Fair Trade Coffee

Click the Banner to go to the Cafe Campesino website to get the Special below:

10% off any size bags (1lb, 2lb, 5lb) of Peru Viennese Roast – A medium-bodied coffee with citrusy sweet fragrance, aroma, and flavor. Hints of smokiness in the aftertaste with a smooth acidity. Grown and harvested in the central Amazon region by our friends and partners at CAC Pangoa. Read about this farmer coop in Producer Profile.
Use code pangoa at checkout for your 10% discount. Offer good through February 28th.

Try this delicious coffee recipe:
Mocha Picchu Au Lait
In celebration of Café Campesino co-founder Bill Harris safe return from Machu Picchu, the Café Campesino baristas have whipped up a drink to commemorate his adventure. We call it the Mocha Picchu Au Lait. It is a mixture of the traditional café au lait, using Peruvian coffee from our friends at CAC Pangoa, and chocolate. (Serves 5-6).

Ingredients:
4 cups of Café Campesino Peru Viennese Roast coffee
4 cups of milk
1 milk chocolate bar, chopped (2oz of Fair Trade chocolate syrup by Dagoba will work well, too.)

Preparation:
1. Brew the coffee.
2. In a medium sauce pan, bring the milk to a simmer.
3. Add the chocolate to the milk, and stir until melted.
4. Fill your mug half-way with the coffee, and then add the chocolate and milk mixture.

For an extra treat, top it off with whipped cream.

Producer Profile
CAC Pangoa in Peru
Tucked away in the central Amazon region of Peru, just east of the Andean mountain range that runs through the center of the country, CAC Pangoa (Cooperativa Agraria Cafetalera Pangoa) has been serving its members since 1977. The coop has experienced a colorful history of good and hard times. It was founded by 50 farmers from a coop in neighboring city, Satipo, and grew to nearly 1700 members at its peak (in the early 1980s). With 3% of every sale, Pangoa was able to build most of the infrastructure that it uses to this day. During the period that’s known as El Terrorismo (“the terrorism”) when the Shining Path violently swept through what had, up to the late ’80s, been the peaceful, isolated, rural areas of Peru, killing thousands of innocent people and carrying out a determined campaign of instilling paralyzing fear. CAC Pangoa lost hundreds of farmers who fled to cities to escape the terror. Since then, they have regained membership and currently serve approximately 600 members (2009).

CAC Pangoa began encouraging its members to switch to organics through a formalized program of training and documenting practices according to OCIA (international organic certifier) standards. In 2002, they got their first certification; today, about 50% of their members are either in transition or already certified organic. In 2001, they received FLO certification but had trouble finding a market to export to. Dutch NGO Green Development Fund sponsored the coop to send current manager Esperanza Dionisio and the president to go to the SCAA gathering in the US in 2003 where they learned of Cooperative Coffees. Since 2003, Pangoa has put forth strong efforts to provide Coop Coffees with high quality, consistent Fair Trade, organic coffee.

The coop is involved in the lives of its members beyond the purchasing and selling of their coffee. From promoting education to gender equality to better quality of life, Pangoa provides an exemplary model of Fair Trade. The Women’s Development Committee (Comite de Desarrollo de la Mujer) works to benefit the female members, wives, and daughters. They organize medical check-ups for all women over 30 years old for prevention and early detection of several diseases. The committee is an integral part of the cooperative and strengthens it by forming new leaders and members with a new vision of development that includes and appreciates the female voice. Read more at the Cafe Campesino website.