Higher Grounds Trading Company - Fair Trade and Organic Coffees and Olive Oil

HG's Video Debut!

2012-05-23T11:11:00.001-04:00

After several weeks of brainstorming, planning, development, & production, Higher Grounds is proud to present two videos, produced by Aaron Dennis of Stone Hut Studios. Learn about our story, values & mission -- & then learn how to make a latte from Jennifer!

Our Newest HG Addition

2012-05-22T11:16:00.000-04:00

Spring is here, love is in the air, & we are in love with our new barista Stacy!

Stacy had been a barista for quite some time before we got lucky enough to nab her. She says her favorite part of being a barista is having the opportunity to make an impact on a person’s day: “A well made drink can change the tone of a person’s day.”

Stacy thinks that the best drink experience here at HG is our latte. “Not only is the coffee roasted a mere 50 feet away, but the milk is also sourced locally," she says. "So in one drink you are able to support us here at HG & local farmers. Not to mention the awesome latte art I get to make when you order one.”

Stacy is anticipating summer as much as any of us. She is ready for swimming in the bay, camping, & gardening, pretty much anything that can be enjoyed outside.

We are excited to introduce our newest member of the HG family, so please stop on by to say hello!

HG on the Radio!

2012-04-26T15:21:00.000-04:00

Last week, HG owner Chris Treter was featured on That Michigan Show, a weekly radio show produced by the Prima Civitas Foundation. The show focuses on current themes in Michigan’s economy & promotes next generation ideas. According to the show’s web site, it’s “a young-professional-driven platform designed to inform, educate, AND entertain listeners as [they] capture the stories, people, & events helping to drive prosperity in Michigan.”

During the first ten minutes of last week's show, entitled "Uncommon Entrepreneurs," Chris talks about translating his passion into making a living. Get the inside scoop & check out the interview here.

Coffee Seasonality: Part 1

2012-04-19T16:58:00.002-04:00

If you garden, or if you’ve ever planted anything in your life, or especially if you live in Northern Michigan like I do, you know that some things just don’t grow year round. Each plant has an ideal growing season & ideal growing conditions, & when that season is over or the conditions change, the plant stops growing. If it’s edible—a carrot, maybe, or a lovely bunch of kale—you pick it & eat it. And when the growing season is over, if you’ve harvested a fair amount of your crop, you store it up in jars or put it in the freezer to enjoy for the coming months.

One of my favorite crops is the tomato. (If you've read some of my other blogs, you've probably picked up on that.) I can never process enough jars of tomatoes. No matter how many quarts I fill & stash for stews & sauces during the winter, I always run out before tomatoes are in season again. And then I’m forced to buy these, which are never as good as my home-canned varieties, & I groan & gripe until July finally hits & I can come home from Saturday market with a couple flats of the ripe, juicy heirlooms I’ve been waiting for since March.

Here’s the truth: sometimes we run out of coffee.

Sometimes, a customer comes in for their weekly pound of a particular variety, & we have to break the news gently. No, we don’t have any Ugandan Peaberry right now. But it’s not because we forgot to order it, or even that there’s a problem with our cooperative. The fact is, coffee is a crop. And like other crops, like those juicy heirloom tomatoes I crave every time I can’t get them, coffee has growing seasons. Depending on the region in which they grow, some varieties have very short growing seasons & limited harvests.

our friend Chelsea picking coffee cherries in Chiapas, Mexico

Part of our mission here at Higher Grounds is to share our knowledge of coffee with our customers. That means providing information about why a certain coffee isn’t currently available, or when we might expect to have more. In my next blog post, I’ll dig in to some more specifics about all the factors that impact the availability of coffee. So the next time you can’t get your favorite bean, remember that there’s a good reason--& we hope you’ll trust your friendly neighborhood barista to recommend something different.

--Jennifer

The Proof is in the Pudding

2012-04-12T16:44:00.002-04:00

A big part of my job here at Higher Grounds is quality assurance. That means I’m constantly on the lookout not only for ways to maintain & improve the quality of the products & service we offer here in the coffee bar, but also for ways to increase the quality of our customers’ interactions with us--whether they be online, on the phone, or in person—and the quality of your coffee at home.

I spend most of my time in the coffee bar – sometimes behind the counter making drinks, & other times using the space as my office, since I do most of my writing & marketing work on my laptop. I like being next to our giant windows, using natural light, & also observing the goings-on of the coffee bar, which is sometimes quiet & other times bustling with activity.

One of my favorite things about my job is the interaction I have with customers, especially when I have the opportunity to help you improve your at-home coffee brewing experience. Sometimes that happens through a simple conversation about how/where you store their coffee beans (don’t put them in the freezer or refrigerator—a cool, dark, dry cabinet in an airtight container is best) or how long it takes you to go through that 5-pound bag (a month or so is just fine for retaining freshness as long as its stored properly). And sure, sometimes it happens when I sell somebody something: a sleek stainless steel insulated French press (nobody likes a cold cup of coffee that’s supposed to be hot), a new way of brewing (the Aeropress produces an impressive little cup), or a schnazzy Bodum burr grinder (absolutely one of the best ways to take your at-home brewing to the next level). But the point here is not that I’m selling products, or that HG is making money. Certainly I am, and we are. But I’ve worked several places where it was my job to sell things (a high-end retail clothing store, for one), & HG is the first place I’ve worked where I’m not selling things for the sole purpose of bringing in profit or getting another star next to my name on the employee success chart. I actually feel good selling the things we sell, because I know that the result is a better at-home coffee experience for our customers.

We roast great coffee here at HG, & we want our customers to have the same excellent experience with a cup at home as they do here in our coffee bar. So when you walk in, nobody’s going to accost you with a sales pitch. We’ll meet your needs & make sure you find the information--& maybe the product—that’s going to give you the highest-quality coffee experience.

Okay, I know, I might be starting to sound like a commercial. But honestly, I feel good about this place. Some jobs are just places you work—I worked at that clothing store; I’ve worked at a gas station. But I work for Higher Grounds. And Higher Grounds works for you. Come on in & let us prove it!

Combating the Trash Stash: What's Your Cup Made Of?

2012-03-29T16:19:00.001-04:00

Each of us throws away about 14.4 times our own body weight in product waste every year (or 4.5 pounds per day). Over the past century, that rate has increased tenfold: from about 92 pounds to over 1200.

Here’s some more perspective for you:

The total volume of solid waste produced in the U.S. each year is equal to the weight of more than 5,600 Nimitz Class air craft carriers; 247,000 space shuttles; or 2.3 million Boeing 747 jumbo jets.

If we put all of the solid waste collected in the U.S. in a line of average garbage trucks, that line of trucks could cross the country, extending from New York City to Los Angeles, more than 100 times.

Currently, in the United States, 33.8 percent is recovered and recycled or composted, 11.9 percent is burned at combustion facilities, and the remaining 54.3 percent is disposed of in landfills.

Anyway, back to the individual average of 1200 pounds per person. Over a thousand pounds of trash! Just from one human being! Sounds crazy, right? But think about it. Think about all the things you’ve tossed in the trash already today, or even just in the past few hours. Napkins, paper towels, the wrapper from that granola bar, the bag those pretzels came in. Paper, plastic, aluminum—sometimes it gets recycled, sure, but much of it gets crumpled & tossed.

40% of all that trash is from packaging, including disposable cups. Many of us use them every day, for coffee & tea to go, water from the cooler at work, smoothies, soda at parties. If we placed all 500 billion of them end to end (that’s how many are manufactured annually), they’d circumnavigate the earth 100 times. Just stop for a second & ponder. That is a LOT of cups. In the U.S. alone, over 58 billion of them are sent to the landfill every year: 158 for every single U.S. citizen.

So you get the point. Disposable cups are ubiquitous & seemingly inescapable. So what’s a conscious consumer to do?

How about recycling? you might ask. Recycling is great, yes, absolutely. Recycling always beats sending something to the landfill. But the truth is, 36% of what we toss in the trash is made of paper, & that includes single-use paper cups. Because of health & contamination concerns, most of those cups are not made with recyclable materials, & many are coated with polyethylene, making them difficult to recycle or compost.

The most effective way to combat the pile-up of disposable-cup waste is to bring your own travel cup & water bottle with you. Keep them in your car, your bike, your purse, your backpack. On Mondays at Higher Grounds, regular coffee is only a dollar when you use your own cup. We don’t actually have any disposable cups here at all; we receive donations of assorted ceramic mugs from our customers, & we give them away as to-go cups instead. And here, like many other coffee shops, we offer a discount to cup-toters. Green Upgrader has a great infographic:

It's all this data that Higher Grounds draws on to back up our no-wasted-cup policy. Occasionally someone might get a little grumpy, shocked that we wouldn’t offer the same “convenience” as most other coffee shops. Every once in a while, we lose a sale. But we’re committed to our mission of sustainability, & the vast majority of the reactions we get are positive. Those who absolutely need a lidded cup that will fit in a vehicle’s cup holder have learned to come prepared with their own, & we do offer a few for sale. But part of our policy is encouraging people to sit & stay awhile, enjoying their beverage slowly instead of rushing off to the next thing. Coffee (or any beverage, really) always tastes better out of a “real” cup anyway.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll wax poetic about other areas of interest to the conscious coffee consumer, from sustainably-produced brewing equipment to the specific stories behind some of the products we carry at HG. Before you know it, you’ll be helping to save the world from mountains of trash, one sip at a time.

