Labor Day Weekend: Compassion, Haiti, Coffee

This is so very overdue, it's embarassing! But I spend Labor Day weekend in Portland doing my favorite things, meeting new people, talking about Compassion & Haiti, and drinking stellar coffee and I really wanted to share it with you.

Saturday: Jill  & Coava

After anticipating visiting Coava (koh-vah) for 2 months, I admit I was a little intimidated when I walked in. See, Coava shares a building with a bamboo workshop (the smell of bamboo sawdust and fresh roasted coffee is intoxicating) so they have two counters and some of bamboo furniture on display that made the whole thing feel more like a workshop than a coffee shop.

Source

I wasn't sure exactly what to do, it wasn't a displeasing feel, like I said, it just threw me. And, let's be honest, I'm still new to the world of "third wave" coffee, and always feel a little bit like a putz asking about brew temps, extraction ratios and varietals.

Fortunately, my baristas, Jeremy and Justin, were incredibly kind and willing to hold my hand (figuratively, we had just met, after all) as they each brewed me a lovely cup of coffee, Guatamalen Xeucalvitz (shoo-kahl-veets) and a Honduran bean (the name of which escapes me at this moment) respectively. They were both really interesting (the coffees...though I'm sure the guys were very interesting themselves) but the forgotten Honduran was my favorite. Oh, and I got to see the Kone in action (it's on my Christmas list!).

But the best part was getting to meet Jill  (and her two adorable girls!) from Compassion Family in person. We drank coffee for over an hour, talking about family, Compassion, Too Small to Ignore, and the weird places God takes us. It was a huge blessing getting to talk to such a seasoned Compassion vet and getting to meet a "virtual friend" in real life :) And I got a free compassion cause-band, you're all jealous aren't you?

Jill, I forgot to take a picture!! :(

Sunday: Beaverton Foursquare and Java Nation

After a mind-blowing breakfast at Tin Shed with my cousins, I headed off to Beaverton Foursquare Church, or "B4" as it is known by the locals to talk to Mark, their missions pastor, about Haiti.

I loved Mark. His enthusiasm washed over me as we talked for nearly an hour about their vision for Haiti, Mark's job description, their team dynamics and the logistical processes and the challenges they face during their Haiti trips. Mark concluded the conversation by inviting me to join one of their teams, offering to help work out logistical challenges or train people at my church, and actually calling one of their team leaders (who was on vacation) and giving him my name.

I also loved B4 for many reasons but especially because they really, truly love Haiti.  There's is the kind of missions ministry that excites me, the kind fueled by partnerships rather than benevolence. They've made a three year commitment to supporting Foursquare Haiti in order to equip them for their own mission. They've erected buildings, provided medical care, taught vocational skills, dug wells, and sent missionaries. I talked to Jim, a retired irrigation engineer, one of those awesome hard-working guys who will never really "retire", who designed an entire plumbing system.

But, even more telling, every person I spoke to gave me an email address or phone number, they've got some good people over there at B4.

After spending far too long at the very disappointing Ava Roasteria, though I should say that the balsamic hummus and pretty patio almost made up for the less than enthusiastic barista and the glut of noisy students (bah humbug!), I remembered Java Nation, a stuffy little coffee shop tucked away in a strip mall off of Highway 217 in Beaverton. So, I whiled away the steamy afternoon drinking coffee from Kenya and learning about density and genetics. This was my second trip to Java Nation and I'll definitely be making a third...and fourth...

Monday: Stumptown and home.

I debated making a stop on Monday morning because I was in a hurry to get home but the siren call of Stumptown made me make the 2 mile detour to Belmont. See, I've never been to a Stumptown coffee shop, I've bought Stumptown beans but I've never drank it from the source. The busy little coffee shop was a bit chaotic, so I wasn't inclined to stay. I decided to go for the medicine-bottle/red stripe cold brew and a bag of Gajah Aceh (remember the Gajah Aceh from Broadway Coffee??) rather than rush my coffee experience. And, to be honest, I always feel a little guilty drinking good coffee from a paper cup.

