Though it may have snuck up on us, it's November and at Café Campesino, we've got lots to be thankful for. And tops on the list is the opportunity to spread the Fair Trade message. Sometimes our Fair Trade "evangelism" takes a more serious tone. Other times we have a little fun, as in last month's issue, when we asked Café Campesino customers to "cast their ballots" for one of three special election blends - The Incumbent, The Challenger and The Outsider. Who won? (Drum roll please) The Challenger, with 57% of the vote! The Outsider came in second with 24% and The Incumbent placed third with 19%. Regardless of your feelings about our recent national election, your coffee selection was a vote for Fair Trade. On behalf of our producer partners, Café Campesino thanks you for your support. By the way, for those of you who want to reorder the blend you chose, The Incumbent Blend is our Critical Mass Blend, The Challenger is our BRAG Blend and The Outsider is our Justice Blend.

If you haven’t noticed yet, we’ve remodeled! Our website's new look (www.cafecampesino.com) is designed to make our site easier to navigate and more enjoyable to explore. And keep an eye out for our redesigned web store in the next few weeks!

With the holidays almost upon us, it's time to start thinking about the season of giving. This year, consider a unique gift…a gift with a conscience – Café Campesino Fair Trade Organic Coffee! In this issue of Fair Grounds, we introduce several new gift boxes that are sure to pique your interest as well as volume discounts to help you knock out your holiday shopping list in one fell swoop! Also in the issue, Tripp relates his feelings about conscious consumption, we've got a Community Caravan update, customer and Fair Trade partner spotlights, plus a new recipe, Dr. Coffee, Fair Trade fact, and trivia question. Kick back with a mug of your favorite brew and enjoy!

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As we head in to the holiday season, it seems appropriate to comment briefly on conscious consumption and how we at Café Campesino approach the matter. When I was growing up, my father used to agonize when one of us left the lights on after leaving a room or when we looked through the refrigerator as though we were looking for a book on a library shelf. My father was one of the last in the neighborhood to buy a color television set as he didn’t view it as a necessity. It wasn’t until he found a local hotel in bankruptcy that he felt comfortable shelling out the dough for a used color TV. It was a great TV too (half the price of a new one), especially when we sawed off the bolt that had been welded onto the bottom of it (apparently theft had been a contributor to the hotel’s demise).

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Plus…Introducing New Gift Boxes from Café Campesino!

The Amigos Kid’s Gift Box – This gift box is a great way to teach kids a little bit about coffee and our producer friends around the world. Includes A Cafecito Story by Julia Alvarez, a fair trade Children of the World Mobile, and a 12-ounce bag of delicious fair trade, organic hot cocoa mix. Item # 98100. $34.95.

Global Journey – Includes three 16-ounce bags of coffee: (1) Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Medium, (1) Guatemala Full City & (1) East Timor Dark. Item #: 76001. $29.95.

Taste of Nicaragua – Includes two 16-ounce bags of coffee: (1) Nicaragua Medium & (1) Nicaragua Dark Roast. Item #: 76002 $19.95.

Taste of Ethiopia – Includes two 16-ounce bags of Ethiopia: (1) Yirgacheffe Medium Roast & (1) Ethiopia Sidamo Full City Roast. Item #: 76004 $19.95.

Blend Box – Includes three 16-ounce bags of our favorite blends: (1) Benevolent, (1) Justice & (1) Critical Mass. Item #: 76006 $29.95.

Los Tres Amigos Gift Box – Three 16-ounce bags of Lee’s, Tripp’s & Bill’s favorites, in no particular order…(1) Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Medium, (1) Sumatra Full City & (1) Ethiopian Sidamo Full City Roasts. Item #: 76008 $29.95.

Be sure to check out all our gift ideas on our web store.

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During the weekend of November 19-21, Café Campesino will be serving coffee to the thousands of people who will travel to Columbus, GA, to protest the continued existence of Fort Benning’s School of the Americas, the U.S. Army’s training ground for Latin American soldiers. The annual vigil draws student, religious and human rights groups from all over the world for a weekend of peace training, speeches and non-violent action. This will be the sixth year that we will serve coffee from Fair Trade farmers in countries that are directly affected by those trained at the school. We will be joined by volunteers from the Newman Catholic Center in Illinois, as well as friends from Koinonia Partners (http://www.koinoniapartners.org) here in Americus. Read more about the SOA Watch at http://www.soaw.org.

