2007 Coffee News

Find the following in our 2007 Newsletters:
-Trick or Treat for Squash? (Nov)
-Holiday gift ideas (Nov, Dec)
-Hurricanes and Disaster Prevention (Oct)
-35-W Bridge collapse (Aug)
-Coop America Business Network (Aug)
-Fair Trade (July, Aug, Sept)
-Family Togetherness: Maximo and Natalia visit Minnesota (June, Dec)
-Paul Hawken, excerpt on the world's largest movement (May)
-Holy Week in Honduras (Apr)
-Visit to our Coffee Roaster (with photos!) (Mar)
-Honduran Orphanage benefits from VFC fundraiser (Feb)
-News from the coffee farm (Jan, Feb, June, Sept, Oct)
-Coffee customers from Iowa to Iraq (Jan)

December 2007 Coffee News

Back to Honduras
Guillermo's parents, Maximo and Natalia, with impecable timing, headed back to Honduras just days before the temperature really dropped and the snow started to pile up. Before they left, we enjoyed several large family gatherings to celebrate Maximo's 82nd birthday and Thanksgiving. The contrast was extreme when we went from setting the table for 15 to a very quiet 3 as Guillermo and our middle son Jake went along to help manuever airports and luggage.

Guillermo reports more fun family gatherings and lovely 70 degree weather in Comayagua but rain and muddy roads on the farm up in the mountains. Winter in Honduras means rain so that is to be expected. We look forward to more news and photos from the family and farm when he and Jake return tomorrow night. (We are in the process of creating a photo gallery on our website. So look for a link to lots of photos in our January email.)

We made sure Guillermo would be back to help with the December order (typically our largest each year) coming up this week. Our fresh roast arrives from the roaster on Wednesday. Let us know if you are interested in coffee this month.

Holiday Gift Packs
Let us know if we can help with your holiday shopping. We can deliver or ship coffee for gifts directly to you. Or make it even easier and let us do the shipping too.We can mail coffee (with your personal note included too if you wish) anywhere in the country with only the added cost of priority mail postage. We ship over 30 boxes of coffee every month anyway, so we're all set up to do it. Just email us the details before we pack up our orders on December 13th (how much, of what kind of coffee, sent to where) and we'll take care of the rest.

And here is another gift idea - order a 3, 6 or 12 month coffee subscription for someone. We've put together a colorful gift certificate that can be customized for any occasion. (Buy now and you'll get our 2007 prices before they increase in 2008.)

Fair Trade Coffee Mugs
Make your coffee gift extra special and include a beautiful fair trade coffee mug from Lazos/Ties. We are pleased to be partnering with this Minnesota based fair trade business that offers beautiful handcrafted fair trade coffee mugs, espresso cups, cream and sugar sets and coffee pots that will go very nicely in a gift pack with Velasquez Family Coffee. All items are dishwasher and microwave safe. We've uploaded photos, prices and more details about the Mexican artisans to our website at www.vfamilycoffee.com/holidays. But place your order as soon as possible as their products have been popular and supply right now is very limited! If we get your order in time (before they run out and before our shipments), we'll deliver or ship them to you with your coffee order.

Holiday Flavors a big hit
We've had great feedback about the holiday flavors -- so place your order now while supplies last (after December we won't be reordering). As a reminder here is the list:

Kahlua - Similar to the liqueur. Gourmet Kahlua flavoring combined with rich coffee to produce a refreshing brew, great as iced coffee or after dinner.
Eggnog Cream - A warm, spicy Eggnog with a rich Custard finish. (This was so popular last year, we're bringing it back!)
English Toffee - A tad of caramel, a touch of chocolate, a spot of cream, very British, very buttery, very good.
Pumpkin Spice - Nutmeg and pumpkin flavors make this the perfect flavored coffee for those chilly mornings or in front of the fire.

We also have a limited amount of Pumpkin Spice and English Toffee in Decaf. And don't forget we still have all our regular flavors: African Cinnamon, Almond Amaretto, Carribean Hazelnut, Dutch Chocolate, French Vanilla and Irish Cream. (Look for Jamaica Me Crazy and Chocolate Hazelnut Cream to appear in February in time for Valentine's day!)