The cold brew left me, well, cold. Sadly, so did Stumptown. I like my coffee shops really chill; I like my baristas friendly and slow. Maybe it is because I'm such a chaotic go-go-go person, but hectic coffee shops and super efficient baristas are a bit of a turnoff.

I realized too late that the real place I wanted to visit was the Annex next door :( So my first Stumptown coffee shop experience was a bit of a bust, but there will be more in the future and, in the mean time, I'm enjoying my beans!

Last but not least, be it ever so humble, there's no place like...

*sigh* I miss Portland.

Rabbit Holes and Caffeine

I may have mentioned that I love coffee. Yes we all love coffee, but I love coffee to an indecent degree. I love silly things about coffe, nerdy, perhaps, even frivolous things about coffee, though I would never admit that to you in person.

I also love Google.

I love google because it enables me to know anything. Yes anything. Ignorance is banished, naivete begone! In fact, I couldn't remember the word "naivete" so I just googled it. This is a common occurrence for me. The trouble is I am interested in pretty much everything so I am constantly being distracted by the little "shiny" things on the page: mysterious links or references, further reading, blogs, etc.

It was funny until tabbed browsing came along. Now my pseudo A.D.D. has no limits; I have not yet run out of browser space. Right now I have 16 tabs open in this browser window, most relating to a couple of irritating audio/video editing programs that continue to befuddle me, but one is a coffee blog, one is my google reader, and I just realized I have my email open in two separate tabs.

This happened because today I mixed coffee and google: the result looked something like this:

Google: "noise reduction final cut express," scan,  r-click>open in new tab, ctrl-T: "noise reduction audacity," ctrl-T: "audacity plug-in directory mac," scan,  r-click>open in new tab, scan,  r-click>open in new tab, close 3 tabs, ctrl-T: "stable audacity version mac 2011," ctrl-T:  "convert soundslides to video," ctrl-T: "idvd encoding issues,"ctrl-T: "best format for soundslides to video conversion" "Compassion Haiti," ctrl-T: "Foursquare Haiti," scan, r-click>open in new tab, scan,  r-click>open in new tab, ctrl-T: "cheap-tickets," www-dot-facebook-dot-com, close tab, ctrl-t: "cheap international flight," close three tabs, r-click> open in new tab, pop-up, login to twitter, +follow, other followers, ctrl-T: "Gungor," close 2 tabs, r-click> in new window, ctrl-t: "haitian bleu," crtl-t: "Haiti direct trade coffee," ctrl-c, ctrl-T:" reader-dot-google-dot-com," ctrl-v, close 2 tabs, "mail-dot-google-dot-com," ctrl-T: "photoshop tutorial,"  r-click> close all tabs.

The upshot is that I do a lot without ever accomplishing anything. Does anyone else have this issue?

Coffee + Haiti

I've been on a bit of a coffee high since my visit to Broadway Coffee in Salem, OR. I squealed and gushed and generally made an idiot of myself but have had some pretty awesome coffee over the past week.

Rather than wonder if coffee is one of those "excesses" that I am trying to strip away, I'm embracing the love and I've even found a legitimate reason to do so.

The beauty of coffee is that it is not just a delicious, mysterious, and often capricious muse for dorks like me. Green (unroasted) coffee is also a valuable export for many of the poorest countries in the world: Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, El Salvador and, yes, Haiti. While this could potentially be a good thing, it is important for people to work as advocates on behalf of coffee growers, especially those in poorer nations, to ensure they are not being exploited. 

Fair Trade coffee was a step in the right direction but the label can be very misleading. "Fair" is a relative term and there are always gray areas, that is to say, just because something is stamped "Fair Trade" doesn't mean the farmers who grew and harvested that coffee are being fairly compensated. 

This is why people like Land of 1000 Hills Coffee make me really happy. I don't know anything about the coffee market so it is important that I trust the people buying and roasting the coffee that I buy. 1000 Hills Coffee is as close to the plantation as I've been able to get (so far!). Up until the last year, their efforts have focused primarily on Rwandan coffee but they've recently started selling coffee from Haiti as well. After much anticipation, I received my first bag of Cafe Marmelade Haitian Bleu today!