Sources:

Andrews, Ryan. “Trash-Free Eating: Cutting Down on Garbage Production.” Precision Nutrition Coaching. 16 Jan 2012. Web. Available:

Hill, Kyle. “Science Fact of the Day.” Science-Based Life. 8 Oct 2011. Web. Available:

“Recycling & Landfill Facts & Statistics Infographic.” Harmony Enterprises, Inc. 2 Feb 2012. Web. Available:

Striepe, Becky. “Reduce the Waste from Your Morning Cup.” Green Upgrader. 27 Oct 2011. Web. Available: http://greenupgrader.com/17378/reduce-the-waste-from-your-morning-cup/

“Sustainability Journey.” KeepCup. 2012. Web. Available:

We're Hiring!

2012-03-20T13:32:00.000-04:00

Job Announcement: Barista/ Roastery team member
Part-time Immediate Opening.

Higher Grounds Trading Co. seeks a person to join our growing Traverse City-based Fair Trade/ Organic Coffee company. We seek individuals who are enthusiastic about our mission and want to be a part of a growing alternative economy. We encourage people of all ethnicities, race, gender, age, and sexual orientation to apply.

About Higher Grounds:

Higher Grounds Trading Co. was founded with the intention of creating and growing markets for fair trade, organic coffee. Our guiding principles are based upon internationally recognized Fair Trade standards and practices. We specialize in linking small-scale organic coffee farmers to domestic consumers who appreciate a high quality cup of coffee. Higher Grounds Trading Co. values involvement in community-enhancing initiatives as well as national and international efforts to improve the fair trade system and the general promotion of economic, social and environmental justice.

Please visit our website at www.highergroundstrading.com to learn more about our company.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Develop, pour, and brew specialty espresso and brewed coffee drinks
• Provide courteous and responsive service to our customers
• Assist in the roastery to meet the requirements of daily production schedule by helping to bag, sticker, grind & prepare orders for shipment/delivery
• Maintain a clean and organized work area
• Complete inventory and process logs accurately and to specifications
• Educate customers about the intricacies in making a quality cup of coffee

Requirements:

• Pleasant disposition with customers and staff
• Self-directed, organized, have a great attention to detail, and adaptable to ever-evolving workplace
• Able to lift up to 60 lbs and 30 pounds repeatedly
• Able to stand, walk, and lift for entire work day
• Maintain a professional appearance

The ideal candidate will have a clean, well-groomed appearance; enjoy a fast-paced, energetic workplace; be an enthusiastic supporter of social justice and environmental sustainability; dedicated to continually improving the quality of their work and the services they provide; and love coffee!

To Apply: Please answer the following questions in the form of a cover
letter and email them (or drop them off at the coffee bar) with your contact information and resume:

• Why do you feel you would be a good fit to work at Higher Grounds?
• Give an anecdote that demonstrates your ability to be resourceful.
• What past experience has most prepared you to work in this capacity?

Position Compensation: competitive hourly rate commensurate with skill level and experience.

You Say Tomato, I Say Fair Farm Bill

2012-03-15T14:33:00.001-04:00

I love tomatoes. Putting together a salad can be a giant pain (wash & tear the greens, slice & dice peppers/carrots/whatever other crunchy veg I happen to have in the fridge, maybe grate some cheese, & darn it I’m out of salad dressing again so now I have to get the whole blender out), but messy chunks of a ripe, juicy tomato in the midst of it all really make the whole effort pay off.

The thing is, though, sometimes it’s November. Or February. And there’s no such thing as a ripe, juicy tomato in my house. Sure, maybe there are some at the grocery store down the street, but even then, they’ve traveled 3000 miles from Chile or Mexico & they won’t even release a drip of liquid when I slice into them. I might as well be cutting a potato dyed red.

Okay, probably not the best metaphor.

You get the idea: anything bred for durability, picked before its prime, ripened off the vine, & stacked 60 crates deep for the long haul north across an entire continent can hardly claim the same name as the supple, ruddy fruit I’ll find at the summer market, beaming up at the farmer who planted it & tended it & finally, at just the right moment, perhaps even that very morning, picked it to place on his table. And I’ll ask him his name, & I’ll thank him for growing such beautiful produce, & when I get home I’ll slice that baby into juicy slabs, spread it on a blue plate with some basil, sprinkle it with some coarse sea salt & dig in. That, my friends, is a tomato.

But here’s the problem. Most people in our country don’t have access to the kind of fresh food I’m talking about. Current U.S. agricultural policy gives special treatment to those producing ginormous quantities of commodity crops like soybeans & corn (ever drive through Iowa?). Because these crops are in such high production, the prices farmers receive for them are low—but our government provides subsidies so the farmers can keep on growing those soybeans & corn for use in processed foods (if you haven’t yet realized that high fructose corn syrup is in pretty much everything that’s sold at your supermarket, sorry, but you’ve been living in a cave). Why? Because processed foods are cheap. They’re convenient. And if there’s ~~one thing~~ two things we Americans love, it’s cheap & convenient. In the meantime, farmers are in debt, their land is overworked (see: effects of monoculture), & a handful of companies (getting richer all the while) dictate the prices they receive for their crops. As Food & Water Watch points out on their web site, the four biggest companies in each industry “slaughter nearly all the beef, process two-thirds of the pork, sell half the groceries & manufacture about half the milk in the U.S.,” meaning that we consumers don’t even get to benefit from those low prices paid to the farmers. (Side note: personally, I’m opposed to drinking milk that’s referred to as “manufactured.” Something about that just doesn’t seem right.)

Essentially, it’s a broken policy. More & more consumers are realizing the benefits of eating local, organic food (delicious!) & supporting local farmers (personal & friendly!). But many of the farmers who live closest to large populations of people are being paid not to grow that food & grow commodities instead. And while I’m happy to pay $3/pound for organic heirloom tomatoes or $4.50/dozen for eggs from the farm half a mile outside of town, I understand that those prices can seem shocking to someone used to picking up a carton of eggs for 99 cents at the supermarket.

Local, organic food is worth a premium price—as with most things, you get what you pay for. But it shouldn’t be out of reach for the average consumer. The Farm Bill is rewritten every five years, & 2012 is one of those years. We have a huge opportunity to change federal farm & food policy. It’s time to speak out against agribusiness & work towards a fair market that ensures the farmers who grow our food can do so affordably & sustainably while earning a decent living for themselves.

To learn more, check out Food & Water Watch’s page, & contact your state’s representatives to make sure your voice is heard. Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow is Chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry--& she’s in a position to make big changes in the Farm Bill this year. Call her office, send her an email--& sign a petition to Congress here.

We hosted a Fair Food Fest here at HG last night, focused on the fair Farm Bill campaign. I’ve been a “foodie” for most of my life, so any issue related to the food I eat is relevant to me. I enjoy eating good food (ahem—see above), & the most delicious food I can find always comes from close to home: eggs from local, pastured chickens; bacon & pork chops from my brother’s pigs; vibrant, crisp greens I pick up at the summer farmers’ market. And when the juice from that first farm-fresh heirloom tomato of the season dribbles down my cheek, I know it was worth the long winter wait.

Girl Power!

2012-03-08T15:28:00.000-05:00

Today is International Women's Day. One of the things I love most about working for Higher Grounds is being part of a global community, linked to individuals all over the world through our connection to coffee. But the harsh reality is that many of our friends struggle daily to have their basic needs met, & HG is deeply committed to shedding light on those struggles, sharing their stories with the rest of our local & global community. As a part of that community myself, I'm becoming more & more aware of issues affecting our brothers & sisters near & far. Today, I'm here to tell you about some of those sisters.

One of those most basic needs--something that many of us privileged Americans take for granted--is access to public education. And for women, the lack of educational opportunities is starkest in Ethiopia, a country among the world's largest coffee producers.

In the Yirgacheffe region, known for some of the world's most sought-after coffees, only about half of the area's children complete primary school. The adult literacy rate is 36%, & life expectancy is 53 years. Usually, once girls finish primary school, they get married & start having children. Their opportunities for education & advancement essentially evaporate.

Here's an excerpt from HG owner Chris Treter's blog post last year after he participated in On the Ground's Run Across Ethiopia:

Alimazi Bedhaso, a 14 year old girl from a growing community that supplies coffee to over a dozen brands in the U.S. and Europe, approached me while touring a new high school built with fair trade premiums which she will attend next year. When asked about her education thus far she quickly responded, “For girls it is very difficult. If we do not attend school we are forced into arranged marriage at a very young age. If we are in school there are not enough teachers or supplies and we have no time to study. We must walk for hours to return home where we must fetch water and wood, feed the animals, and cook.”

Few Ethiopian girls are as fortunate as Alimazi is to attend school. But this fall, many more will have the opportunity. The Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (OCFCU) helps Ethiopian farmers export their coffee directly, & part of its mission is to improve the social condition of their society. One way they're demonstrating that mission is through the Girls Empowerment Project, establishing scholarships that will make it possible for girls like Alimazi to attend high school, exponentially expanding their horizons. The cost of one scholarship is $60. (I've spent more than that on a pair of jeans or a fancy dinner date.)

So where does this money come from? Much of it will be contributed by On the Ground--& in order to stay afloat, OTG depends on the generosity of individuals like you. Click here to donate, & earmark your donation for "Girls Empowerment Project" in the memo field.