All flavored coffee is available in 8 oz bags, whole bean or ground for $5.50.

Green Coffee & Espresso Grind
A couple new products are being rolled out. For those of you who are interested in roasting your own coffee (or know people who have their own home roaster), we currently sell green unroasted coffee in 5# bags for $25.

Also, although a number of our customers tell us that our Maximo French Roast already works great for making espresso, we have also had interest in providing a finer espresso grind. We don't have this ready yet, but if you are interested in purchasing our Maximo's French Roast in a finer grind, let us know so we know how much to order in January.

New Prices in January
After much contemplation and delay, we are finally, really, really going to raise prices starting January 1, 2008. Based on the feedback we've received from our customers, 12 oz bags will be $8.50 and 8 oz flavored bags will go to $6.00. 5# bulk bags, wholesale and fundraiser pricing is still being finalized but will be based in part on quantity purchased. Thanks to your understanding and support as we make this difficult decision.

And thanks for your interest in Velasquez Family Coffee!! We are very grateful for the opportunity to build new connections across borders.

December 2007  - special gift ideas edition

There are several great alternative shopping opportunities coming up in the next few days that we thought some of our customers might be interested in.

Benefit Shopping Night - Wednesday, November 28 5-8 pm - Buy a burrito at Chipotle and shop fair trade items at Ten Thousand Villages and benefit the Land Stewardship Project. Both stores are at Victoria Crossing (Victoria and Grand) in St. Paul. Chipotle purchases from sustainable family farmers and Ten Thousand Villages offers handmade artisan fair trade crafts from around the world. More details at: http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/pr/07/newsr_071117.htm

Art Show and Sale this weekend Nov 30-Dec 2 by Velasquez Family coffee customer Helen Bond featuring her original watercolor paintings, prints & notecards. 1121 North Oxford St in St. Paul. Friday, November 30 2-8pm, Saturday, December 1 10am-8pm, Sunday, December 2 12-6pm. Check out her beautiful work at www.helenbond.com.

Local Artisans this weekend Nov 30 & Dec 2. Hand Dyed Natural Textiles, Felted Hats, Hand Made Healing Balms, Beeswax Candles and more -- all this and more at two events featuring another VFC customer, Valerie Nordin. To see some of Nancy Schultz' products visit www.geocities.com/schultzcolor. We personally love Valerie's healing balms and lotions and her felted hats are great too. Friday, November 30 3-9pm at the studio of Nancy Schultz 2838 31st Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55406. And Sunday December 2 10am-4pm Cafe Brenda 2007 Holiday Sale, 300 1st Ave N. Minneapolis.

Coffee Gift Packages. We are excited to partner with another local fair trade business called Lazos/Ties to offer beautiful handcrafted fair coffee mugs, espesso cups, cream and sugar sets and coffee pots that will go very nicely in a gift pack with Velasquez Family Coffee. All items are dishwasher and microwave safe. See photos and prices below. If you are interested in purchasing any of these items let us know as soon as possible as their supply is limited. If you order from us before our next coffee deadline (December 13th) we can even deliver them to your house with your coffee order. For more details on this Minnesota based fair trade company visit their website at www.lazosties.com and read below for more information about the artisans who make their ceramics.

November 2007 Coffee News

Trick or Treat for Squash??
The morning after Halloween, we sent the kids to school with a slight sugar buzz, and Guillermo's parents, Maximo and Natalia, started chatting about Honduras. While the tradition there does NOT include going door to door to get candy, they do remember going to visit friends and family and asking for -- get this -- squash! Cooked squash with "dulce" (a by-product of processing sugar cane, much like brown sugar in a block). Natalia even sang us a little song they used to sing asking for squash and blessing the angels ("los angelitos") of the house.

The angels make sense, given that in Honduras the real focus of these first few days of November is about remembering the dead. This week, the cemetaries are full of people putting flowers on the graves of their loved ones. Natalia typically gathers all the flowers from her own beloved garden and brings them to the cemetary in the small town of La Cuesta where her parents and Maximo's parents are buried. Guillermo's oldest sister Chela will probably make the visit this year while Natalia is here in Minnesota.

