In the Grinder - Our Daily Coffee Weblog

COOPAC coop is located in the western Rwandan provinces of Rabavu and Rutsiro.  Rabavu lies on the shores of the great African Lake Kivu, the border between Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo.  Lake Kivu has long been the center of African lore because of its unparalleled beauty and surprising volcanic nature.  Tribesmen in this region of Rwanda have long reported seeing explosions far out in the lake.  The geologic activity of this region may be one of the main factors contributing to the incredible soil used to grow coffee trees here.  COOPAC is revered for its wonderful ecological environment in the steep slopes of the volcanic mountains, and also for its abundance in healthy rain.  All of these factors come together to create the ideal coffee growing environment for COOPAC.

COOPAC Coop is Fair Trade Certified, and their membership has doubled every year over the past 10 years to over 2000 farmers in 2010.  People here are proud to be a member of COOPAC, and truly look out for one another like family.  COOPAC has invested a significant amount of money into the infrastructure for processing coffee.  They have committed to exporting only high quality fully washed coffee, and their efforts have paid off; this year COOPAC took home the top price in the 2010 Rwandan Cup of Excellence.  Jason was in Rwanda for the event, and said it was an incredible time.

  

We are so proud to have worked with COOPAC over the past several years.  Right now we have some very nice Fair Trade COOPAC Coffee (ID P2310).  We also bought several other lots, including really nice Peaberries that will be on our offering sheets soon, while Jason was on the ground this year and are very excited for them. We are working with COOPAC as we speak to further develop a microlot program. We want to continue to work with COOPAC not only for their amazing coffee, but because this organization is doing amazing things for the quality of life of the people of Rwanda and raising the bar on coffee quality industry wide.

Keep an eye out for new COOPAC Coffees!

The Good Food Awards Submission Deadline is Wednesday September 15^th!  

What is the Good Food Awards you ask?  

Well here is a little word from the organization themselves...

"The Good Food Awards celebrate the kind of food we all want to eat: tasty, authentic and responsibly produced. We grant awards to outstanding American food producers and the farmers who provide their ingredients. We host an annual Awards Ceremony and Marketplace at the iconic Ferry Building in San Francisco to honor new Good Food Award recipients and also organize a month of events and tastings to support the wider community making good food.

In its inaugural year, Good Food Awards will be given to winners in seven categories: beer, charcuterie, cheese, chocolate, coffee, pickles and preserves. Awards will be given to producers and their food communities from each of five regions of the US. The Good Food Awards seal, found on winning products, assures consumers they have found something exceptionally delicious that also supports sustainability and social good."

Our very own Jason long will be a judge for the coffee side of the event, and most likely try to make a fake badge to "judge" the beer, cheese, and chocolate.  If you have some coffee you are really proud of, or if you are even a home brewer, or a cheesemaker (yay Wisconsin!), then this is your event! 

Sign up, submit your entry, and good luck!

Check out http://www.goodfoodawards.org/ for more info!

   

 I was oh-so-sad when my work in Chiapas came to a close at the end of July. To be very honest, preparing in May to spend the summer in Mexico I had a few reservations that curbed the enthusiastic excitement that at I had expected to feel. I was loving my Minneapolis life; the long awaited spring was in full bloom, I'd finished my first year of grad school and actually had some free time (what is this foreign concept??), and leaving my tight-knit circle of friends seemed harder than ever before. I could just see myself, all alone, bored, and lonely in my tiny Mexican pueblo missing out on the perfection of a Minneaoplis summer.  I'd never before struggled so much getting excited to leave the country for an extended period of time and couldn't figure out what had come over me this time.

 

While reflecting and blogging towards the end of my trip, for the first time in my ENTIRE two and a half months away I recalled these concerns and couldn't hold back a little smile. Not once during my entire trip did I ever feel lonely or bored but rather overflowing with the joy I found in the relationships I established in each area of my Chiapan life, the work I was doing in both cervical cancer prevention and coffee, and from the sheer fact that I was living in a mountainous paradise. Departing Jaltenango was leaps and bounds harder to do than departing Minneapolis a few months prior. Hands down.

 

 

I've now been home an entire month and I still can't shake the longing to be back in Jalte. *sigh* I suppose that means that my experience was all I was hoping for and more; that it was purposeful, worthwhile, and WONDERFUL. J I wouldn't have it any other way.  Spending a period of time working and living at origin has enriched the way I view working both in coffee and women's health. It has added dimensions and purpose to all aspects of the work that Café Imports, Grounds for Health, and I do each day.

   

While working alongside CESMACH, Sixto, the general manager, and I made it a priority to sit down and brainstorm ways to enhance our relationship and increase the quality of their coffee. We decided that, although its very labor intensive, they will begin to create profiles for the various areas within the region the coffee is produced. This will involve taking and cupping samples from several producers in each of their 24 producing communities so as to keep a running log to compare and contrast each community's profile. From there, we and perhaps their other clients can then cup distinctly different lot samples and pick which specific profiles we want. We look forward to working on this throughout the next year!

 

 

Grounds for Health is taking a trip to CESMACH next week to continue the work they've been doing there over the course of the past four years and to do some follow up to the work I did this summer. My heart is a little achey-breaky as I would LOVE to be on the trip, but, it turns out that work and school are in full swing and one just can't do it all. I am VERY eager to see how things have gone since I've left and how GFH can/will apply what we've learned from the work and research I did to improve the program moving forward.  

 

In short, my summer in Chiapas far exceeded any hopes and expectations I had for it. Little life lessons and revelations continue to surface while in the classroom, at my work desk, or during long evening or weekend homework sessions at my dining room table. Mexico, once again, swept me off my feet. I re-fell in love with working in and around coffee.  Daily exercising my passion for empowering women through both words and actions piqued my senses, my heart, and my being. Blending Mexico, coffee, and women's empowerment: idyllic. Thank you Café Imports, thank you Grounds for Health, and thank you CESMACH for including me in your pursuit of saving lives and ever-increasing the quality and sustainability of coffee.

 

This video is from Amanda's summer at CESMACH in Chiapas Mexico with Grounds for Health.

Amanda's Summer at Cesmach from Noah N on Vimeo.