September Coffee News

-Red Carpet Vistors
-Annual EcoFestival on the Farm
-Carteras - recycled handbags
-Coffee Chocolate Cake recipe

Red Carpet Visitors
Here in Saint Paul things are starting to quiet down after the Republican Convention and all of the rallies and protests this week. Our family, however, was primarily focused on getting the kids back to school on Tuesday and then picking up Guillermo's oldest sister, Chela, at the airport on Wednesday night (she got to cross the same "red carpet" welcome mat as the RNC delegates). This is Chela's first visit to the U.S and we are looking forward to showing her around Minnesota over the next 3 weeks before she has to return to her job as a rural dentist in Honduras.

It will also be fun to show Chela what we are doing with the coffee business and perhaps she'll ride along with Guillermo when he makes his coffee deliveries around the Twin Cities next week or help as we prepare our mail orders. If you are in need of coffee at the moment call us at 651-587-5356 or email us at coffee@vfamilycoffee.com to place your order.

News from the Coffee Farm - Annual EcoFestival
Talking about conventions, last Friday, there was a celebration of a much different kind up on the coffee farm. Several years ago, Guillermo's brother Abilio helped start a community event to support the environment and promote eco-tourism. Neighbors from all over the Rio Negro community prepare food, beverages and crafts that they sell in little stalls around the soccer field while they watch competing teams play in a friendly tournament. People from the city come to enjoy the beautiful countryside, participate in the festivities and hopefuly learn a little bit about where their water comes from and why it is important to protect the forest. There was extra excitement among the family this year, as the semi-professional soccer team, Hispano, from the city of Comayagua also came to Rio Negro and joined in the tournament.

Carteras - Recycled Handbags
Now available on our website and in our online catalog -- photos of the unique handbags made out of recycled potato chip bags by women in the rural community near the Velasquez coffee farm. If you are interested in buying a bag or two for yourself (or as a gift for someone), check out the photos of our inventory on-line and let us know your size and color preferences by replying to this email. We can deliver them with your coffee or send them as a gift wherever you'd like.

Elegant Chocolate Cake Recipe
Now that it is cool enough to fire up your oven again, here is a recipe for Chocolate cake that uses coffee (and of course would also be nice to eat with a hot cup of coffee.) The recipe comes from Moosewood Restaurant Low Fat Favorites and was shared with us by Cathy's co-worker and loyal coffee customer, Dana Jackson.

1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup sugar
1/3 teaspoons salt (optional)
1/2 cup oil
1 cup cold brewed coffee (or cold water)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 375 F. Sift together flour, baking cocoa, soda and sugar directly into a 9-inch round or 8-inch square baking pan.

In a bowl, blend the oil, coffee and vanilla and pour into the pan. Mix the batter until smooth. Add vinegar and stir quickly. There will be pale swirls in the batter as the baking soda and vinegar react. Stir just until the vinegar is evenly distributed throughout the batter.

Bake 25-30 minutes (35-40 in a glass pan) and set aside to cool.