Here's a note for ladies in particular: another way for you to support the work of On the Ground is by attending The People and the Olive Women's Progressive. For $20, you'll enjoy lunch, dessert, & a concert by local musician Angela Josephine--& all proceeds support the production of The People and the Olive's documentary about last month's Run Across Palestine. I'm planning to attend myself--it should be a delicious day! Hope to see you there.

Peace,

Jennifer

Bridging the Global Gap: Learning from our Connections with Other Cultures

2012-02-22T15:33:00.000-05:00

Emma Smith, HG coffee bar manager, recently traveled to Guatemala with a local church group, along with Ruth Elliott, HG’s bike delivery girl. Higher Grounds’ Guatemalan coffee comes from a couple different cooperatives there, including the Rio Azul cooperative in Jacaltenango (city), Huehuetenango (department), which is about 150 miles north of the region Emma visited. Here are some words from Emma about her adventure:

Many months ago, I was given the opportunity to volunteer at the San Lucas Mission in Guatemala with a group from Advent Church in Lake Ann, Michigan. Two weeks ago I finally made the journey to that beautiful country. We left from Detroit early one morning to catch the first of the two planes that would bring us to our destination, San Lucas Toliman. San Lucas is nestled between mountains and Volcán Tolimán. It sits on the southeastern shore of Lake Atitlan. The majority of people who live there are Highland Mayans.

During our first few days, we had no volunteering responsibilities, so we had the opportunity to explore the area. The Lake Atitlan shoreline is strung with villages. We were able to visit three of the many. The best way to travel between villages is by boat. The boat rides were one of the highlights from my trip. The lake is so alive with fishermen and women cleaning their clothes on shore. The most memorable town was Santa Catarina; they are known specifically for their beautiful textiles. Everyone we encountered in Santa Catarina was so generous; they had nothing but smiles and patience with our broken Spanish. This town was truly beautiful, its scenery and its people; there are few places that I’ve traveled that stand out in my mind as much as Santa Catarina.

On another day we rode in the back of a truck for about twenty minutes to get to San Antonio Palapo, where we met Elvis, a member of the Campesino Committee of the Highland, or CCDA, a grassroots association working for social justice and equality for the Mayan people. This group was founded in 1982 but was forced to work underground until 1988. The government perceived them as another armed guerrilla group, but in 1990 they became an established organization. A few of the key points the CCDA focuses on are rural development, land distribution, achieving fair labor rights, and producing and exporting goods such as coffee, honey and textiles. They are making progress with some of these issues.

For example, in 1998 one hundred pounds of coffee were shipped out of the country, and last year 2,300 pounds were exported. Meeting Elvis and listening to his story and the story of the CCDA is very inspiring. Hearing about their struggles as people and as an organization is one thing, but to know that they keep working to bring a better life to their town and the Mayan people is encouraging.

My favorite part of the trip was walking around San Lucas in the mornings. Throughout our walks, more and more people would be out on the streets starting their mornings. The market, which runs for many blocks, would just be setting up. Within an hour the town would come to life. I already miss the feel of this town. The people who live in San Lucas have such big hearts; every person you pass says good morning with a smile on their face. The people of this town have lived through a war and so much adversity. By our standards, most of the people are underprivileged and do without so much, but they seem to live with so much life and beauty.

***

Emma’s experience in Guatemala is a perfect example of what we can learn from people living across the world from us, who have lived through more trials & turmoil than most of us privileged Americans can begin to wrap our heads around. As she points out, many times those who have endured the greatest struggles are the ones who exhibit the greatest joy & acceptance. The coffee farmers in Guatemala have long struggled to earn a living wage for their product, & Higher Grounds is committed to helping them achieve a better quality of life through a guaranteed fair trade price. But fair trade practices are only the beginning. Money alone will not solve the problems of cultural marginalization & social unrest between native peoples & their too-often power-hungry governments. Through cultural exchange-focused travels like Emma’s, our eyes can be opened wider to a better understanding of global justice issues.

Back to the Ol' Grind

2012-02-13T16:12:00.002-05:00

Did you miss me?

(Don’t answer that.)

At any rate, the blog is back in action this week with a quick word about grinding your coffee just right for the best cup. After all, since it’s Valentine’s week, you’ll certainly be bringing your sweetheart (or your mom, dad, sister, roomie...) breakfast in bed…which absolutely should include a steamy cup of delicious HG coffee.

If you came here straight from this week's coffee bar newsletter, welcome! Thanks for stopping by.

Every brewing method has a particular extraction time, which means how long the coffee & the water hang out together. A French press relies on a long extraction (3-4 minutes), so it's good to use coarsely ground coffee. The shorter the extraction time, the finer the grind—as you might expect, espresso has a short extraction (about 25 seconds), so a very fine grind is used.

During any brewing, most of the flavors you want from coffee are extracted first, along with caffeine. But when the time that the coffee & water are in contact is extended too long for the particle size, other things get extracted as well--sometimes bitter compounds we don't want, resulting in a less-than-ideal cup. And if your coffee is ground too coarsely, only a small amount of the desirable compounds will make their way into the result, leaving the good flavors back with the spent grounds & leaving you with an under-extracted cup of coffee. Be not led astray, friends: under-extracted isn’t the same thing as weak.

So why do I end up with a weak cup? you might ask. You’re probably not using enough coffee. Remember, you should use two tablespoons of grounds per 6-8 ounces of water, which amounts to just over a cup of grounds for an 8-cup coffee pot. (Also, your personal “cup” of coffee might be larger than an actual eight-ounce cup – keep that in mind when using brewpots without measure markers.) So if you know you’re using good, fresh beans (hopefully you got them recently from Higher Grounds!), & you know you’re grinding to the appropriate particle size, simply adjust your proportion. If your result seems bitter, adjust your grind to be a little coarser.

Finally, you’re always welcome to stop by HG & ask us in person. We’d love to help you achieve delicious, perfectly-extracted coffee at home.

Next week, we'll hear from Emma (HG barista) about her recent trip to Guatemala.

--Jennifer

Ground Work: Community Action (part 2 of 3)

2012-01-31T16:31:00.001-05:00

I’ll admit it: I had a fairly bucolic childhood. I grew up in a tiny town (the horsepulling capital of the U.P!), went to a small public school with a low student-to-teacher ratio, had a lot of friends & lots of space to run around & play outside. I was fairly sheltered from the world’s ills, things like violence & drug use, bullying, abusive relationships. I was “normal,” whatever that means. I’ve had a blessed & lucky life.

Obviously, not everyone is so lucky. Children are abused every day, frequently by the people they know & trust. And my “normalcy” had nothing to do with the fact that even I was at risk for such abuse. Consider the startling statistics: one in four girls (1/4) & one in six boys (1/6) will be sexually abused by the age of 18. Only one of those children out of ten will tell anyone.

Think about it another way: nine out of ten abused children will never tell a soul.

Just pondering that makes me feel ill.

Sexual abuse is an issue that’s been, sadly, on the front pages of our newspapers in recent months. The Joe Paterno/Jerry Sandusky/Penn State fiasco has received a ton of coverage, prompting many of us to take a closer look at the world around us & perhaps keep a closer eye on the children in our lives, thinking more about what we could & should be doing to protect them. And a local Traverse City businessman was sentenced to nine years in prison last year after being convicted for criminal sexual conduct with young boys. Furthermore, I’ve been wondering lately if I even would know exactly what to do should I witness such abuse.

You likely already know about On the Ground (OTG), the nonprofit formed by Higher Grounds to work for sustainable development in global farming regions. But as I mentioned in my last blog post, OTG is just one piece of Higher Grounds’ commitment to community.

The Traverse Bay Children’s Advocacy Center (TBCAC) is our area’s first line of defense when it comes to the physical & sexual abuse of children. Recently, Higher Grounds chose TBCAC as an outlet for the social arm of Ground Work, HG’s (newly-named!) community action program.

Here’s TBCAC’s mission:

To protect children by providing prevention & multi-disciplinary intervention in investigation, assessment & treatment of child sexual & physical abuse in an environment that is child sensitive, supportive & safe.

To break it down, TBCAC's multidisciplinary team of counselors, medical professionals, law enforcement, & Health & Human Services officials works together to provide a safe, friendly, & caring environment for children & their parents throughout the difficult investigation & trial processes.

Currently, TBCAC is running a contest for area students, challenging them to create a short film expressing their vision to spark the movement focused on Zero Tolerance for child abuse. The winner will receive a $500 Downtown Traverse City gift certificate. More details here.

Check out TBCAC’s web site and Facebook page for more information about their policies & practices, or call their staff at 231-929-4250 with any questions.

Higher Grounds, collectively, and I, personally, am proud to partner with this important organization & the great people working so hard to make our community safer for children. I have fourteen nieces & nephews. How many kids do you know?

--Jennifer

Community: It’s Greater than You (& bigger than you think)

2012-01-18T15:02:00.001-05:00

What do you think of when I say the word community? Here’s one definition:

community |kəˈmyoōnitē|

1. a group of people living together in one place, esp. one practicing common ownership : a community of nuns.

• all the people living in a particular area or place : local communities.

• a particular area or place considered together with its inhabitants : a rural community.

• the people of a district or country considered collectively, esp. in the context of social values & responsibilities; society: preparing prisoners for life back in the community.

• [as adj.] denoting a worker or resource designed to serve the people of a particular area: community health services.

I’m willing to bet the above definition is in line with what most people would think—that community is about a geographical containment of people, individuals connected by the physical space in which they live. You might think of your neighbors down the street, the other families in your subdivision, or even others you meet in the produce aisle of your local grocery store.

