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A Feature on Fair Trade in Ethiopia
Fair trade coffee in Ethiopia?
By Louise Williams
11-01-2008
Fair trade claims to guarantee a better deal for third world producers. But are producers really getting such a good deal? Louise Williams has been to southern Ethiopia to find out what benefits fair trade is bringing coffee producers. more…
There is an accompanying sound clip that gives some insight from our friends at Stumptown Coffee in Portland.
Starbucks intended competition = coopetition?
SLATE presents,
Don’t Fear Starbucks
Why the franchise actually helps mom and pop coffeehouses. (click)
It appears that having Starbucks move down the road from your coffee retailer may not be such a bad thing afterall.
I’ve been saying for a long time that Starbucks has done more good by “enlarging the pie” than they have harm by misleading customers with drink titles. For many people, Starbucks is their first experience with Specialty Coffee. Starbucks is common enough to not seem overly intimidating for the average consumer, but is socially elevated enough to give the impression of being something above average.
With their marketing success, and exponential growth rate, having a new store moving in near your retailer can be a scary thought. This article gives a brief insight as to why it may not be such a scary thing.
I do, however, feel that it is important to point out that the focus is on quality, and only quality.
Perhaps the Barista Guild of America is right. “Quality as the primary means of success.”
SLATE: Why Starbucks actually helps mom and pop coffeehouses by Taylor Clark
Chat Nights with Texas Coffee People Proudly Presents: Cole Arendt
In addition to our normally scheduled 7:30pm Tuesday evening chat sessions, we will, from time to time, feature a coffee industry professional as a solitary guest “discussion panel”.
Aaron Blanco has arranged for the first of these special presentations to occure on Dec. 12th, 7:30pm sharp.
The discussion will begin promptly at 7:30pm CST, and will end precisely one hour later.
Our first Celebrity Guest Speaker will be:
______________________________
Cole Arendt
of
New Guinea Traders LLC.
________________________________
If you have not already done so, please Register on the Texas Coffee People Forums beforehand if you intend to join in the discussion. If you have already registered, we would appreciate it if you would log in so that your username is visible throughout the duration of your visit.
If you would like to discuss any specific questions or topics with Mr. Arendt, you may send them to Aaron Blanco, who will be moderating the Discussion. You may reach him at: aaron[at]browncoffeeco.com or by clicking his name above(must be logged into the forums).
This Chat session is open to anyone and everyone interested in participating.
Again, the session is featuring a discussion with Cole Arendt, moderated by Aaron Blanco at 7:30pm sharp(cst) and will last for precisely one hour. We hope to see you there!
The Chat Room is open 24/7, though not always populated, and can be found by Clicking Here.
Let’s Keep It Rollin’
Piggybacking on Jason’s last post about sustainability, I was reading today about a new book raising lots of interestingly difficult issues about our (humans’) presence on this earth.
The book is called The World Without Us, by a fellow name Alan Weisman, and it is, as the title implies, a work of educated speculation about what the world would be like at some distant point in the future, uh, without us. It’s basically the usual humdrumage of self-promotion wrapped in “thought provoking” attire, complete with their current New York Times ranking on the best-sellers’ list. (Ah yes, the New York Times. The paper of record, of course. Now it’s officially a good book.) It also has some cool interactive pieces that give you a visual of the stunningly shameful way we have impacted our environment. I had to remind myself it was a book they are selling, after all, and not a enviro-religio fatwa to pack up and move to the mountains to get off the proverbial grid. 40 years ago it was, “Our planet is becoming overpopulated. There are almost one billion people here now.” 30 years ago it was, “The earth is cooling rapidly. We’re heading into another ice age.” Recently that was replaced with, “Uh-oh, the earth isn’t cooling; it’s actually warming up!” Today, it’s, “Plastics will be around for a stinking loooong time and eventually little tiny microbes will be all that’s left on the planet; but it’s okay, they’ll figure out how to eat plastics.” That’s the summary of the book, as best as I can tell from the web site’s synopses and preview clips.
Anyways, at this point in this blog post, if you’re still with me, you’re probably wondering what this has to do with coffee. Not much. Except…except to say that we are guilty of our own environmental foibles as an industry, despite all our window dressing to the contrary. We need to fess up to the fact that many of our retail stores don’t have separate receptacles for plastic, newspapers, aluminum and glass. Or that we are still just realizing that paper cups don’t biodegrade so well in sealed landfills but ceramic uses the equivalent resources to make as some 35,000 paper cups. (A good tradeoff?) Or that we waste electricity by leaving our espresso machines on overnight because we don’t want to have to get to the shop that much earlier in the morning to let it warm up.
And so forth. My point is not to cast aspersions on us as an industry. I’m just saying skimming through this book’s website got me thinking a little bit about doing my part to reduce the size of my environmental footprint in the industry in which I work.
Here’s a YouTube teaser:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBpWHHZ2eME]
Let’s Keep It Rollin’
Piggybacking on Jason’s last post about sustainability, I was reading today about a new book raising lots of interestingly difficult issues about our (humans’) presence on this earth.