Now, as I understand it, Haiti has been exporting coffee for some time but it has never been known for being exceptionally great coffee. Good, not great. But I am encouraged that there are people out there who believe in Haitian coffee and who are dedicated to refining growing and harvesting processes and promoting Haiti as a legitimate source of gourmet coffee. Various web-rabbit-trails have yielded the following organizations:

***Please note: I know very little about these people aside from the fact that they sell coffee and some of it is from Haiti. In fact, if you can offer any experience or insight, it is most welcome!

Eco Cafe Haiti via Clive Coffee (I'm definitely visiting Clive the next time I am in Portland!)
Coffee Haitian
Singing Rooster
Just Haiti
La Colombe also sells a Haitian Coffee

People I Like: Broadway Coffeehouse, Salem

I was visiting Salem, OR just for a few days this month and a friend told me that they had the perfect coffee house for me as I was, according to her, a "geek" "nerd*." I am 90 percent sure that this was a loving observation but I actually suspect that the bona fide members of the Coffee Geek Brethren may take exception to my inclusion in their ranks. But, regardless of where I fall on the Coffee Enthusiast spectrum, she was absolutely correct, I loved love Broadway Coffeehouse. 


It is a bit of a departure from that typical coffee house feel in that it is very big, bright and open. It admittedly feels a bit more like a conference center or a library than a coffeehouse, but the vibe worked for me, personally. I walked in and, embarrassingly, squealed a bit, first when I saw "Stumptown" and again when I saw the pour over tray. Not to say the Stumptown is the litmus test for exceptional coffee houses, but it sure doesn't hurt. 


You could actually see my barista's eyes light up when I asked for one and he got even more excited as I asked him about weight of the coffee, the temperature of the water and what his opinion was on weighing water. If there is one essential quality of a good barista, it is a passion for making and drinking coffee. If you want one of these delightful concoctions, make sure you get there before they are busy (before 9). 


I'm NOT an expert on coffee, but I love learning and each barista I spoke to was excited to share what they knew and it was impressive. They even referred me to a couple of blogs and roasters.

I came in the next day and one of the baristas, again, lit up and made sure to tell the other to, "wait, make sure it's a good one, she knows coffee." True? Probably not. Shameless flattery? Perhaps. But they made my week by being kind, teaching me a bit, and brewing me 2 great cups of coffee (indonesian Gajah Aceh and Ethiopian Mordecofe). Not the best of my life, but the experience made all the difference.

My Stumptown Gajah Aceh

But perhaps my favorite part was that though there was not a blender in sight, there were still plenty of iced lattes crossing the counter. That is to say it was a nice compromise between a snobby "No, we will not serve you that!" and "Wait, wait... *just* espresso??" Too many excellent coffeehouses actually snub the people that they should be educating and Nick, Erica and the other awesome baristas at Broadway hit the right balance. Thanks!!

...and the Mordecofe!

Check out my review of Broadway Coffeehouse on Yelp!

*Since writing this my kind friend has clarified that she, in fact, called me a "nerd" not a "geek" which worries me a bit if this can be trusted...

But my geek nerd worries may be moot anyway.

I'm Not a Snob...Really.

I am, however, a thoroughgoing geek in many, many ways.

I'm also one of those irritating people who latch on to a subculture and try to worm their way into it with the aid of wikipedia and You Tube videos, so I will confess on the outset that I'm an outsider here.

But I love coffee.

Okay, so what? We all love coffee. Well I love the social institution of coffee, I love what it represents and how it transcends culture. You want to talk about a global village? It is a crowd of very different people, with different values, wearing different clothing, talking about different things in different languages... all drinking coffee.

We love our coffee. In fact, most of us really don't pay a whole lot of attention to what it is we're drinking. But, as with any industry, there is a vast world which exists prior to us scooping it off the shelf or placing our order. This world, I believe, is of particular significance because it is not happening in an R&D lab or a boardroom in some sky rise. It does not exists in a factory in China or a mine in Chicago. It is on a farm in Ethiopia or Costa Rica. And farming means people.

