2009 Travel

CC accompanies Larry's Beans to Nicaragua

 

Florent's Colombia trip report

As I sit here typing this report, memories of this wonderful first experience in a coffee producing country swirl in my head. Everyone that participated in February’s delegation to Colombia really seemed to enjoy the 10-day busy trip that allowed us to discover the many different faces of Colombia…

Dean's Dispatch from Timor Leste

In March, Dean of member-roaster Dean's Beans ventured into relatively unchartered waters, to a country that few North Americans have heard of let alone bought coffee from! Coop Coffees been buying coffee from Cooperativa Cafe Timor since 2002. We all benefit when roasters, like Dean, take the initiative to organize and report a trip like this. Here is a clipping of his summary of the trip. Click on the link below for more!

Higher Grounds in Chiapas

In February 2009, CC member Higher Grounds gathered a whole slew of friends, students, musicians, and more from Traverse City, MI to venture into the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico on a mission to connect with local communities through meetings, music, and an ongoing water project. Read the trip's coordinator, Chris Treter's summary of the trip below.

Ocamonte, a Fair Trade "success story"

In a follow-up on the trip report he wrote for the March newsletter, Florent Gout from the Green Desk in Montreal completes his tales of the February journey to Colombia with staff from Coop Coffees and Cafe Campesino. This month, he writes about APCO -- a recent addition to Coop Coffees' Colombian sourcing partners. Located in central-eastern Colombia along the eastern "cordillera" (mountain range), this coop is a true Fair Trade "success story" as you will see from Florent's report!

Coffee, honey, ecotourism and more!

From August 11 to 15, a small team from Coop Coffees and Peace Coffee traveled to the Central Amazon region of Peru to visit our producer partner CAC Pangoa. It had been awhile since Coop Coffees had last visited the coop and the time was ripe for another face-to-face! We hope that this visit as well as those that are sure to come in the future, will help strengthen the already vibrant relationship with Pangoa. The work that the coop has been doing over the last several years is proof of the power of Fair Trade but it is also a testimony of how indispensable long-term, beneficial relationships are for small-scale farmers.

Sumatra: untangling the mysterious world of coffee

Earlier this month, Coop Coffees' Bill Harris and Florent Gout flew across the globe to meet with several coffee cooperatives located in the Aceh province of the island of Sumatra. Despite the high international demand for Sumatran coffee and the high volumes of it that get exported, it is one of the most mysterious countries of origin for coffee importers. Likewise, many of the small, isolated coops in Aceh have little access to information about the international and Fair Trade, organic markets. There is still much to learn on both sides of this partnership but this trip sparked a valuable and much-needed exchange of information that will continue as our relationship with these coops grows!