Archive for the 'Coffee' Category

The View from Peru: Fair Trade at K’Antu!
Hola!  I am writing from Lima, the capital of Peru.  After leaving Uruguay last week, I came here to support my colleagues in our Peru program as they develop a strategic plan for their economic justice programming for the next few years.  I am part of a team [...]

Read the entry: Fair Trade in Peru! →

An update for those of you who have been following the progress of Ethiopia’s trademark campaign on our blog or in recent issues of the CRS Fair Trader: Starbucks has signed a licensing agreement with the government of Ethiopia!  Seth Petchers manages the coffee program at Oxfam America, which led a coalition of NGOs in [...]

Read the entry: Ethiopia Wins. Starbucks Wins. Farmers Win! →

Just got this note this morning from the Sisters of St. Joseph, an inspiring order of religious women based in Pennsylvania:

“The Sisters of St. Joseph are now serving Fair Trade tea and coffee in their Motherhouse Dining Room in Baden, Pa.
This effort is an extension of the sisters’ commitment to ‘build sustainable communities.’ The [...]

Read the entry: Fair Trade Joe. Go Sisters, Go! →

The Fair Trade Federation conference last weekend brought dozens of Fair Trade companies and organizations to Washington, D.C. to focus especially on doing the work of Fair Trade. Lots of inspiration and information was passed around, including opening remarks from Fair Trade guru, Paul Myers, new Chair of the International Fair Trade Association. [...]

Read the entry: Excuse me, Your Business Practices are Showing →

I drink Fair Trade coffee because…well…mostly because our partners sell coffee that is out-of-this-world good! I also drink it because it promotes economic justice and sustainable farming in coffee-growing communities overseas. Recently, however, I have come to discover that the Fair Trade principles that motivate our partners here in the United States have [...]

Read the entry: How Green is Your Fair Trade Coffee? →

Just a quick note to congratulate the good folks at the Cenacle Conference and Retreat Center in Chicago on making the big move to Fair Trade coffee!  No more miserable corporate coffee for its guests — from now on it is all Just Coffee, all the time.
The center is run by the Cenacle sisters, whose [...]

Read the entry: Chicago Conference Center Goes Fair Trade! →

Because I work everyday on coffee, and because I am personally obsessed with finding out-of-this-world coffees for myself, I am generally known around CRS as “the coffee guy.” (The Baltimore Sun actually referred to me in an article a few years ago as the “CRS coffee czar.”) This means that every time coffee or [...]

Read the entry: Patron Saint of Coffee? →

A special issue of Sojourners Magazine features Trade Justice and the many ways Christians can help Make Trade Just. Noting that “Our clothes–or coffee, jeans, and virtually everything else we consume–can tell a story” the issue profiles Traidcraft, a church hall organization that is now on the London Stock Exchange, our friends at Divine [...]

Read the entry: Changing the World by Changing the Rules: Go Sojo! →

A number of people have written or called in recent days asking about a topic of perennial concern and interest: the price that farmers earn for their Fair Trade coffee. We did update folks in The Coffee Issue of our e-newsletter a few months ago, but apparently not everyone subscribes. So…here is the WHO, WHAT, [...]

Read the entry: What is a Fair Price, Anyway? →

Thousands of people across dozens of countries use the second Saturday of May to celebrate World Fair Trade Day. What will you do this May 12 to participate?
Here at CRS we are proud sponsors of World Fair Trade Day in the USA! Lots is going on for us all month long, including our staff out [...]

Read the entry: World Fair Trade Day is May 12 →