And the winner is...
Over 30 people voted in our holiday flavor survey last week. Based on your votes, we will be offering the following special flavors over the holiday season:

Kahlua - Similar to the liqueur. Gourmet Kahlua flavoring combined with rich coffee to produce a refreshing brew, great as iced coffee or after dinner.
Eggnog Cream - A warm, spicy Eggnog with a rich Custard finish. (This was so popular last year, we're bringing it back!)
English Toffee - A tad of caramel, a touch of chocolate, a spot of cream, very British, very buttery, very good.
Pumpkin Spice - Nutmeg and pumpkin flavors make this the perfect flavored coffee for those chilly mornings or in front of the fire.
We will also have a limited amount of Pumpkin Spice and English Toffee in Decaf.

Let us know if you'd like to order any of our flavored coffee this month or next. We'll have it available in 8 oz bags, whole bean or ground for $5.50 through December and then only while supplies last. (Jamaica Me Crazy, Spice Buttered Rum, Chocolate Hazelnut Cream, and Cinnamon Hazelnut were close runners-up and so we may be offering them too in the coming months.) And don't forget we still have all our regular flavors: African Cinnamon, Almond Amaretto, Carribean Hazelnut, Dutch Chocolate, French Vanilla and Irish Cream.

If you were one of those who voted in our survey (Thank you!) - we've got your name and your first bag will be marked as free on your invoice. But you will have to order to receive it.

Holiday Orders
Talking about the holidays, we probably don't need to remind you that coffee does make an excellent gift. We'd be happy to help make your holiday shopping easier if we can -- let us know what extra coffee you want for gifts before our December 14/15 delivery date and we'll bring it right to your door. We can also mail coffee (with your personal note included too if you wish) anywhere in the country with only the added cost of priority mail postage. We ship over 30 boxes of coffee every month anyway, so we're all set up to do it. Just email us the details (how much of what kind of coffee sent to where) and we'll take care of it for you.

Other Unique Holiday Gifts
We will be attending two upcoming events that also provide great oppotunities for finding unique gifts. Tomorrow, November 3, from 9:00-3:00 our church, Prospect Park United Methodist Church will be holding it's very popular Art Fair and Bazaar with pottery, jewelry, music, cards, weaving, quilts, photography, tie dye, home-baked goods, baskets and more. The church is located at 22 Orlin Ave SE in Minneapolis, 1 block south of University Avenue, just west of Hwy 280 (turn south on Malcolm by Tower Hill).

On Saturday, November 17, from 9:00-4:00 the World Jubilee's fall sale will be held at the Colonial Church of Edina (6200 Colonial Way in Edina). This is a fabulous collection of fair trade products from all over the world. And sales directly benefit the disadvantaged people who have made the items.

October 2007 Coffee News

Hurricanes and Disaster Prevention

October has arrived and so have beautiful colored leaves and shorter days. But where are the crisp cool temperatures we usually have? It is a steamy 82 degrees here in Minnesota at the moment. Having watched Inconvenient Truth for the second time recently, it is hard not to think of global warming when it is so uncharacteristically warm this fall. The hurricanes that hit Central America last month (and some of the damaging wind storms that knocked down trees near us here in MN) seemed to be a reminder too.

Thankfully, our family and the coffee farms were not impacted by the most recent hurricanes. (Thanks to all of you who asked about them.) However, if you are interested in helping reduce the impact of future hurricanes and perhaps even putting a dent in the daunting problem of climate change, we encourage you to check out and support one of our favorite organizations working in Central America -- Sustainable Harvest International. As they put it in their latest newsletter, they are not in the business of disaster relief, but disaster prevention.

Their Honduran field trainer, Juan Carlos Sandres writes, "After the experience of devastation in my country from Hurricane Mitch in 1998, Sustainable Harvest Honduras has been dedicated to sharing agro-forestry techniques with families that were impacted by the disaster. We have been able to improve many vulnerable areas through soil conservation, reforestation, crop diversification and disaster prevention training. We know that when there are natural disasters, the families we work with are more resilient and their parcels of land are much less susceptible to erosion and crop loss."

You can visit SHI's website at www.sustainableharvest.org to learn more about this hard working organization.

