October is
Fair Trade Month and while I usually
say, "Buy Local", there are some things we just cannot grow locally
due to our climate. As much as I would like to have Minnesota avocados, it just is not going to
happen (and yes, I have tried the avocado pit in a bowl of water thing).
So, what is a person to do when you want to eat bananas, drink coffee, or
devour a bar of chocolate? Buy Fair Trade, of course!
What
does Fair Trade mean anyway? Products with the fair trade label mean that
workers have been paid a living wage and treated humanely. Simply put,
workers are not being exploited.
One of the most popular
fair trade products is coffee. Recently, I was invited to tour
Peace Coffee's facilities and not only discovered
ethical coffee, but also the best coffee I have ever had.
The neat thing about Peace Coffee is that it is
delivered by bike. From their South Minneapolis
offices to your local co-op, it is all pedal power. Their motto is,
"Roast beans, not fossil fuel" and the employees live and breathe
that motto. Employees either bike or walk to work each day and the proof
was clear from the bikes out front. These folks even trek through snow
and cold weather all in the name of coffee. Check out
more pics from their Web
site.
If your co-op is in the suburbs (like mine is), your
Peace Coffee is delivered by a biodiesel van.
I was able to see the beans before roasting and never
knew they were green!
The beans were then carefully roasted, cooled, and
sorted by the big roaster:
During my visit, I was able to try the brand new
Snowshoe Brew. I never
drink coffee black and often add hot chocolate or some other kind of sugar/milk
combo, but I felt I should try the real thing. I was blown away by how
drinkable it was. The flavors were amazing and best of all, no bad coffee
aftertaste. I will take my coffee black from now
on:
Grab a bag of Peace Coffee next time you visit the
co-op or order directly from their
Web site and let me know what you
think.
In honor of Fair Trade Month, here are links to a few
wonderful Fair Trade products that I have been able to find in the Twin
Cities:
Alter Eco - try the amazing coral red
jasmine rice and black quinoa
Etica - both white and red
wines
Numi - large variety of teas and
gorgeous flowering teas
Equal Exchange - coffee, chocolate, and
teas
Oke - Fair Trade
bananas
Enjoy!