But there are other definitions of community as well. Consider:

2. a group of people having a religion, race, profession, or other particular characteristic in common: Rhode Island's Japanese community | the scientific community.

• a body of nations or states unified by common interests.

(I apologize to any scientists among you who object to this depiction of cartoon figures wearing glasses & lab coats. But the image illustrates my point here.)

In this case, people can belong to a community with others they might never actually meet face to face, people who simply share similar beliefs or interests. You and I, for example, are part of a community centered on coffee. I may never see you in person. I may never even hear your name. Yet we have at least one thing in common: our love for, & interest in, the humble coffee bean.

And try this one:

3. a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, & goals: the sense of community that organized religion can provide.

• a similarity or identity: writers who shared a community of interests.

• joint ownership or liability: a commitment to the community of goods.

The common interest that you & I share not only places us in a shared “body” of sorts, but it also evokes certain results, as definition #3 states. There is a sense of community between us. We care about many of the same things. On a basic level, we care about having a positive, high-quality coffee experience, whether at home or in a coffee bar. Taking that sense of community further, you & I share attitudes & goals that translate into action: investing our personal time & often our money into Higher Grounds, a business with a mission we believe in.

What is that mission? Well, you know a little about it (hopefully!) already, having read all about our stance on fair trade. But our mission is manifest all throughout our definition of community, which extends not beyond our immediate surroundings of TC & northern Michigan but throughout them, reaching others who care about & are connected to coffee all over the world.

That last sentence is kind of complicated. But the idea is this:

Higher Grounds’ mission is to engage with & support people doing important work in three major realms: social, environmental, & international. You’ve likely heard the most about the international arm of that mission, On the Ground—which tends to get the most press due to its sometimes-exotic-sounding projects (namely Run Across Ethiopia & Run Across Palestine). Over the next few weeks, I’ll fill you in on the other arms & describe our relationship with two essential Traverse City area organizations, the Michigan Land Use Institute & the Traverse Bay Children’s Advocacy Center.

In addition to MLUI, TBCAC, & OTG, here are some more organizations we’ve supported in the past year, by donating money & coffee & hosting benefit concerts in our roastery:

Advent Lutheran Church

Bioneers

Child & Family Services

Disability Network

Fishtown Preservation Society

Third Level Crisis Center

Traverse City Film Festival

Traverse City Fire Fighters

Women’s Resource Center

As part of the Higher Grounds community, you should know about our commitment to supporting projects taking place all throughout the HG world, not just far but close to home as well.

--Jennifer

Maya Vinic, Here We Come!

2012-01-06T15:40:00.000-05:00

If you read the series on fair trade that wrapped up a few weeks back, you’ll remember that I mentioned the annual delegations HG sends to the cooperatives where our coffee is grown. Tomorrow, the first trip of 2012 commences: Chris Treter (owner), Phil Hamburg (sales guru), & Karin Thompson (new head roaster) fly to Mexico to visit the Maya Vinic Cooperative, birthplace of HG’s flagship coffee. And if you’ve been a loyal HG blog reader for even longer, you may recall Chris’ report of his trip there back in September.

Chris, Phil & Karin will participate in meetings with Cooperative Coffees, our importing coffee co-op, but even more exciting (yes, more exciting than meetings!) is their delivery of coffee brewing equipment for Maya Vinic’s new café in San Cristobal de las Casas—a grand opening made possible in part by the direct social premium HG pays per pound of Maya Vinic beans. In 2011, that premium adds up to more than $5000: perhaps not a whole lot by the standards of America’s 1%, but a sum that goes a long way for our friends in Mexico. Their café will be a sustainable means of promoting Maya Vinic’s coffee in their own region as well as a way to help supplement the farmers’ income during the rest of the year (since the coffee-growing season only lasts about four months).

HG’s current crop of Maya Vinic coffee marks the 10^th anniversary harvest we’ve purchased from that same co-op. Much celebration will take place among friends in the spirit of long-term, mutually beneficial relationships. This trip combines business & pleasure in the best of ways.

What’s more, On the Ground just finished the water project that is supplying Acteal—Maya Vinic’s headquarters—with water for all houses & public spaces. The cohort from HG will be stopping in to check in on that progress as well.

Yes, I've already used this picture on the blog (back in September). But it's just so gorgeous. Maybe someday I'll get to be part of an HG delegation too.

Stay tuned for a report of the trip next week!

--Jennifer

It’s Not Just For Drinking Anymore

2011-12-27T16:22:00.001-05:00

I love a great cup of coffee, straight up. Occasionally I’ll add cream, & sometimes I'll even indulge in a little sugar or a splash of HG's house-made ginger or vanilla syrup. But the truth is, there’s a lot more you can do with your HG coffee beans than simply grind & brew. I’ve discovered a few excellent recipes that make use of coffee differently. As Marcel the Shell says, read on!

Nieman Marcus Cookies

I’ve made a few small edits to this recipe, though you can find versions of it (and even an urban legend) all over the Internet. While the amount of coffee in these cookies is admittedly small, they wouldn’t be nearly as delicious without it. And of course, use organic ingredients when possible. I like to bake just one pan & pre-form & flash-freeze the rest, so I can pull a few at a time & bake them as needed.

Ingredients:

1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 c. brown sugar
3 T. granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. HG Mayan Magic Espresso, ground on the finest setting
1 1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips

flaky sea salt (such as Maldon) for sprinkling

1. Preheat the oven to 300°F.

2. Beat the butter & sugars on medium speed (or with some elbow grease if mixing by hand) for about 30 seconds, until the mixture is fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla for 30 seconds longer, until well combined.

3. In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, & salt. Add these dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mix & beat slowly until fully incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips & coffee, & mix for 15 seconds longer.

4. Drop the dough onto a lightly-greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet in 2-tablespoon-size dollops about 3 inches apart. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into 2-inch circles; there should be room on the sheet for six or eight cookies at a time. Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt over the top of each cookie.

5. Bake for 16-20 minutes or until the cookies are nicely browned around the edges. Bake for a little longer for crisper cookies, or shorter if you’ve made your cookies smaller.

Kahlua

You can go to the store and buy a bottle for $25, or you can make your own at home (with organic ingredients!) for a lot less. Make a double batch & pour into pretty little bottles for holiday gifts – you’ll be everyone’s favorite cousin in no time. Again, there are several recipes floating around on the interwebs, but I chose to make this one because, well, it was the least complicated. And the result was delicious.

Ingredients:

3 c. organic cane sugar

3 c. brewed Higher Grounds coffee (I used Justice Blend, but your favorite will do)

3 c. organic vodka (I used Prairie, made in Minnesota)

3 tsp. organic vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, whisk sugar into the coffee. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat & simmer for several minutes, stirring until sugar is fully dissolved. Remove from heat. When cool, stir in vodka & vanilla. Voila!

As the above recipes prove, coffee is a great complement to sweet flavors, but savory dishes can also benefit from its rich & earthy undertones. Here’s a recipe I haven’t tried but plan to very soon.

Late Night Coffee Brined Chicken

1 4-5 lb whole organic chicken

2 1/2 T. brown sugar

1 1/2 T. unsalted butter

2 c. milk

For the brine:

1/2 liter hot, freshly brewed HG coffee

3 oz. kosher salt

2 tsp. whole black peppercorns
3 star anise
1 tsp. whole cloves
2 navel oranges, halved
15 oz. ice

1. Combine salt, peppercorns, star anise, & cloves in a small pot. Lightly crush spices with the back of a large spoon. Squeeze orange halves over mixture, & then add halves. Pour hot coffee over mixture, stir, & cover pot with lid. Allow brine to steep for ten minutes.

2. Meanwhile, pat chicken dry, removing giblets & neck. Place chicken in a 2 gallon sized zip lock or other plastic bag.

3. Place the ice in a large bowl. Add coffee brine & stir until ice melts. Pour brine in bag with chicken (including oranges), seal, & allow mixture to sit at room temperature for 2-3 hours. Then pat chicken dry & let it dry out for an hour in a bowl placed in the refrigerator.

4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

5. Remove chicken from refrigerator, pat dry & rub both sides with brown sugar.

6. Heat butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat, brown chicken on both sides. Add milk, cover, & transfer to oven. Cook for an hour with the lid. Remove lid. Continue to cook for another 30-40 minutes, or until internal temperature of chicken is 165 degrees.

7. Pull meat off the bones & serve with wilted greens and rice. Be sure to spoon some of the sauce over the meat, if desired.

I’ve also seen several recipes for chili that call for a splash of coffee – sounds like a great idea to me. If you have coffee recipe ideas to try, drop me a line so I can give them a try & share them with everyone else. Happy Holidays all around!

--Jennifer

Gifts for Coffee Lovers

2011-12-20T14:28:00.000-05:00

If you wrap your gifts this beautifully, you are my hero.
Photo courtesy of katiebrownblog.com.

Last week I talked about a handful of holiday gift items available in our coffee bar. But only one of those items was coffee-related. Now it’s time to dig a little deeper into the realm of gifts for your coffee-obsessed friends. For your ~~amusement~~ convenience, I’ve categorized said friends accordingly:

1. The one-cup-a-day drinker.

I’m actually in this category myself, at least when it comes to at-home sipping. For folks who just drink a single cup of coffee at a time, for reasons ranging from living solo to simply being the ~~smartest~~ sole coffee drinker in the household, there exists a handful of excellent brewpots for single-cup coffee preparation:

12-oz Bodum French press: $17. Brew time: 3 minutes. Result: a bold, viscous brew.