We're hoping that the reforestation and erosion prevention measures that our family members practice on their coffee farms will help protect them from future disasters as well!

Visitors to the Coffee Farm

This past month, we were happy to hear from some recent visitors to the Velasquez family coffee farm. This summer, a group of college students from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN (Cathy's alma mater) had the opportunity to travel to Honduras. Thanks to a chance encounter at the Living Green Expo with the organizer of the group, we helped make arrangements for them to visit Guillermo's brother's farm. They left us the following messages about their trip

"I just visited Abilio and his family a few weeks ago with a group from St. Olaf College. I just wanted to say thank you for a wonderful experience! Keep up the environmentally friendly work!"

"Thank you so much for helping to facilitate the St. Olaf group experience down at Abilio’s farm in Honduras. We had an absolutely phenomenal time. I think we all wish we could have spent more time there. Thank you very much for setting it up."

In follow-up to their trip, they also invited us to participate in a Homecoming event last weekend to sell our coffee. We're excited to be making these new and old connections.

This week another friend of ours has arrived in Honduras and has made plans to visit the farm and stay in one of the "eco-casitas" (cabins) up in the mountain. If you are interested in an authentic visit to a working coffee farm in a cloud forest, let us know and we'd be happy to help you get connected with our family members there.

New prices

As we suggested in our last email, we are considering increasing our prices and we asked for your feedback. We were humbled by the overwhelmingly positive feedback we received. Here is a bit of what we heard from you:

"I am happy to pay you more for your coffee."

"You need to charge what you need."

"You have our support in raising the price of the coffee. It is the best!"

"I agree with their recommendations [of the U of M grad students to raise your prices.] I also like the credit card option and would be willing to pay extra to cover those costs. I typically pay the cost of a stamp to send you a check, so that money might as well go to you all. I would be willing to pay up to $8.50 per bag if I could pay by credit card and keep the delivery option."

"Raising the cost per pound of your coffee slightly will not cause me to stop buying your coffee. The quality is such that it is still a significant bargain at the 'new' suggested price. I know that one is in business to make a living. It looks like you are responsible for the livelihood of a lot of different people from your growers through you, and based on your break down, it does not appear that anyone is getting rich. I hope that you, and your family growers, achieve a sufficient enough volume to be able to continue paying your overhead costs and save up a little for your retirement. Unless I have run out, I have not purchased other coffee from any other supplier. I enjoy the coffee and your business model is about as close as I have seen to handing my money directly to the farmer/grower for coffee. Thank you for providing the opportunity to purchase your coffee."

Wow! With that kind of feedback, we decided to sit down and rework our price structure. Look for us to roll that out in the coming months. We are grateful for your regular purchases and your input. Thank you.

September 2007 Coffee News

News from the Coffee Farm

August 2007 Coffee News

35-W Bridge Collapse
Everywhere you turn these days, people are thinking and talking about the 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis. It has certainly been in our thoughts as well, although, thankfully, none of our family or friends were directly involved. But our hearts go out to the families and friends of the victims and in particular to one of our customers whose friend is among those confirmed as dead.

From a practical perspective, we are grateful that the 35W bridge was not part of our regular coffee delivery route. However, there will be a slight change this month as we experiment with doing some of our August home deliveries on Friday, August 10th and the rest on Saturday the 11th. We now have over 60 deliveries to do (yay!) and we're hoping that spreading them out over two days will make things a bit calmer. We're also hoping to get our more than 20 mailed orders out a bit earlier too, dropping them off with FedEx or the Post Office by Saturday the 11th.

Global Connections
The Minneapolis bridge tragedy has also proved to be a lesson of how connected we are and how quickly news spreads. Within a few hours of the collapse, we received phone calls from South Dakota, Virginia, Florida, Tennesee and even Honduras making sure we were all OK. It is that global connectedness (helped along by tools such as email, cell phones, and the Web) that makes our little fair-trade effort possible. Globalization is not only a force of multi-national corporations helping the rich get richer. It is also an opportunity for ordinary people to bring about change. Daniel Jaffee, in Brewing Justice, quotes the president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as saying we need to make international trade "a tool not only for creating wealth, but also for its distribution."