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Café Campesino is thrilled to welcome Oyamel — Cocina Mexicana to the Café Campesino family. This spectacular 160-seat restaurant, located in Crystal City, Virginia, draws its menu from pre-Hispanic, colonial and modern traditions reflecting the rich culinary heritage of Mexico. To complement its cuisine, Oyamel features a world-class selection of tequilas, mescals, liqueurs, quality Mexican wines by the glass and bottle and Café Campesino’s fair trade, organic coffee from the Mut Vitz Cooperative in Chiapas Mexico.

Café Campesino is proud to be associated with Oyamel, not only because of its extraordinary cuisine but also because of its active commitment to a variety of relevant social issues, including Fair Trade. Named after a coniferous pine tree native to Mexico, Oyamel represents the important Mexican Oyamel Forests, which are an essential haven for the migration of the Monarch Butterfly. Oyamel also supports a number of organizations, including: The Michoacan Reforestation Fund, the Children’s National Medical Center and Human Rights Watch.

If you live in the Washington D.C. area or are passing through, we strongly recommend that you dine at Oyamel, located at 2250 Crystal Drive in Arlington, Virginia — Oyamel is open for lunch and dinner Monday through Friday and Dinner only on Saturday and Sunday. Their telephone number is (703) 413.2288.

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Café Campesino announces the launching of our new sister company Three Frontiers Trading Company, a Fair Trade retailer and wholesaler of quality, handcrafted expressions of our Fair Trade producer partners throughout the developing world - pottery, home and garden décor, children's toys and more. While driven to expand the reach of Fair Trade in the United States, Three Frontiers’ deeper mission is to establish new Fair Trade relationships with producers who have yet to join the world market on equal terms. To learn more about Three Frontiers and shop, visit our site at www.shopfairtrade.com or call us at 229-942-2638.

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We're giving away coffee! 

Think you know a lot about coffee? Then enter our Fair Grounds Trivia Contest. Click here for our question of the month. Entering is easy and it's FUN!

Last month's Coffee Knowledge Winner was Joan Brausch who knew that 75% of the caffeine consumed in the United States comes from coffee. Congratulations Joan!

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— W.T. Purkiser

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• October 2004 A Mission...Not a Market: The 2004 Vote: Making it Work
• September 2004 Producer News: CECOCAFEN in the Off Season, Customer Spotlight: The Healthy Gourmet
• August 2004 Producer Profile: Cooperativa Café Timor, Fair Trade Friends: Marketplace of India
• July 2004 A Fair Trade Reality Check, Fair Trade Friends: Tribal Fiber, Coffee Lab International
• June 2004 The Promise of Fair Trade, Fair Trade Friend: Global Crafts
• May 2004 Fair Trade at the Carter Center, SCAA meeting.
• April 2004 Coffee and Community in Nicaragua, Fair Trade in Americus Makes the News!
• March 2004 Fair Trade chocolate, Rosetta's Kitchen
• February 2004 Bill's Return to Guatemala, Guayakí Rainforest
• January 2004 Espresso - What's the Buzz?
• December 2003 Fair Trade: Global Exchange's Fair Trade Challenge; Fellow Fair Traders: SERRV International
• November 2003 Fair Trade: More Than Just a Fair Price; Fellow Fair Traders: Lucuma Designs
• October 2003 Exploring the Coffee Regions
• September 2003 Cooperative Coffees Annual Meeting
• August 2003 Fair Trade Friends: Oxfam America; The Art (and Science) of Roasting Coffee
• July 2003 Exploring Our Origins: Sumatra
• June 2003 Exploring Our Origins: Guatemala; Gayo Mountain Adventure; Dr. Coffee - Cupping
• May 2003 Fair Trade Friends: United Students for Fair Trade; World Fair Trade Day
• April 2003 Exploring Our Origins: Ethiopia; Celebrating Earth Day with Fair Trade
• March 2003 Bill's Central American Adventures, Part 2; SWP Decaffeination
• February 2002 Bill's Central American Adventures, Part 1
• January 2003 My Life as a Bean
• December 2002 Exploring Our Origins: East Timor; Sustainable Development
• November 2002 New Website; Gift Baskets
• October 2002 Interview with roaster Lee Harris
• September 2002 ForesTrade Wins UN Sustainability Award; Exploring Our Origins: Sumatra's Gayo Cooperative
• August 2002 Producer News: Shade Grown; Fair Trade Friends: Atlanta Audubon
• July 2002 Exploring Our Origins: Colombia
• June 2002 Back Roads Journal: Cooperative Coffees and Café Campesino; Exploring Our Origins: Peru; Fair Trade Friends: Music of the Andes
• May 2002 Staff Notes: Cinco de Mayo; Producer News: Visit to Mut Viz; Back Roads Journal: SCAA Meeting
• April 2002 Back Roads Journal: Travels in Fair Trade; Customer Composting Tip