazing - FT is pure and no cheap beans.

I heard Oxfam being interviewed on NPR some time ago and found it very interesting.

1) The plight of the coffee farmer (they are literally starving to death) really gives you pause when ordering that Starbucks..............

2) The fact that G Bush the elder de-regulated coffee (to aid the producers don't ya know! Another trickle-down example gone bad) and, in addition to a glut, we now get sticks, leaves and other assorted goodies in our daily grind. Before de-reg it had to be 95% pure coffee. I don't think GB the elder was a coffee drinker...............


Read all about it at:
What's That in Your Coffee?


El

[daylily]

Thanks for getting the word out!

I saw a heartbreaking story on BBC news about how the coffee farmers and their families in Central America are all starving because of low coffee prices. In the story, viewers were encouraged to buy fair trade coffee. Think we'll ever see a similar story on American network news?:

[tara]

Coffee Kids is a great organization that works to improve quality of life in coffee growing communities. A lot of coffee companies donate to them in one way or another, and you can seek out companies that do... One of the coolest things Coffee Kids does is small loans to help women start businesses...

Also, some coffee roasters will link up with particular farms in a partnership that works to everyone's advantage - the company gets a single source varietal and guarantees about how the coffee is grown (pesticides, herbicides, habitat issues, labor conditions, etc), the farmers get money up front, a premium per pound and a guarantee that their crop will be purchased. The company I used to work for does this whenever possible, and it's really cool.