The book is called The World Without Us, by a fellow name Alan Weisman, and it is, as the title implies, a work of educated speculation about what the world would be like at some distant point in the future, uh, without us. It’s basically the usual humdrumage of self-promotion wrapped in “thought provoking” attire, complete with their current New York Times ranking on the best-sellers’ list. (Ah yes, the New York Times. The paper of record, of course. Now it’s officially a good book.) It also has some cool interactive pieces that give you a visual of the stunningly shameful way we have impacted our environment. I had to remind myself it was a book they are selling, after all, and not a enviro-religio fatwa to pack up and move to the mountains to get off the proverbial grid. 40 years ago it was, “Our planet is becoming overpopulated. There are almost one billion people here now.” 30 years ago it was, “The earth is cooling rapidly. We’re heading into another ice age.” Recently that was replaced with, “Uh-oh, the earth isn’t cooling; it’s actually warming up!” Today, it’s, “Plastics will be around for a stinking loooong time and eventually little tiny microbes will be all that’s left on the planet; but it’s okay, they’ll figure out how to eat plastics.” That’s the summary of the book, as best as I can tell from the web site’s synopses and preview clips.
Anyways, at this point in this blog post, if you’re still with me, you’re probably wondering what this has to do with coffee. Not much. Except…except to say that we are guilty of our own environmental foibles as an industry, despite all our window dressing to the contrary. We need to fess up to the fact that many of our retail stores don’t have separate receptacles for plastic, newspapers, aluminum and glass. Or that we are still just realizing that paper cups don’t biodegrade so well in sealed landfills but ceramic uses the equivalent resources to make as some 35,000 paper cups. (A good tradeoff?) Or that we waste electricity by leaving our espresso machines on overnight because we don’t want to have to get to the shop that much earlier in the morning to let it warm up.
And so forth. My point is not to cast aspersions on us as an industry. I’m just saying skimming through this book’s website got me thinking a little bit about doing my part to reduce the size of my environmental footprint in the industry in which I work.
Here’s a YouTube teaser:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBpWHHZ2eME]
Let’s Keep It Rollin’
Piggybacking on Jason’s last post about sustainability, I was reading today about a new book raising lots of interestingly difficult issues about our (humans’) presence on this earth.
The book is called The World Without Us, by a fellow name Alan Weisman, and it is, as the title implies, a work of educated speculation about what the world would be like at some distant point in the future, uh, without us. It’s basically the usual humdrumage of self-promotion wrapped in “thought provoking” attire, complete with their current New York Times ranking on the best-sellers’ list. (Ah yes, the New York Times. The paper of record, of course. Now it’s officially a good book.) It also has some cool interactive pieces that give you a visual of the stunningly shameful way we have impacted our environment. I had to remind myself it was a book they are selling, after all, and not a enviro-religio fatwa to pack up and move to the mountains to get off the proverbial grid. 40 years ago it was, “Our planet is becoming overpopulated. There are almost one billion people here now.” 30 years ago it was, “The earth is cooling rapidly. We’re heading into another ice age.” Recently that was replaced with, “Uh-oh, the earth isn’t cooling; it’s actually warming up!” Today, it’s, “Plastics will be around for a stinking loooong time and eventually little tiny microbes will be all that’s left on the planet; but it’s okay, they’ll figure out how to eat plastics.” That’s the summary of the book, as best as I can tell from the web site’s synopses and preview clips.
Anyways, at this point in this blog post, if you’re still with me, you’re probably wondering what this has to do with coffee. Not much. Except…except to say that we are guilty of our own environmental foibles as an industry, despite all our window dressing to the contrary. We need to fess up to the fact that many of our retail stores don’t have separate receptacles for plastic, newspapers, aluminum and glass. Or that we are still just realizing that paper cups don’t biodegrade so well in sealed landfills but ceramic uses the equivalent resources to make as some 35,000 paper cups. (A good tradeoff?) Or that we waste electricity by leaving our espresso machines on overnight because we don’t want to have to get to the shop that much earlier in the morning to let it warm up.
And so forth. My point is not to cast aspersions on us as an industry. I’m just saying skimming through this book’s website got me thinking a little bit about doing my part to reduce the size of my environmental footprint in the industry in which I work.
Here’s a YouTube teaser:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBpWHHZ2eME]
“Nestle Stirs Up Storm in Coffee Cup”
http://www.foodweek.com.au/main-features-page.aspx?articleType=ArticleView&articleId=588
Oh boy.
“Coffee™ ” part 2?
Has Nestle not been paying attention to the Starbucks vs. Doubleshot suit?
It’s ridiculous. Who do these businesses think they are, anyway?
“Nestle Stirs Up Storm in Coffee Cup”
http://www.foodweek.com.au/main-features-page.aspx?articleType=ArticleView&articleId=588
Oh boy.
“Coffee™ ” part 2?
Has Nestle not been paying attention to the Starbucks vs. Doubleshot suit?
It’s ridiculous. Who do these businesses think they are, anyway?
“Nestle Stirs Up Storm in Coffee Cup”
http://www.foodweek.com.au/main-features-page.aspx?articleType=ArticleView&articleId=588
Oh boy.
“Coffee™ ” part 2?
Has Nestle not been paying attention to the Starbucks vs. Doubleshot suit?
It’s ridiculous. Who do these businesses think they are, anyway?
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EspressoTrainer.com