Bodum travel French press: $20-23 (plastic), or $30 (stainless). Same method & time, packaged in a cup to go.

AeroPress: $30. Brew time: 1-2 minutes. Result: fairly close to espresso. Add water for an Americano, milk for a latte, or sip straight up.

Stovetop moka pot: $30. Brew time: 5+ minutes. Result: between espresso & Turkish, with the rich mouthfeel of French-pressed & the bold punch of espresso.

15-oz Chemex: $30. Brew time: 5+ minutes. Result: akin to auto-drip, at a lower temperature, which releases more nuanced flavors.

Stainless insulated 12-oz Bodum French press: $50. Same result as your standard French press, but this sleek pot will keep your brew hot longer.

2. The small-scale sharer.

For brewing more than just one cup but less than a whole auto-drip pot, my favorite method is the French press. The 34-oz version ($20 for glass, $80 for insulated stainless) produces about two average-sized cups—perfect with breakfast for two. The 64-oz pot ($25 glass, $100 stainless) gives you about four of those cups, so it’s good for either two thirsty friends or four less-eager sippers.

At first glance, the stainless ones seem pricey, I know. But for the combination of extra insulation (if you’re not going to drink it all right away) & sleek good looks (classy!), I think they’re worth the premium chunk of change.

Another option for more than one serving is the 40-oz Chemex ($36). Only slightly more labor intensive than a French press (since it requires a slower, more precise pour of hot water over the grounds), the Chemex method boasts a cleaner result, because it filters out the sediment & oils that remain in French-pressed coffee. Those who are used to traditional auto-drip brewing will likely prefer the Chemex.

3. The party host(ess).

When I need large quantities of java, I go for a percolator. Unfortunately, we don’t sell one in the coffee bar, but I’m willing to bet your local Goodwill or Salvation Army has a couple on the shelf. And usually, the older ones work just fine, as long as they have all their requisite parts & have been kept clean.

But since we’re talking gifts here, your best bet for the quality-concerned host is the largest French press (64 oz). Brew a few pots in advance of the party & pour them through a sieve (to avoid clogging the spigot--sorry, couldn't find a photo to show this, but you're a smartie so you can figure it out!) into an insulated thermos or an airpot, & the coffee will stay hot for a few hours. But my auto-drip brewer keeps the coffee hot, you might say, as long as I leave the burner on. Here’s the problem, friend: that burner scorches your brew, tinging your coffee with over-cooked bitterness. And if you’re the type who’s okay with warming up your coffee in the microwave, well, I guess I have nothing to say to you.

4. Accoutrement.

For any & all of these folks, accessories beyond the brewpots themselves abound. My favorite from the HG collection is the Airscape canister, a brushed-stainless storage vessel designed to keep air & light away from your beans. This baby has two covers: one inside, to press down onto the surface of the coffee, & of course the airtight lid on top. At $23, the Airscape is a fine investment that will lengthen the freshness of those ever-sensitive beans.

If you don’t have any coffee-obsessed friends, then go ahead and categorize yourself. Got it? Good: now you know what to put at the top of your own wish list.

Joy & peace,

Jennifer

The Holiday Clock is Ticking!

2011-12-13T16:07:00.002-05:00

I’ll be honest. I haven’t done a lick of holiday shopping yet. Here we are with only eleven shopping days until Christmas, & all of a sudden I’ve realized how incredibly behind I am. Sure, I don’t have that many people to buy for—my husband, a handful of immediate family, a couple of my closest friends, & a Secret Santa gift—but even so, I’d better get cracking.

Luckily, I have a host of uber-cool gifts to choose from, waiting for my perusal just down the hall in the HG coffee bar. Here are some of the fairly traded items (plus one coffee-lover's must-have) I’ve been eyeing up:

Animal hats for kids, from Minga Imports. I’m not going to lie; I wish my head were just a teensy bit smaller so I could fit into one of these babies. (image) The most likely recipient, though, is my godson Caleb, who recently moved to Texas. Sorry kiddo, your new home doesn’t get nearly cold enough to justify a fuzzy tiger hat.

Palestinian cuisine by Canaan Fair Trade. A mission-based Palestinian fair trade company, Canaan seeks to empower small, marginalized, conflict-ridden Palestinian producer communities through organic agricultural production & fair trade. Also, these olives ROCK.

Fingerless gloves by Partners for Just Trade. I love the mustard-colored ones in particular (not pictured here), & they’re super soft. What’s extra cool is that PJT builds partnerships between producers living in extreme poverty & consumers in North America, helping to address the root causes of poverty through fair trade sales, education, solidarity & a commitment to trade justice.

Giraffe keychain by Swahili Imports. A perfect stocking stuffer! Since 1994, Swahili Imports has been building a network of artisans across Africa, focusing on fair & sustainable profit generation; artisan advancement; & modern, earth-friendly product development.

Baby rattles by Yellow Label Kids. Lordy, these are cute. Luckily my best friend is having a baby soon, so even though it’s not a Christmas gift, I had an excuse to buy one (a carrot!). The creator wanted an alternative to mass-produced, commercial toys & clothing: items that would celebrate the beauty & simplicity of childhood. She joined with global artisans, mostly mothers themselves, who earn living wages from the handcrafts they produce: whimsical products with minimal packaging, made with sustainable, natural & non-toxic materials. Awesome.

Bodum Bistro burr grinder. I already have a burr grinder at home, but I know a lot of people whose at-home brewing would benefit from the uniform grind that burrs provide. Sure, $100 is a bit pricey, but can you really afford to drink ~~sub-par~~ coffee that’s not meeting its full flavor potential? I got one for my brother a couple years ago & I’m confident he’d agree that it’s changed his life. Seriously! Ask your friendly neighborhood HG barista why you (er--your friends--since this is a gift, after all... right?) need one of these excellent products.

Okay, all this shopping talk has gotten me in the mood to browse. I’m off to start crossing names off my list. How about you? See you in the coffee bar soon!

--Jennifer

Field to Cup: Going Beyond Fair Trade (Part 5)

2011-12-06T22:07:00.003-05:00

Dear readers, it’s time for me to show you our boots.

That probably doesn’t make sense to you at the moment. Don’t worry—it will.

You’ve heard me say that Higher Grounds is not your typical coffee company. We weren’t built because someone wanted to make a profit, & we don’t believe that simply slapping a “fair trade” sticker on our coffee bags makes us a good company. In fact, fair trade doesn’t even begin to describe our philosophy.

Higher Grounds believes that the finest coffees are grown by the best of friends. That’s right: friends. I don’t use that term loosely. While I may occasionally insert a “my friends” here & there in this blog, you & I don’t have the kind of relationship that Higher Grounds has with our growers. I don’t know your name; I’ve never been to your house.

HG knows our growers. We go to the farms; we meet with the growers--even if that means traveling dirt roads, past washed-out bridges, through riverbeds & up mountainsides (as we did in Nicaragua). We sit around their tables & drink coffee together, talking about the best ways to keep their farms sustainable & profitable. But you’re a business! you might say. Don’t you want to keep yourself sustainable & profitable? Well, sure. But we’re not so worried about ourselves. Our friends in coffee-growing regions, like those pictured to the right with Chris in Mexico, have long struggled to stay afloat—small-scale coffee farming isn’t exactly a lucrative livelihood. Coffee farmers put in countless hours for an average yearly income of less than $300: that’s less than 2% of what a full-time worker on minimum wage in the U.S. makes in a year. Go ahead, read that again. It’s worth your attention. $300 is pocket change compared to what many of us spend per year on coffee alone[i]. (Those two $3 lattes a week? Take a second to appreciate the luxury.)

Global fair trade standards dictate a “living wage” for these farmers, which means they’re guaranteed a certain price for their product despite fluctuation in the market. But that price isn’t enough. It’s not enough for families to afford access to clean water. Not enough for children of growers to attend school. Not enough to implement sustainable methods & develop communities with models for growth, not just models for hanging on by a thread.

Higher Grounds goes beyond fair trade to be direct & long-term in our relationships (with people, not just company names on paper) & transparent in all our business transactions. You can go to fairtradeproof.org & follow the path each of our beans travels from field to cup. And you can trust us to work for growers’ benefits far beyond what that minimum standard can provide.

For example, Maya Vinic in Mexico is the first cooperative we purchased from when we opened our doors, and they’re still our biggest producing partner. And each year, before harvest, we pay a 15 cent per pound social premium to the cooperative above the contracted price. The cooperative tells us how the funds will be used, and there must be a benefit to the overall structure of the cooperative to support the sustainable livelihoods of its growers.

In the past, Maya Vinic has used the premiums to build a restaurant, replace the engine in the truck they use to collect coffee from producers, & purchase land for an organic test plot to learn the best methods for producing coffee organically. This year, they’re using the funds to open a cafe in the city of San Cristobal de Las Casas (pictured below). The cafe will enable producers to highlight their product domestically & bolster national sales – the best way for producers to get the highest price for their coffees.

To maintain a framework for our international projects, we formed On the Ground as our nonprofit wing. One tagline attached to OTG is “Get your boots on”: an appeal to our friends & neighbors to get involved & be part of our mission.