More on Fair Trade

Last month, we promised to write more about how Velasquez Family Coffee addresses the fair trade concepts of accountability, transparency and worker conditions. A year ago, we were pleased to be accepted into the Coop America Business Network and included in the National Green Pages. (Coop America is one of our favorite groups and a great resource on green and fair trade living.)

As part of the screening process, Coop America asked us several tough questions. Here are our honest answers (we believe honesty is a key part of accountability and transparency!)

Q. Wages are only a part of fair trade. Beyond wages, does Velasquez Family Coffee adhere to the other components of fair trade as enumerated by the Fairtrade Labelling Organisation (FLO)?

A. Our business also reflects the following additional fair trade values:

Long Term and Stable Relationships -- By purchasing from family members, we naturally have a permanent relationship and commitment -- both with the growers and the community where they farm -- that goes beyond business. But we also make sure to give written documentation to family members each year of the coffee we will be purchasing and the price we will pay.

Pricing and Premium -- We pay our family members between $2.00 and $3.00 per pound of green coffee -- far above the Fair trade minimum price even for organic coffee. In 2006, we paid $2.50.

Q. You mention that family members are paid well. Is there a code of conduct or specific labor criteria for any farm workers hired by your family members? What is the policy for sharing profits with these workers?

A. Family members are committed to good conditions for their workers, but we, unfortunately, do not have a "code of conduct" or any specific "labor criteria" for farm workers. Nor do we have a policy for sharing profits. We would welcome examples of policies that other groups are using.

In practice, the family members we purchase coffee from, have enjoyed long term relationships with many of their coffee workers. They pay them a bit above the going rate in their community, provide them with food and housing and transportation. For small coffee farmers like our family members, finding enough people to pick coffee during the harvest season has become a challenge especially in the last few years. More and more people are finding work in maquiladores factories or leaving for the U.S. As a result, small coffee farmers have had to work really hard to offer attractive working conditions for their employees, simply to have enough labor.

Yet, we admit, this is an area of our business that could use improvement. As we are able to purchase more of our family's coffee (we currently only purchase about half), we hope that they will be able to have the financial stability themselves to be able to support their workers with higher wages. As mentioned above, we would also recommend examples of other standards for farm workers that our family members could implement.

Another part of accountability and transparency has to do with being open about the flow of money. Look for a break down on the costs that go into a typical bag of coffee next month.

July 2007 Coffee News

It's been a full month with family gatherings and reunions, 4th of July celebrations and computer upgrades! But Cathy has managed to fit in some reading time, working herself through a book called Brewing Justice: Fair Trade Coffee, Sustainability and Survival by Daniel Jaffee. This month we'll share a bit from the first chapters and over the coming months we'll add other interesting tidbits.

A key concept of Fair Trade is shortening the trading chain by cutting out many of the intermediaries or middlemen such as exporters, importers and brokers. It would be hard to find a "chain" much shorter than ours, unless you travel directly to the coffee farm yourself.

As you know, our coffee comes directly from our family in Honduras and we'll get it directly to you.

Key Concepts of Fair Trade
In Brewing Justice, Daniel Jaffee writes that a central goal of the Fair Trade movement is to "create more direct, socially just, and environmentally responsible trade relations." Fair-trade organizations may describe their standards somewhat differently, but mostly the following criteria apply:

· Guaranteed minimum (floor) prices to producers; fair wages to laborers; social development premium

· Advance credit or payment to producers

· Democratically run producer cooperatives or workplaces

· Long-term contracts and trading relationships

· Environmentally sustainable production practices

· Public accountability and financial transparency

· Financial and technical assistance to producers

· Safe, nonexploitative working conditions.

How does Velasquez Family Coffee implement our version of fair-trade?

First we pay our family members a guaranteed price per pound of unroasted coffee that is far above the minimum price set for fairly traded coffee. Although it has varied by year and the quantity of coffee we purchase, we have consistently paid between $2.00 - $3.00 per pound. (Minimum fair trade price for coffee right now is $1.21, $1.41 for certified organic). We also time our payments to the coffee farmers according to their needs, part in advance of a shipment to help with harvest and to get the coffee ready to ship, and then the rest in payments throughout the year as they need it. (The have told us they prefer not getting it all at once so we act as sort of a savings account for them and the money stays in dollars as long as possible which retains its value a bit better than the Hondura Lempira typically).