Granted, when we talk about farming today, we're not talking about Almanzo Wilder planting corn with Pa, we're talking about state of the art hybrid-fuel combine's with GPS navigation.

However, coffee is a little different, for two reasons. First of all, coffee is one of the primary exports in many developing nations and the truth is that most coffee farmers in the world simply don't have access to this kind of technology. Human labor is much cheaper and is also abundantly available. Secondly, coffee is a finicky little fruit. Quality arabica coffee doesn't fare well in the jaws of a mechanical harvester, quality coffee is harvested by hand.

I want to talk to you about the hands picking those coffee cherries.




If you've ever spent a summer picking fruit, you know it's not a very glamorous job and it doesn't pay very well. There's also not a lot of upward mobility for farm laborers. The most they can hope for is to own their own small farm someday and even that is out of reach for most.

Quite a jump to the guy listening to his ipod, drinking a cappuccino in the cafe down the street. But, through the magic of international news and information and passionate advocacy groups, that world is getting much closer to us. Thus there's a lot of buzz these days about "fair trade" coffee.

Fair Trade is a great idea. It is important that we are aware, as we sip our steaming cup of Sumatra, that there is a coffee farmer in Indonesia who will work very hard today to earn even half of what we paid for that one cup of coffee. It's important that organizations like the International Coffee Organization work passionately to advocate for coffee farmers.

Because they are people.



Marketers for coffee roasters love to write about the volcanic mountains from which their beans were "hand-picked." They love talking about Costa Rican culture, the history the coffee industry in Kenya or the Ethiopian royalty who used to drink it. You can't help but smile as they paint pictures of the sun rising over misty orchards while elephants and giraffes lumber exotically by.

The trouble is that rarely are farmers getting credit for the marketing hype printed on that bag of coffee. That $12 one-pound bag of coffee very likely sold for less than $1. Even "Fair Trade" coffee.

Now, I can't pretend to understand the coffee market or all of the elements that affect the farmer-roaster-distributor relationship, I'm just a girl who loves coffee and knows how to google. But I can tell you that these things do matter.

Because they are people



 They matter because it is not okay for me to enjoy luxury that barely sustains the life of another human. Just because we are a world away (both literally and figuratively) does not mean we are not responsible for how our consuming habits affect these farmers. Forgive me for the comparison, but just because we don't own a plantation doesn't mean we're not benefiting from glorified slave labor.

However, I would not advocate just going out and buying a bag of Fair Trade coffee and feeling better about yourself because, like I said, Fair Trade is a relative term.

I am advocating caring.

I mean caring enough to really look at where your coffee is coming from, to ask questions and do research. I am advocating supporting organizations that demonstrate a real love for the people growing coffee. Two organizations that I avidly recommend are Land of 1000 Hills Coffee and the One Cup Project. These are two small, Christian, on-the-ground organizations that I believe really put their money where their mouth is.

Land of 1000 Hills supports two farming cooperatives in Rwanda and are in the process of starting one up in Haiti (!!!). For $27 a month you can get two 12-oz bags of fresh roasted Rwandan coffees of your choice in your mailbox (I recommend the Rwandan Medium Roast).

The One Cup Project is an affiliate of Silver Cup Coffee. For every $11 12-oz bag of coffee you buy, One Cup donates $2 to World Vision and, through fund-matching grands from USAID, Care and Land O'Lakes, $11 is generated to fund several projects in Zambia.

These are just two of many options for you. From small socially-conscious coffee shops to specialty blends from major coffee roasters, there are many people out there dedicated to truly giving a fair trade to the people growing the coffee that we enjoy. I urge you to look into what is available to you. Ask the owner of your coffee shop where their coffee comes from, call the roaster but, most of all, follow the money!

If you happen to be in the area, stop by and I'll make you a cup of the yummiest, socially-conscious, Rwandan french-press you've ever had.

--Sarah Elizabeth