Our work here is holistic: not only do we travel physically around the world helping global communities make beneficial changes (via On the Ground), our mission takes place here in our community as well. We believe our profits belong in the hardworking hands of local environmental organizations like the Michigan Land Use Institute and the Grand Traverse Bay Watershed Center, local social-justice-driven groups like the Traverse Bay Community Advocacy Coalition, & globally-focused nonprofits like On the Ground. We work hard not only to provide you with the best cup of coffee around but to provide support for solidarity & development, locally & globally, through our Coffees for Change line & other projects.

FairTradeUSA has defended its recent withdrawal from FLO by arguing that the benefits from working with large scale plantations and trans-national corporations will trickle down to marginalized farmers. Echoing Cooperative Coffees’ stance[ii], HG “categorically rejects” that theory.

We’ve heard about “trickle down economics” before. Progress doesn’t happen that way. Prosperity is built from the ground up, & in order to achieve real change & real benefits for our small-scale coffee-producing friends, we need to get our hands dirty. We need to work with people not just on paper but by meeting human beings with faces & names, learning their stories & lifting them up out of their struggles.

Here at HG, we’ve got our boots on. And we always hit the ground running.

--Jennifer & Chris

[i] http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/producers/coffee/oromia_coffee_farmers_cooperative_ethiopia/default.aspx

[ii] http://coopcoffees.com/committees/fair-trade-task-force/navigating-fair-trade/coop-coffees-position-on-fair-trade

Field to Cup: Going Beyond Fair Trade (Part 4)

2011-11-29T15:32:00.001-05:00

You’ve probably figured out by now, unless ~~you’ve been living in a cave~~ this is your first visit to our blog, that Higher Grounds isn’t your typical business. And we’re not even close to being your typical coffee company.

Most coffee-centered businesses are started by entrepreneurs who happen to like coffee. I can even imagine myself experiencing a thought process that might go something like this:

Wouldn’t it be fun to have my own business? I could be my own boss! That sounds great. Now, what’s something I like enough to sell to other people? Hmm… how about coffee? I love coffee! I think it’d be gnarly to hang out in a coffee shop all day & ~~tell people what to do~~ share my love of coffee with other people. And I could ~~get rich~~ earn a living doing it!

But Higher Grounds was borne out of something else entirely. Here’s the story:

Two Michigan natives spent a year living & working in the coffee-growing region of Chiapas, Mexico. When the year was up, they asked the coffee farmers how they could continue their support, even from as far away as Michigan. “Sell our coffee,” said the farmers. So that’s exactly what they did. They brought that unique relationship they formed with the farmers in Mexico to their coffee-loving friends in Michigan, & coffee beans from Chiapas made their way to the tiny original roastery in Leelanau County.

That close friendship we formed with the farmers in Chiapas serves as a model for our interactions with all our coffee suppliers. The ultimate goal, unlike for most businesses, is not to make a profit. Yes, of course we need to pay our bills & pay our employees, & as we continue to grow, there’s more capital involved. But our motivation lies on higher ground. (Like that pun? I’m so clever.) We don’t just buy beans from around the world: we’re committed to paying farmers not only a fair price for their beans but a premium on top of the global fair-trade standard, so our coffee-growing friends can do more than cover their costs. We want them to come out on top. (The standard import model of Buy Low & Sell High? Not our style.) And they truly are our friends: we meet the farmers face-to-face when annual Higher Grounds delegations visit coffee-growing communities. We also donate our time, money, & coffee to local & global grassroots initiatives.

What’s more, Higher Grounds founded a community-based nonprofit, On the Ground, to partner with organizations & communities to encourage sustainable development in global farming regions. We love providing our customers with opportunities to create social change.

So that’s our philosophy & our mission. But there are other forces at work in our world, forces that often complicate & challenge that mission. As I explained throughout the three other posts in this series, the fair trade movement has recently been bombarded with controversy. Next week, in the final installment, I’ll fill you in on exactly what HG is doing in the face of that controversy in order to stay true to our mission & maintain solidarity with our farming friends around the world.

Field to Cup: Going Beyond Fair Trade (part 3)

2011-11-08T14:22:00.015-05:00

Okay, people. Time for the nitty-gritty. You’ve gotten the background, the history, some teasers. Now let’s get down to business.

I’d like to clear one thing up first. Many people interchange the terms fair trade & free trade. They’re not the same thing. Free trade is a policy in which governments agree not to tax imports or subsidize exports, for the mutual benefit of both parties. Prices under free trade are determined by supply & demand, & free trade implies open access to markets & market information.

While it may certainly coexist with free trade, fair trade is something else altogether. Fair trade is a movement with the primary aim of helping small-scale producers in developing countries work towards sustainable farming & business practices as well as improving trading conditions. Fair trade advocates paying higher prices to producers & raising the bar for environmental & social standards. (Check out Wikipedia’s pages on both terms for further explanation.)

And one more definition. Greenwashing is a term you’ll hear tossed around here and there, often by environmentally-conscious folks who are fed up with how trendy it’s become to be “green.” You know how hotel rooms frequently have those little cards in the bathroom promoting reuse of your towels in the name of “saving the environment”? Actually, the hotel industry isn’t really reducing energy waste very much: it’s a clever ploy to make a good impression on customers. That’s greenwashing: an act that appears to be environmentally conscientious (& might even be, just on a tiny scale) but is actually motivated by the desire for increased profit. (Take a second and think about the color of BP's logo. Coincidence? Hmm.)

Now that we’ve gotten the terminology straight...

Last week, I concluded by pointing my crooked little finger & calling out TransFair, the U.S. branch of Fairtrade International (FLO, formerly the Fairtrade Labeling Organization) & the certifier for brands such as Starbucks & Ben & Jerry’s, for greenwashing. Here’s some more of that story:

In February of this year, TransFair changed its name to Fair Trade USA, applying for trademarks of that name & the term “Fair Trade Certified.” This move is a blatant attempt to exclusively brand a term that is supposed to encompass the whole fair trade movement. Some brands, such as Avon & Hain, use a very small percentage (as low as 2%) of certified fair trade ingredients in their products but are still able to take advantage of the “Fair Trade Certified” ingredient seal—the same seal you see on products that use a majority or even 100% certified fair trade components. Also, TransFair gets the same licensing fee whether a company uses a minimum or maximum percentage of those ingredients. A label that used to carry a strong message has been watered down to represent—well, not much. What’s more, these companies benefit from the marketing while not actually engaging in the kind of socially-just, sustainable, & environmentally-conscious business practices that define the fair trade movement. TransFair’s profit-driven act essentially represents its divorce from that global movement. As of December 31, 2011, Fair Trade USA officially resigns its membership in FLO.

A few 100% fair trade companies you may have heard of—Equal Exchange, Theo Chocolate, & Dr. Bronner—use a label from Fair for Life, a program of the Institute for Market Ecology (IMO), instead. This label is only allowed on products with a majority of fair trade ingredients.

There are other fully committed fair trade organizations out there too, like the Fair Trade Federation (FTF), which screens applicants vigorously & only accepts dedicated Alternative Trading Organizations (ATOs). Higher Grounds is a member of FTF, & our coffee is absolutely-always-with-no-exception-100%-fair-trade.

On our packaging, you'll also see the logo for Cooperative Coffees (an importing co-op of community-based coffee roasters committed to fair trade relationships) & their "Fair Trade Proof" stamp. Go to fairtradeproof.org & click on Higher Grounds in the drop-down menu to see the contracts, cupping evaluations, bills of lading, & invoices that track our business relationships with each of our coffee suppliers. Now that's transparency.

So. What does all this mean for you, as a savvy & well-intended consumer? Here’s my best advice: read labels. Now that I’ve given you the skinny on what they all mean, you’ll know what you’re looking at—and what you should be looking for. If you see TransFair’s—oops, Fair Trade USA’s—logo, keep in mind that what you see may not be what you get. (Their new logo is on the right.) Check ingredient lists, & read up on the companies you support, so you can be informed about who’s greenwashing & who’s truly doing the good work that’s worth your hard-earned money.

Higher Grounds believes fair trade should be about building face-to-face relationships with the farmers who grow our coffee & that these relationships should be mutually beneficial, not just profitable for first-world corporations. Next week, I'll fill you in on what we're doing to uphold & encourage equitable, transparent policies while supporting the real people whose life's work is to produce our favorite beverage.

Want to join the conversation, or just have a question about this whole rigmarole that you'd like me to address on this blog? Drop a line to jennifer@highergroundstrading.com. I'd love to hear from you!

--Jennifer

References:

“Joint Announcement from Fairtrade International and Fair Trade USA.” Fairtrade International. fairtrade.net, 15 Sep 2011. Web. 8 Nov 2011.

“Over 9,900 Upset Consumers Tell Fair Trade Certifier 'No Thanks' on Name Change.” Organic Consumers Association. organicconsumers.org, 14 Feb 2011. Web. 8 Nov 2011.

Robinson, Phyllis. “To Tell the Truth: Who Owns Fair Trade?” Small Farmers. Big Change. Equal Exchange. http://smallfarmersbigchange.coop/2011/02/01/to-tell-the-truth-who-owns-fair-trade-2/. 1 Feb 2011. Web. 8 Nov 2011.