Because we are a family, we haven't created a formal democratic cooperative. But we do put our purchase agreements in writing -- and of course our relationship is naturally long-term. We'll write more in future emails about the many sustainability practices that our family members follow, but if you are curious now you can read a bit about that in the About our Coffee part of our website. We'll also touch more on accountability, transparency and worker conditions in the coming months. (We know you have better things to do than spend hours reading our emails!)

Stay Cool! (You can drink your coffee on ice too if you wish! or visit this link for iced coffee recipes if you want something fancier.)

June 2007 Coffee News

Lots of Family Togetherness
We've got a number of family gatherings coming up, beginning with a late night trip to the airport tonight to pick up Guillermo's parents Maximo and Natalia back again from Honduras. (We made sure they'd visit again by buying a round trip ticket for them when they left in February). This time they're staying for the summer to help with kids. With Maximo at 81 and Natalia only a few years younger, we are grateful for every minute we get to spend with them!

The next week, shortly after we finish our June coffee deliveries, Cathy's parents and her brother's family from Nashville will be coming to town to see the latest addition to our family, a beautiful baby boy born just this week to Cathy's other brother and his wife who live west of Minneapolis. It will be a joy to celebrate together!

Over the summer, we are looking forward to many family conversations. The Velasquez Family (and the Eberharts too) are excellent conversationalists and story tellers. Often, the harder the original experience the better, and funnier the story you can tell about it for years later. Recalling an experience in the rain, in the dark, carrying children and suitcases for hours up the mountain path to the farm has everyone rolling in laughter. As do experiences of car trouble, childhood pranks and quirky neighbors. The art of story telling has the power to transform the past!

We have fond memories of sitting around a gas lamp in the farm house (where there is no electricty) or around a bon fire outside under the brilliant stars laughing to jokes and family stories. Guillermo has a big family too -- he's the youngest of eight -- so when even a few of them get together things can get lively! It should be a fun summer.

More Coffee on the Way
We have also heard the word from Guillermo's brothers Sabel and Abilio and brother-in-law Alonzo that their 2007 coffee will be on its way to us shortly. They have packaged it up in 150 pound bags, handed it off one of Guillermo's cousins who will get it to the port city of Puerto Cortez in Honduras where it will be loaded in a ship headed for Miami. Once it arrives there, we'll arrange for a truck to pick it up and deliver it to our roaster in Le Center, Minnesota.

Hope your summer is shaping up to be a good one!

May 2007 Coffee News

Living Green is Hot!
We're recovering from a very exciting (but exhausting) weekend at the Living Green Expo. We've participated in the Living Green Expo since it started 5 years ago. We were in a cold windy tent that first year (yes it did snow in May that year!) Some of our most loyal customers have found us through this excellent event that showcases everything "green." But we've never seen so many people as we did this weekend. On Saturday and Sunday, we both talked non-stop from 10:00 am - 5:00 pm with what was surely at least a thousand people who stopped by our booth to learn about Velasquez Family Coffee and see pictures of the farm and our family.

Organizers of the event said that on Saturday alone 11,000 people attended -- double the attendance on both days last year. And Sunday was just as busy if not more so. We know that we sold twice as much as before too. What an exciting thing to see so much interest in the environment, local foods, renewable energy, and sustainability.

It is exciting to be one small part of this movement that is transforming not just the Twin Cities, but the planet, as Paul Hawken writes in the latest issue of Orion Magazine, in his article "To Remake the World."

"I have come to these conclusions: this is the largest social movement in all of history, no one knows its scope, and how it functions is more mysterious than what meets the eye. What does meet the eye is compelling: tens of millions of ordinary and not-so-ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world."

If you are in need of some hope, this is a must read article. You can read it on-line at

http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/265

Thank you for being part of helping us create connections across country boundaries. Together we are taking small steps to create the economy that we want to see, one based on fairness and sustainability and mutual benefit. Gracias!

