Cafe Femenino: Fair Trade coffee grown by women in Peru.
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A couple of months ago, I wrote about my move to home-roasting coffee. After sampling Fair Trade coffee from six different countries, I ranked them and ended up with the Brazilian and Peruvian top of the list. I went for the Peruvian, figuring that everyone knows "there's an awful lot of coffee in Brazil", but that the Peruvians could use my support. (I subscribe to the butterfly-wing-flap-causing-tornadoes philosophy). So, I went ahead and ordered my 5lbs of Cafe Femenino and, in the process, discovered that my chosen coffee was made exclusively by women (hence the Femenino). This appeals to me for many reasons, not the least of which is the similarity to those stories of the best cigars being hand-rolled by Cuban/Guatemalan/Honduran women on their - suitably sweaty - inner thighs. Today I discover that these Cafe Femenino ladies are doing quite well - well enough to have this article written about them. Believe it or not, I selfishly hesitated in mentioning all this because of a fear that "my" coffee-growing women will become so popular that the price will go through the roof or that their (very good) coffee will no longer be available to ordinary coffee drinkers like me. The more generous side of me wants you to go out and buy this coffee. I get my beans from Birds & Beans, in Toronto. They sell Cafe Femenino roasted too. It's especially suitable for those (like me) who prefer a lighter roast. |
We have a local coffee roaster here in Courtenay, Vancouver Island.
We are twenty blocks away yet we can smell those great flavours riding in the wind and we breath deeply.
About ideas, A US government authority has issued some warnings to the governing United Nations body about clearing up finances and being more efficient with reaching decisions.
I'll give you links later if you have any interest.
The idea is to evict the UN from the building to convene somewhere else like Geneva or pick one.
The UDN, a new authority would be comprised of nations who are goverened by a true democracy.
They would be more lean, more efficient, more honest [Powerful Whistle blower law to prevent fiascos like Oil for food scandal], and able to reach decisions in a reasonable time frame.
htt://Wikipedia.org/United_democratic_Nations/
Just wonder what you think? TG
Posted by: TG | Monday, February 06, 2006 at 02:32 PM
It took me over 30 years to realise one of my "dreams": to have the smell of roasting coffee in my own home. Now it's there - every few days. It's defintitely in the fresh-baked bread league.
I think that moving the UN to somewhere like Switzerland may be a good thing, especially if the US thinks having that building in New York gives it the right to warn/lecture the UN.
As for the UDM. I wonder who would decide which nations qualify as democracies. e.g. Would they need to have a voting system with a verifiable paper trail? And, as you say, perhaps viable whistle-blower legislation would need to be part of that too.
Please do send me the links. I'd be interested to see the thinking on this.
By the way, what did you think of Harper, appointing an elected Liberal to his cabinet with not even a thought of a by-election. I seem to remember him being very self-righteous when Belinda crossed the aisle: "we would never do that" - something about needing to be accountable to the people that elected her. Not a good start for Captain Accountability.
Posted by: JN | Monday, February 06, 2006 at 05:33 PM