Field to Cup: Going Beyond Fair Trade (part 2)

2011-11-01T15:37:00.004-04:00

As promised, after a few weeks of ~~dilly-dallying around with~~ exploring the fine art of latte-crafting, I’m ready to dive back into the sticky issue of fair trade. Part 1 of this series concluded with some words from the Fair World Project, addressing Fair Trade USA’s decision to leave the larger Fairtrade International. That’s a whole lot of “fair” being tossed around in one sentence. My job in this segment is to provide an introduction. In order to understand the recent developments, it’s helpful to learn the back story.

First, some history.

Back in the 1960s and ‘70s, several Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) & some concerned individuals across Asia, Africa, & Latin America discovered a need: many producers of goods sold on the international market were very poor (as is still the case today), & they rarely got advice or support for their livelihoods. So the NGOs got together to create a handful of fair trade organizations, & they established relationships between them—relationships “based on partnership, dialogue, transparency, and respect” (Kocken).

At first, fair trade was most often associated with development trade, responding to poverty & disaster in southern regions & focusing on craft products. The NGOs helped establish fair trade groups in those regions, organizing & providing social services to producers there, & facilitating exports from politically- and economically-marginalized countries.

As the fair trade model became more & more successful, it spread to other regions, including Europe. In 1973, a group in the Netherlands began importing fairly-traded coffee from cooperatives in Guatemala. In the ‘80s, a Mexican priest with connections to both small coffee farmers & a Dutch NGO came up with the idea of a label for these fair trade products, to set them apart from other products on the shelf, & to give any company the opportunity to get involved in fair trade. The concept was a hit, & within a year of its debut, coffee labeled as “fair trade” had a market share of nearly 3 percent.

Similar non-profit labeling organizations were born across Europe & North America, & in 1997, Fairtrade Labeling International (FLO) was established to set international fair trade standards, certify production, audit trade, & label fair trade products. The latter has been a boon for mainstream fair trade business.

Then came the chain.

Beginning with the Netherlands’ group, alternative trade organizations (ATOs) in Western Europe, along with their NGO allies, began building relationships with small-scale coffee farmers, who previously had been exploited by mid-level traders (buy low, sell high—the standard model for profit—doesn’t generally work out so well for the little guy). The goal was to strengthen democratically-controlled coffee co-ops & build their capacity so any surplus would stay with the farmers. The co-ops also had a lot to learn: sustainable processing methods (to control the flow of their product into processors), successful business models (to avoid further exploitation & achieve profit), quality control, import/export systems, & internal education for their members. The people investing in this movement—“mission-driven traders, nonprofits, & visionary co-ops” according to Rink Dickinson, co-founder & co-president of Equal Exchange—weren’t in it for the money: there was no money.

The trade organizations had a lot to learn too, things like strategies for importing & quality standards. They also needed roasters who would be sympathetic to the fair trade cause & work with them on reasonable terms, & distributors & consumers who were interested in supporting small farmers. There were many challenges in getting the coffee supply chain going, & the process took a lot of patience from people willing to take risks. But by the late 1980s, the system was running smoothly—ready to take on another level of business in the U.S.

Growth means change.

It took a while to build alternative trade here in the States, where we didn’t have a giant network of people & organizations already familiar with the notion of fair trade (as in Europe). But as Europe grew, more producers entered fair trade networks, & the fair trade seals spread further. Conversations kept happening, particularly spurred on by Equal Exchange, one of the first fair-trade focused worker-owned co-ops in the U.S. And demand for specialty coffee, a product with a high profit margin, kept growing – so companies like Equal Exchange could afford to keep paying farmers a premium (much higher than the average world price) for their coffee.

In 1998, a U.S. nonprofit called TransFair USA was founded to negotiate terms between international coffee producers and stateside sellers. By this time, the coffee supply chain had strengthened to the point that product capacity had grown larger than the ATOs. So farmers, together with their allies, expanded the system to bring larger commercial companies into the fold, maintaining terms that the small farmers could work with. Many companies began to see the benefits that fair trade labels could provide, since U.S. consumers had a growing interest in supporting small farmers.

The motivation for this expansion was honorable: creating more opportunities for growth of fair trade practices. Higher Grounds was Michigan's first 100% organic & fair trade coffee roasting company. Since 2002, we've imported all of our coffees through Cooperative Coffees, the only 100% fair trade importing cooperative in the country. Yet even as we grew & spread our commitment to fair trade standards, the larger "fair trade" industry got watered down: a company could source just a small portion of its products from fair trade suppliers & still use TransFair USA’s fair trade logo. Through this “green washing,” control of the fair trade system began to shift into the hands of bureaucrats & multinational companies. That’s where the controversy begins.

So that’s where I'll pick up next week. Stay tuned!

--Jennifer

References:

Dickinson, Rink, and Phyllis Robinson, ed. “An Analysis of Fair Trade: Reflections from a Founder (Part II).” Small Farmers. Big Change. 24 Oct 2011. Equal Exchange. Web. 1 Nov 2011.

Kocken, Marlike. “Sixty Years of Fair Trade: A Brief History of the Fair Trade Movement.” European Fair Trade Organization. Nov 2006. Web. Available: www.european-fair-trade-association.org/efta/Doc/History.pdf. 1 Nov 2011.

Get Your Art On

2011-10-25T11:54:00.001-04:00

If you read last week’s post, you’ll remember that for all my good intentions, I didn’t quite make it to the part about how you make your espresso drinks pretty. The rosetta is a hallmark of barista achievement, to be sure—not to say you can’t have a delicious drink that doesn’t look like a work of art, but aesthetics certainly contribute to the overall experience. (Full disclosure: the photo above is not my own work of art. I got it by searching Google images.)

I didn’t learn how to pour artfully until just a few years ago, when a previous employer paid for me to take a latte art class at the industry trade show Coffee Fest in Seattle. Coffee Fest was a wonderland for coffee nerds like me, with rows & rows of booths offering samples of anything & everything you could think of with a connection to the world of coffee & tea: cookies, candies, bottled drinks, even shots of espresso & free crafted-to-order beverages. And for a couple hours in the middle of that whirlwind Saturday, I got to hunker down in a room with about ten other eager baristas to learn about the coveted rosetta.

In order to accurately describe the process for you, I must return to the issue of milk. A few hints & rules of thumb:

1. Your milk should be fresh, as cold as possible, & ideally organic, from local, grass-fed cows. It’s a good idea to keep your clean stainless milk pitchers in the fridge (or even freezer) when they’re not in use: super-cold milk means you’ll have as long as possible to manipulate the steaming process without scalding the liquid. (All you fans of “extra-hot” lattes out there, I don’t know how you do it. Your tongues must be made of asbestos. And your poor taste buds! Sorry.)

2. Never re-steam milk. Measure what you need carefully (or get really good at eyeballing) so you don’t steam more than necessary for the drink at hand. If you end up with extra, mix up a little hot cocoa or a steamer & offer it to that hungry-looking chap over there in the corner. Or your spouse. I don’t care who gets it. You could even keep a stash in the fridge & use it when you make pancakes. But don’t re-heat it for my latte.

3. If you can, steam your milk & pull your shots at the same time. I know, last week I said to steam your milk first, but once you get in the barista groove, the simultaneous coordination is worth the effort. Assembling the drink right away means that the milk will stay all nice & creamy throughout; it won’t settle out into pure liquid on the bottom & pure airy foam on the top (unless you want a dry cappuccino, in which case this separation is ideal). You want the thick, velvety consistency of melted ice cream that is essential for successful latte art pouring.

Okay. Now I can tell you how to pour the rosetta. Or I can try. I promise I’ll give it my best effort.

So you have your fresh shots, which have been pulled just seconds ago into a fairly low, wide mug.

You have your steamed milk, just barely off the steam wand (or if it’s been sitting a few seconds while the shots finished, give it a gentle stir to re-incorporate the air throughout). It should look like the image on the right: no bubbles!

Start pouring—slowly—at the edge of the cup, from a few inches above. I’m right handed, so I hold the cup in my left hand & the pitcher in my right. As though the cup were a clock face, think of the handle as 6:00. Pour to 3:00. (To add some confusion just for fun, the photos below are obviously not from my perspective, though that is me making the drink. I suppose you could turn your computer upside down or stand on your head if that helps.)

When the cup is about half full, drop the pitcher down to just above the surface of the liquid. You should see a circle of white forming at the center. Keep pouring slowly & steadily, & move the spout to the middle of the drink.

Next comes the tricky part:

Ever so subtly, move your wrist back & forth. I mean subtly, people—someone standing a few feet away shouldn’t be able to see the wiggle. This action is what creates the striations or petals. The subtler your wiggle, the finer the striations (or the skinnier the petals).

As you wiggle (as I write this, the word wiggle is starting to look & sound awfully silly), move the stream of milk back from the center to your original 3:00 spot. Once you reach the edge, carefully draw a straight line back through the center (from 3:00 to 9:00). This line creates the “stem” or the point of the rosetta.

Voila! There you have it, a beautifully-crafted drink that will draw oohs & ahhs all around.

Okay, so mine turned out a little lopsided today. But still, not too shabby.

Happy barista-ing,

Jennifer

Latte Art: it’s not just about the rosetta

2011-10-18T11:58:00.001-04:00

(I know, I promised you Part 2 of the Fair Trade series. But never fear; it’s coming next week. Really. For now, you get to hear about another passion of mine: The Perfect Drink. Warning: this post is sort of long. I have a lot to say on this subject.)

