Mirembe Kawomera & Thanksgiving Coffee on YouTube

31 07 2007

One of FTLA’s very first events was a visit from JJ Keki and Seth Jonadev, two coffee farmers from the Mirembe Kawomera co-op in Uganda. In addition to the community benefits of organizing and producing FT coffee, the co-op brings together Jewish, Muslim, and Christian farmers. And Mirembe Kawomera? It means Delicious Peace.

Check out the video above, a sneak peek at an upcoming documentary on the co-op. And you can find Mirembe Kawomera coffee at Thanksgiving Coffee. (Plus look for more on both the film and the coffee at our Just Lives Festival coming September 30 to the Hollywood Farmers Market!)


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Categories : Coffee, Fair Trade in the Media, Fun stuff

Co-op America’s Fair Trade Guide

17 07 2007

Co-op America is expanding its Fair Trade work with more information on shopping Fair Trade. Their 12 Ways to Shop Fair Trade page has links for shopping and they’ve also produced a handy 24 page pdf guide with lots of additional info.

Fair Trade callout

Their twelve ways:  Tea, Chocolate, Fruit, Sugar, Rice, Vanilla, Spice, Olive Oil, Wine, Sports Balls, Arts and Crafts, and of course, Coffee. How many do you buy Fair Trade?


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Categories : Chocolate, Clothing/Crafts, Coffee, Fair Trade LA Links, Fair Trade products, Rice, Sugar

Fair trade month: Co-opportunity

16 10 2006

If you wanna celebrate fair trade month, go grocery shopping at Co-opportunity in Santa Monica. You’ll find:

Fair trade teas! You can get Choice bagged teas, or chilled bottles of Honest Tea in the refigerators.

Of course, there’s lots of fair trade coffee, mostly from Cafe Altura and Newman’s Own Organics.

Then there’s fair trade yerba mate from Eco Teas and Guyaki. I’m actually not a big fan of mate, but some people love it –

And fair trade cocoa from Dagoba –

Pick up a couple bars of fair trade chocolate from Divine and Endangered Species.

More dessert: Some of Ben & Jerry’s ice creams in the freezer are fair trade :)

There’s also fair trade sugar, just below the fair trade cocoa.

In the bulk area, you can get fair trade, organic basmati rice, both white and brown.

As you check out, you’ll see fair trade snack bars from Alpsnack and Maya.

And lastly, you can buy some pretty fair trade crafts from World of Good — They’re displayed on a stand near the cosmetics counter :)

Co-opportunity. 1525 Broadway @ 16th. Santa Monica. 310-451-8902. 7 am – 10 pm.


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Categories : Chocolate, Clothing/Crafts, Coffee, Fair Trade products, Market/Restaurants, Rice, Sugar

Ben & Jerry’s gets more fair trade

15 10 2006

You may already’ve known that you can get fair trade coffee-flavored ice cream from Ben & Jerry’s. Coffee, Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, and Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz, to be more specific.

Now, the company’s expanded their fair trade ice cream offerings to include Vanilla and Chocolate :)

The Vanilla’ll hit Ben & Jerry’s scoop shops this month; the Chocolate in December. Both’ll be available in supermarkets and grocery stores in January 2007.

So — This means that Ben & Jerry’s is now buying fair trade coffee, cocoa, and vanilla from co-ops! Which is like yay!

And which also makes me ask — What ’bout the sugar? Cuz Ben & Jerry’s UK’s already using fair trade certified sugar for its vanilla ice cream.

Do we ice cream lovers in the US not deserve fair trade sugar? No fair! :P

In any case, I’m glad that an awesome and yummy company like Ben & Jerry’s is making fair trade a bigger part of its company. In fact, Ben & Jerry’s has info ’bout fair trade month on the front of its site.

So — I’m gonna write Ben & Jerry an email saying thanks, can’t wait for the new ice cream! And also — can I have some fair trade sugar with that, pretty please –


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Categories : Chocolate, Coffee, Sugar

Where to buy fair trade coffee in Los Angeles

14 02 2006

A resource for Los Angelenos looking for fair trade coffee to buy at a nearby store and brew at home!

Independents

Surfas (Culver City). Get Monkey & Son coffee, wholebean. All fair trade certified, all organic — from a local coffee company!

The Conservatory for Coffee, Tea & Cocoa. (Culver City) This lil local shop roasts its own beans, in store. Many of its blends are fair trade — ask for it :)

Romancing the Bean (Burbank). They get their coffee from Volcanic Red. The organic beans are fair trade certified.

Chains
Java City. This NoCal based chain has a number of fair trade blends. Los Angeles has 1 location in the Wells Fargo building downtown :)

Trader Joe’s. Last count, they had 5 different fair trade certified options available at v. reasonable prices — Including a fair trade decaf blend! Most are also organic and shade grown.

Cost Plus World Market. You can get World Market’s own fair trade certified World Village Coffee.

Wild Oats. In addition to v. yummy fair trade chocolates, Wild Oats carries lots of fair trade certified Green Mountain coffees.

Whole Foods. Whole Foods carries a few smaller brands of fair trade certified coffees.

Peets. Peets has 1 fair trade certified blend.

Starbucks. The mermaid has 1 fair trade certified blend.

Borders. Borders sells Seattle’s Best Coffee, which is owned by Starbucks. Make sure you go for the organic fair trade blends (green packaging).

Lastly — Most major supermarkets do offer a few token fair trade certified blends.


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Categories : Coffee