April 2007 Coffee News

Holy Week in Honduras
Down in Honduras, everything stops during Holy Week, and those people who can head to the beach. It certainly isn't beach weather here in Minesota. But we are hopeful that Spring will eventually arrive (even though we are suppose to wake up to snow tomorrow!) In addition to going to the beach, Comayagua, the big city closest to the coffee farms, is known for its colorful Easter Carpets made out of sawdust and flower petals. I've posted one photo below and found another picture and one American journalist's description of the event at: http://www.travel-to-honduras.com/travel/honduras-comayagua.php

VFC Website has moved
If you've stopped by our Website in the last week or so, you've probably noticed that it looks different. Similar in design and content, but somehow different. With the help of folks at Sunday's Energy, we are excited to have moved our website to an "open-source on-line contact management system" called Drupel. That is, in English -- free on-line software that will let us more easily manage our website. We will also be able to easily add features like e-commerce in the near future so that people can purchase on-line with a credit card and other fun bells and whistles like a photo gallery. Perhaps we'll even do a "blog" the next time we travel to Honduras! But it can still be found at http://www.vfamilycoffee.com.

Fair Trade and Green Events coming up
While Guillermo is busy delivering coffee this weekend, Cathy will be busy at a great Fair Trade event called The World Jubilee. She'll be selling unique handbags made out of recovered chip bags by women in the Rio Negro community near the coffee farm. If you were at our October Open House you had a chance to see them. But if you didn't here is a photo. It's amazing how creative these women can be with empty potato chip bags!

The World Jubilee event is Saturday, April 14th from 9 AM - 4 PM at the Gloria Dei Church, 700 Snelling Ave. S in Saint Paul. We encourage you to stop by. There are many wonderful items for sale from all over the world at this bi-annual event that provides alternative markets for economically disadvantaged groups from around the world.

Also on Saturday, there is a great Global Warming event at the State Capitol in St. Paul from 12-4. We wish we could attend if we weren't already double booked.

We're also getting ready to set up our display again at the Living Green Expo May 5-6. We've had a couple of our customers offer to help us staff our booth and we'd happily welcome others if you are available.

March 2007 Coffee News

The word from Guillermo's parents is that they were greeted warmly on their return to Honduras. Their neighbors in the mountains by the coffee farm have showered them with gifts of chicks and hens and bananas and daily visits to hear about their long trip to Minnesota.

French Visitors to the Farm
We just received an email from a young French man who visited Rio Negro this past weekend where Guillermo's parents and his brothers have their farms. While those of us here in Minnesota were digging out from over a foot of fluffy white snow (and enjoying a fun snow day on Friday for sure), he and his two friends from France were hiking in the tropical forest. He wrote, "Thank you to the Velasquez Family. I am enchanted by Rio Regro. The people are very friendly, the place is marvelous, peaceful. The water is fresh and good. I will definitely remember it when I return to France."

A Visit to Our Coffee Roaster
Last month, we had so much to write about that we didn't tell you about our visit to European Roasterie in LeCenter with Guillermo's family. We thought Guillermo's sister Alma and her coffee-farmer husband Alonzo and Guillermo's parents would enjoy seeing the impressive facility where our green (unroasted) coffee is stored and roasted. So we made the 45 minute trip south to LeCenter.

As usual we were greeted very warmly by the nearly 60 employees who work there. We were given an extensive tour of the facility. Our family was proud to see their bags of coffee stored among the many thousands of bags of coffee from all over the world that European Roasterie buys, roasts and sells. We saw the large roasters where our coffee is carefully roasted each month by expertly trained roasters. And we saw where workers carefully flavor, ground, pack and label our coffee exactly according to our specifications.

Alonzo was honored to be asked to talk to a large group of the staff to explain how he grows, harvests and processes the coffee. While the workers at European Roasterie know a lot about selecting and roasting coffee, they wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to learn from a real coffee farmer about what happens on the farm before the coffee reaches them. Here are a few photos from our visit.

February 2007 Coffee News

After spending 11 months with us, Guillermo's parents returned to Honduras on February 1. Just in time it seems. As the temperatures plunged below -15 here in Minnesota, they were back in Comayagua soaking up the heat. Guillermo's sister Alma and her husband (and coffee farmer) Alonzo came in mid January for a fun two week visit, so they took the opportunity to return to Honduras with them.

