Free Coffee Cupping

Come join us this Saturday, Oct. 17, from 2-4 p.m. as we host a free coffee cupping (like a wine tasting, but with coffee) at our store. Guests from Pasha Coffee and Tea will be on hand to guide us through the experience. Pasha is the only coffeehouse in Chattanooga to serve only fair trade and organic coffee and tea, so their staff have lots of experience and wisdom to share.
We at World Next Door will also be sharing a bit about how Fair Trade principles benefit small coffee farmers in developing countries.
You don't want to miss this! We look forward to seeing you Saturday.

How To Buy Fair Trade Coffee

Coffee and chocolate are two areas where it makes no sense NOT to buy fair trade--at least for me. These are ordinary items that we consume all the time, and it is easy to find both chocolate and coffee fair trade. Plus, not buying fair trade has real consequences for the growers. I've blogged about how coffee growers in west Africa depend on human trafficking and child labor to keep their plantations growing strong.
Anyway, I'll get down off my soapbox now and tell you about this video, which explains briefly and clearly how and why buying fair trade coffee is muy importante. This video talks about why to buy fair, where you can find fairly traded coffee, how to know if a product is fair trade, and how to encourage more stores and coffee shops to sell fair trade.



Here at World Next Door, we sell two brands of fair trade coffee: Land of a Thousand Hills, and Equal Exchange. Come by our store and pick some up!

Fair Trade Month

We're gearing up for Fair Trade Month (aka October) here at World Next Door, and you're invited. We've decided to hold three Saturday events in honor of Fair Trade Month throughout October, seeing this as a way to inform more folks about fair trade and have some fun in the process. Here's a sneak peek at some of wjat we're planning for Fair Trade Month. Make sure you come by!

Saturday, October 3
Event: Make-your-own-paper beads!
Time: 11am-2pm
Bring your kids and make your own magazine paper beads, just like we sell in our store. We'll also be talking about the folks who make magazine jewelry in Uganda. Their work benefits AIDS orphans--come visit and find out more!

Saturday, October 17
Event: sample fair trade coffee with local fair trade coffee and teahouse Pasha, and yummy chocolate brownies from Alchemy Spice
Time: 2-4 pm
Have you ever wanted to find out more about the coffee you're drinking? You know--where it's from, how it's made, who grew this? This is your chance to find out. The experts at Pasha will be on hand for this free coffee tasting event, and would love to answer your questions.

Saturday, October 31
Event: Fair Trade Halloween - come into the store in your Halloween costume and get a FREE bar of chocolate. People, this is perfect for kids! If you buy something, we're also going to be giving out free mini chocolates. What can I say, we're sweet!
Time: All day
In addition to bringing your little ones by for a free chocolate bar, we're also going to be doing that Reverse Trick or Treating thing we blogged about earlier. You want to be here.

Check out more info on Fair Trade Month here and here.

Starbucks To Go Fair...In UK

It's not happening here in the U.S., but Starbucks has announced that, beginning yesterday, all espresso drinks in the U.K. and Ireland will be fair trade.

"Starbucks said it’s the world’s largest purchaser of fair trade coffee and added that its move will contribute about $4 million annually to small-scale coffee farmers," according to the Puget Sound Business Journal. "The company said it gets most of its “Starbucks Fairtrade Certified Espresso Roast” from Latin America, mainly from Guatemala, Costa Rica and Peru."

Well, good. I wish this would happen here.

Land of a Thousand Hills Coffeehouse

Check out that masterful brew!

That's a "Caramanilla" from the Land of a Thousand Hills Coffeehouse in Roswell, GA. It's a latte with vanilla and caramel. It was made with skill and served with a smile.

World Next Door has been selling LOTH coffee beans by the bag since we met Erin at a human trafficking conference at Bryan College last January. Jency and I were headed through Atlanta to go to a wedding last weekend, so we thought we'd stop in and check out their coffeehouse.

LOTH is empowering coffee farmers in Rwanda through fair wages and community development. One of their more recent initiatives involves providing improved bicycles for farmers to transport their harvest to market.

Here's a picture of the kind of bicycle they normally use...

And here's the kind that LOTH has provided to several farmers over the last couple months...

Vist the LOTH website to learn more.

An Fair Cup of Joe

Here in World Next Door land, we love our coffee: a cup (or three) in the morning to start the day off right, gathering with friends for a good chat and a warm mug of java anytime, lingering over that last cup of decaf after dessert. But one thing we love even more than that jolt of caffeine that makes mornings bearable is knowing that our consumption is helping, not hurting, the little guy.

Drinking fair trade coffee does just that. Today I stumbled across this article posted on the citizen journalism site www.examiner.com. Brenna Coleman looks at how buying fairly trade coffee makes a difference, touches on the history of the fair trade coffee movement, and throws out a few general interest coffee facts. Did you know, for instance, that only about one in five cups of coffee are fairly traded? I didn't, but Coleman claims that only 20% of coffee beans are fair trade. But--here's the good part--consumers drive the coffee industry, so our demands can make a difference.

Start small--come by our store and pick up a bag of Equal Exchange or Land of a Thousand Hills coffee. These coffee companies work with local farmers to ensure that the folks who grow the beans are paid an equitable price for their labor. They promote sustainable agriculture and are working to build healthy, growing economies in the countries where they operate.

So get on board. In the words of Land of a Thousand Hills: "Drink coffee. Do good."