December 2011 Coffee News

-New Routes - New Drivers
-Honduras Travel Plans
-Holiday Flavors
-Gift Ideas
-Housecleaning Help
-Practice Wonder

We hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving and are finding the space to prepare for the coming holiday season so that it may be a time of joy and peace. We enjoyed a delicious turkey meal with Cathy's parents and then hosted a simple waffle brunch a few days later with Guillermo's Minnesota family members. In addition to family gatherings, delivery routes and travel plans have also been in our thoughts a lot lately. To give us more "space to prepare" for our deliveries, we are making a few changes to our monthly process -- the first being that we would like any order changes by Wednesday at noon if possible. We'll describe the other changes and our Honduras travel plans below.

New Routes - New Drivers
People often wonder how it is possible for us to personally deliver our family's coffee directly to people's homes and businesses each month. While it might seem an extraordinary service to offer, we believe it actually simplifies our lives. Instead of the ongoing expenses and time commitment required to manage a physical store, we have decided to work really hard one day a month to distribute our coffee directly to our coffee customers rather than waiting for you to come to us.

Even so, the logistical details of getting coffee orders ready each month have grown as our customer base has expanded. When we started doing deliveries in 2001, we had about 10 monthly subscriptions and Guillermo was able to do them all himself on a Saturday morning. Later, when we added a few businesses to our route, we switched to the 2nd Friday of the month. In 2009, before the Star Tribune featured us in the business section, we had about 70 delivery customers and it was still possible for one person (or both of us together) to get everything done in an 8 hour day.

Last month, we had 170 deliveries (plus over 30 mail orders)! Thankfully, our oldest son (and two of his responsible friends) have just gotten their driver's licenses and so we are happily putting them to work. As a result, we have completely reworked our delivery routes. Cathy will still be doing most of the West Metro Route. Guillermo will have the Northern and Eastern Suburbs Route. The three Highland Park High School Juniors, will each be doing around 25 homes within St. Paul. To accomodate school and sports schedules, some of these may be done on Saturdays. We will let you know next week if your house is one of the Saturday deliveries this month. (Businesses will still be done on Friday.) We ask for your patience as we work through these logistical changes and our new drivers get used to doing deliveries. Please alert us to any problems or mistakes as soon as you notice them so we can make things right!

 Honduras Travel Plans
In addition to reworking our delivery routes, we have also been busy with Honduras travel plans. Last week, we made the difficult decision to cancel our January Eco-Tour trip because only three people were able to go. There is significant interest in a June 2012 trip so we are optimistic we will be able to apply what we've learned by this experience to our preparations for June. We also finally made our family's arrangements to travel to Honduras over New Year's when we will be able to see most of the Velasquez family as they gather to celebrate Guillermo's mom's birthday on January 1st.

Holiday Flavors
Our 2011 holiday coffee flavors have been well received and are still available. We have tried to order plenty, but because it is hard for us to predict sales exactly, get your orders in quickly to ensure you get what you want. Here are the descriptions again:

*Cocoa Mocha Twist - A blend of the taste of chocolate, cream, cinnamon, and nutmeg give this coffee its unique flavor.
*Old Fashion Holiday - Holiday cinnamon and cloves blended together reminding you of warm holidays baking goodies in the kitchen.
*Rum Royale Cappuccino - Warm cappuccino - frothy & thick with a healthy splash of rich buttery rum.
*Caramelized Pralines - Yummy rich taste with delicious caramel and fresh roasted pralines.

All of these coffees (and any of our six regular flavors) are available in 8 oz bags for $6.50 in whole bean or ground. Holiday flavors ONLY are also available in decaf in limited quantities. 

Coffee Gifts
Let us know if you'd like extra coffee with your December order for holiday gifts or if you'd like to have us mail coffee to friends or family farther away. We can also create a gift certificate for a 3, 6 or 12 month coffee subscription for the coffee drinker in your life. Our November coffee email gives more details about these coffee gift ideas.

Other Unique Gift Ideas
There are two unique holiday gift sales this weekend in the Como Park neighborhood. Featuring hand crafted items and original art work, you are sure to find something you love while avoiding the crowds at the malls.
-Sibirica Boutique -- 996 Oxford St N, St. Paul, 55103 - Dec 3 (10-7) & Dec 4 (11-6)
-Holiday Art Show and Sale -- 1121 Oxford St N, St. Paul, 55103 - Dec 2 (2-8); Dec 3 (10-8) & Dec 4 (12-6).

A few other gift ideas no matter where you live:
-You can shop from the comfort of your home using Green America's GreenPages.org to find a huge selection of socially and environmentally responsible businesses. (The extensive directory is also available through their new smart phone app).
-Support farm families in Central America restore the environment while improving their standard of living with Sustainable Harvest International "Gift of Hope" 2012 catalog.

Housecleaning Help
Guillermo's sister Consuvida and her daughter Cinthia are hoping to continue building their house cleaning business. If you could use help getting your house ready for the holidays or if you are looking for long term cleaning services, give Cinthia a call at 651-487-1231 or 651-285-3067 or email her at rodriguez20007@gmail.com. They will give you a cost estimate based on the size of your house and the frequency of cleaning you need.

Practice Wonder and Gratitude
As we enter this time of winter darkness and holiday lights, we send you our deepest gratitude for the opportunity to be in relationship with you through this little coffee venture of ours. We wish you joy and peace in the coming month. And urge you to Cultivate Wonder and Practice being Present -- truly present -- to everyone around you. Warm Blessings to you and yours!