Velasquez Family Coffee raises funds for Honduran orphanage
The day before our family left for Honduras, one of our coffee customers, Jane Flannigan left for her second Honduran trip. She was gracious enough to find time to write a note about her experience before she left:

"My name is Jane Flannigan and I'm packing for my second trip to Honduras. Last August my church, Most Holy Trinity in St. Louis Park, sponsored a mission trip to a Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos orphanage near Teguicigalpa. Rancho Santa Fe is home to 600 children and it was obvious that these children were well taken care of. Our group of 20 felt like part of the family and we had a fabulous time playing with the kids. We had planned to build chicken coops but that job was bumped so we could help unpack and organize a container car of medical supplies for a new surgery center that will be opening soon. I also worked in the kitchen one day and helped make 800 tamales. The ranch has many beautiful flowers and the mountains could be seen off in the distance.

One of our side trips was to our sister church, San Max Kolbe. Four Friars serve the needs of a parish community of 250,000. Many of these people are very, very poor. The friars served us a wonderful lunch of fish and chicken and gave us a tour of the San Max property which sits high on a hill overlooking Teguicigalpa. We saw many citrus trees and lush gardens full of beautiful blossoms. Our church has been sending funds to San Max for ten years. It was very exciting to see their new church that we helped build through our funding.

After returning home in August I was fortunate enough to be introduced to Velasquez Family coffee. Our church now sells the coffee to promote Fair Trade and as a fundraiser for the next mission trip to Honduras. The first time I picked up a coffee order I had the pleasure of meeting Maximo and Natalia who were visiting from Honduras. I have become quite fond of Maximo's French Roast and I'm even bringing a bag with me when I go to Honduras so we can enjoy every morning.

In a few days I am returning to Rancho Santa Fe with two friends. We are looking forward to seeing all the kids, visiting San Max Kolbe and having another adventure in Honduras." --- Jane Flannigan

We're quite pleased that our coffee can be used to raise funds for this great Honduran project!

January 2007 Coffee News

The news from the coffee farm is wet -- too wet. The Velasquez Family farm is located in a rain forest after all. But 20 days of rain in a row without a break can be hard, especially if you have a beautiful coffee crop waiting to be harvested. And unfortunately, the heavy rains knocked down some of the coffee beans before they could be picked.

But don't worry, we still have plenty of coffee for you. And Guillermo's brother Sabel and his brother-in-law Alonzo have coffee fields in a few different areas that didn't receive quite as much rain. But it was disappointing to lose some of their harvest, none-the-less.

Coffee customers from Iowa to Iraq
This past weekend, we attended a wedding in Ames, Iowa and had the pleasure of meeting some of our coffee customers for the first time face to face -- Cathy's brother's wife's sister's new husband's parents. (Did you get that?) A great example of how many of our customers come to us through word of mouth! Thanks for helping us spread the word about our coffee.

Also in Iowa, we've been meaning to tell you about Simone Plain and Simple in Wellman, Iowa. Simone Delaty, another Iowa coffee customer of ours, was recently featured in the New Pioneer Food Coop's newsletter. The article - and her website www.simoneplainandsimple.com - tell about her artisan breads and the wonderful dinner parties she hosts at her farm in southeast Iowa, as well as her passion for using fresh, local produce and the Local Harvest CSA that she helped start. We have not yet had the pleasure of enjoying a meal with Simone, but hope to someday. We've heard great things about her place. If you are ever in the area, do check her out!

Velasquez Family Coffee has also been regularly traveling first to Camp Shelby and now all the way to Iraq thanks to regular purchases by one of our Adams Spanish Immersion fundraiser customers who sends coffee to her husband Captain Fernando Franco deployed with the Minnesota Army National Guard. Mary says the soldiers "LOVE our coffee!!" (her emphasis not ours) and suggested that if folks were interested in purchasing coffee for the troops, she and her husband could get it distributed (and we would chip in for the mailing costs). Just let us know if we could add the cost of an additional bag or 2 to your order and we'll make sure it gets to the Minnesota Army National Guard folks stationed in Iraq.

Here is a photo we received from the MN National Guard after the coffee arrived.