I’ve been making espresso drinks for a lot of years now. Wherever I’ve worked, I seem to attract a reputation for putting together a mighty fine beverage whenever espresso & milk are involved (not to pat myself on the back or anything, but…okay, maybe a little). Over the years, I’ve picked up various methods for perfecting all the ~~fussy~~ minute elements of the process, from grinding/measuring/tamping to incorporating just the right amount of air into the milk as it heats up, resulting in a velvety-smooth surface without a bubble in sight. I’m telling you: while it may come easily to me now, the learning curve was steep. But with advisory counsel from regional corporate managers with ~~annoyingly~~ ~~ridiculously~~ high standards to café owners concerned that customers experience a delicious level of consistency in their beverages from day to day or barista to barista, I learned. And I’ve come to appreciate—perhaps even more than the fussiest boss I’ve ever had—a beautiful drink that tastes exactly the same every single time.

So how does it work? I thought you’d never ask.

There are several factors to be concerned about when it comes to consistent drink-crafting. Here are a few*:

(*If you’ve never been [or never plan to be] a barista, and/or if you’re not familiar with some of the terminology here, I apologize – this blog may be less interesting to you. But if you stick with it, you might learn a thing or two!)

1. Humidity. That’s right: the weather can turn all your efforts to naught. Coffee for espresso should be ground almost as finely as possible (not the finest setting—that’s reserved for Turkish). But when there’s more moisture in the air than usual, that fine grind might be a little too fine, since that moisture makes the grounds stick together even more, resulting in a shot that packs too tightly, pulls too slowly & ends up over-sharp & bitterly tart. A conscientious barista pays attention to how long the shots are taking & adjusts the grind (usually by rotating the neck of the grinder just above the burrs) accordingly.

2. Dose & Tamp. This is the part of the process that is actually missing from a lot of coffee bars. Not that it doesn’t happen—it just happens automatically. Some fancy-pants grinders do the dosing and tamping for you, & in a high-volume bar, that can be pretty handy. But the problem is that many baristas don’t learn how to dose or tamp properly. Here’s how:

Fill the portafilter with coffee so that it mounds just a little over the top. Holding the portafilter over your knock box, use your finger or the side of your hand to level off the coffee at the top edge of the portafilter, distributing the coffee evenly. Set the portafilter on a flat surface, ideally on a rubber mat. Gently drop your tamper down onto the grounds, then lift it out briefly & tap the front side of the portafilter with the back end of the tamper (to settle the grounds & fill in any air pockets). Back on the flat surface, replace the tamper in the portafilter, & push down with about 30-40 pounds of pressure. Too hard, and you’ll pack too tightly, ending up with the same problems as with a too-fine grind. Too light, and the water will rush through, not extracting enough flavor from the coffee as the shot pulls. Brush off any straggling grounds from the top edge of the portafilter (so you get a clean seal with the group head), and don’t waste any time getting it into the group to pull your shot.

Intelligentsia has a great video detailing this process, and it pretty closely matches my description above—check it out here. (My only complaint: the guy says “the reason is because.” Redundant! Come on, people.)

3. Timing. With every step, timing is important. The whole business should only take a minute or two, so each step happens quickly. The most common error I’ve seen is a delay between putting the portafilter in the group head and actually pulling the shot. That group head is HOT, friends--believe you me, I’ve been burned a few times—and it will burn your coffee before you even brew it. You want that hot water to start moving through your grounds immediately. Your shot should pull in 20-30 seconds. If your shot glasses fill up before that, it’s an indication of some inconsistency in one of the previous steps.

Keep in mind that once your shot is pulled, its quality starts diminishing immediately, so it should be used (drank or mixed) ASAP. A straight shot tastes different even after sitting out for as little as ten seconds. So if you’re making a latte (or something else with steamed milk), steam your milk first, then pull your shot. The milk will hold its temperature a lot longer than the espresso will hold its deliciousness.

With timing in mind, I suppose it would have made more sense for me to explain how to steam milk first, before ~~rambling on~~ educating you about the fine points of shot-pulling. Ah, well.

4. Steaming Milk. Notice it’s not just about heating the milk. Yes, the milk gets hot—but it also increases in volume, because we’re incorporating air into it. You’ve all heard this happen: the distinctive gurgle and whirr when a barista unleashes the power of the steam wand into a pitcher of milk. The success of this step is dependent upon the attention paid to what’s happening inside that pitcher. (I’ve seen many a barista set the pitcher on the espresso machine and walk away while it steams. This offends my quality-obsessed barista sensibilities to no end.) If the tip of the wand is too far down into the milk, not enough air (or even none at all) will be forced into the milk, and you’ll end up with zero foam. (To be fair, some customers prefer a “flat” latte—that means without foam.) If the tip is too close to the surface of the milk, too much air will come in (that’s when the process gets noisier than necessary) & you’ll have a pitcher full of giant air bubbles. Yuck.

The goal is for a small, steady stream of air to be pulled into the milk, & a whirlpool effect ensues. For a latte, the milk should increase by about a third. For a cappuccino, you want the milk to double in volume, so that stream of air should be a little wider. (Ideally, you won’t get any bubbles at all, but if you do, they can be “killed” by the whirlpool.) Many baristas use a thermometer to achieve an exact temperature (150-160 is average for a standard drink), but I’ve steamed enough milk that my palm knows when the milk is hot enough. (The sound of the steaming also gets a bit higher-pitched when the milk reaches about 160.) Use a stainless steel pitcher with a distinct pour-spout.

Commercial espresso machines obviously have a lot more oomph in their steam wands than you’ll get with most at-home versions. It’s possible to steam lovely milk at home—it’s trickier, but the methods are the same.

Okay, I’ve gone on far too long. And I haven’t even gotten to the part about how to make a pretty rosetta. It’ll have to wait: you’re surely exhausted by now.

A friend suggested that I "sign" my blogs so you know who's talking. Good idea.

Cheers,

Jennifer

Seth and May CD Release Concert of "New Flower"

2011-10-14T11:38:00.000-04:00

Seth and May will be releasing their new album, “New Flower”.

Can you guess where their release show is going to be?... Higher Grounds of course!

This album is particularly special to us at HG because the music was inspired by their tip to Ethiopia with On the Ground. This will be a dual purpose concert, both and release show and a benefit concert. Proceeds will go to On the Ground. OTG works to support farming communities around the world including the construction and funding of schools in Ethiopia, and water projects in Mexico.

The release concert of "New Flower " will be taking place on October 28^th, here at Higher Grounds. To ensure your place (and to save some money) you may purchase your tickets ahead of time at Oryana or HG for $20. Otherwise, you can wing it and buy your tickets at the door for $25. The doors will open at 7pm and the music begins at 8pm.

What could make this event more enticing? Well…… Michael Shimmin, Brennan Andes, Joshua Davis and special guest, Temesgen will also be joining us!

Field to Cup: Going Beyond Fair Trade (part 1 of 3)

2011-10-11T15:03:00.000-04:00

As a kid sitting at my grandparents’ kitchen table in rural Upper Michigan, I watched as my grandpa Sander filled his Corelle mug with a steamy, bitter blackness from the old Mr. Coffee. It might have been sitting on the burner for a few hours by that point, but once he stirred in a few spoonfuls of sugar and a healthy dose of half & half, it was a syrupy sweet concoction just right for dipping my Trenary Toast (transforming his morning beverage into a gloppy cinnamon slurry, although he never seemed to mind). I slurped up the soggy, delicious mess with glee. Breakfast with Grandpa stands out in my memory as my first taste of coffee, starting me down a path from which, I’m happy to say, I haven’t strayed: coffee has been a constant in my life ever since those first mornings.

Over the years, I’ve soaked up more and more knowledge about this beverage I’ve been consuming for so long. I’ve learned the benefits of organic, shade-grown & fairly-traded beans, and I’ve worked for companies with various levels of commitment to those values. Now here I am at Higher Grounds, where the commitment goes even further. I’m learning that these things are important, certainly—essential, even—but they are not enough. Recently, “fair trade” has become more of a buzzword than anything else, and the fair trade movement has been co-opted. Several large companies who are anything but “fair” in many of their practices (a topic for another blog, perhaps) are corporatizing what was once truly a revolutionary movement and turning it into a brand, a trademark to be used for marketing and greater profits.

We at Higher Grounds support fair trade but not the organization that calls itself “Fair Trade USA”—an entity that used to share our values but now seems more interested in a quick buck. (It's their logo that you see to the right and on packaging pretty much everywhere these days--but not on Higher Grounds products.) We stand alongside the farmers who work hard to supply our product, and we stand adamantly against the corporations who’d prefer to profit in the name of that good work but not in solidarity with our coffee-growing friends around the world.

Next week’s blog will define the symbols you will see on our products, representing our affiliation with and support of organizations working hard for equity and global justice, and I'll explain more about the controversy.

As a preview, here’s a quote from the Fair World Project (a great non-profit we do support) addressing Fair Trade USA’s divorce from the larger Fairtrade International:

“It is inconceivable that an organization [whose] organizational values include striving ‘to always act ethically and value relationships built on honesty, mutual respect and trust’ would advance a program without the knowledge or consent of the very producers it aims to support.”

And from The Latin American and Caribbean Network of Small Fair Trade Producers (CLAC), which represents democratically-organized small farmers:

“We [...] join the regret caused by the departure of FAIRTRADE USA and we express the fact that we cannot share its new vision of expansion, since it threatens the empowerment, development and self-management of small organized producers.”

At Higher Grounds, we certainly couldn’t agree more. And if Grandpa were around today, I'm willing to bet he'd raise his mug to that.