ethicalcoffee

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As we await our next import from Nicaragua we have arranged with our fantastic roaster Stephen to provide something a little different for July! 

This El Salvador Pacamara is a very large bean with a wonderfully round and buttery yet refreshing taste! 

You can order yours right here: https://ethicalcoffee.co/order

We would love to hear your feedback!

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Ransom & Adam, hanging out at Ethical Coffee HQ (Canada). Skyping a little later with Andrew Perez out in California. Phone call with Gus in Nicaragua shortly (hopefully).

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Fun-sized order goin' in the mail. 1 bag o' Gus's farm-direct beans, some member cards, a sample newsletter and handwritten note.

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Where our coffee comes from — our first farm, Gus Santos's Santa Elena plantation in the mountains of Jinotega, northern Nicaragua. 

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Yoani and the L'Unik Co-op folks just made a great series of videos for the event in Toronto our farmer Gus will be at tomorrow night. This is "Part 2". Here are links for Part 1 and Part 3.

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Gus is visiting Ontario!

We've had a surprise visit from our coffee farmer Gus Santos, who is in Ontario this week and next! If you happen to be in the area and free, please join us tomorrow night — Tuesday, Oct 9 @ 6pm-11:30pm, at Glendon College in Toronto. Gus, along with Ethical Coffee founders Yoani and Adam, will be hanging out, answering questions, and Gus will be discussing his experiences taking over the family coffee plantation, what it was like growing for Starbucks, his trials and tribulations in the coffee industry, and what is coming for farmers and workers in the coming months and years.  The event is at L'Unik Co-op (a beautiful little student-run cafe that sells our coffee) in the basement/terrace of Glendon Manor. There will be free coffee, beer and wine for sale, and other snacks and goods.  See L'Unik's Facebook event page for more information. We're sorry this is so last minute. Gus will be in the province for another week or so, staying with the dairy farmer family in Fergus who he worked for to put himself through college and university while he was living in Ontario as a young man. If anyone really wants to meet up with us, or has any other opportunities for sales calls, appearances or events we'd do well to try to get Gus out to, let us know!  Thanks, and hope to see you there!

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Looks like the guys at Big Bang Technology got their ethical coffee shipment!

Personalised notes from your coffee supplier: never a bad thing! 

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Notes from Directors Update - 02/06/12:     

1. Update on recent conversation with Gus Santos: 

a. Global coffee prices are plummeting and dropping below the cost of production for farmers. This means coffee farmers and laborers are going to be struggling. This will also have an impact on our coffee quality. Should also translate into lower consumer prices. 

b. This also makes the case for direct trade and relationships with our coffee farmers to support them through low periods of coffee prices. 

2. Director resignation, Director nomination: 

a. Dave Wierzbicki is nominated as a new director to ECC's board. 

b. Jessica Duarte has resigned as a director. 

3. Management training and education. 

a. New books acquired to increase management capacity of ECC. 

Titles: Pitch Anything; Financial Statements; Financial Intelligence for Entrepreneurs; The Start-Up Owner's Manual. 

4. Coffee/ Grean Bean / Roasting

a. ECC will be importing 600 lbs of Gus's green bean in the next 30 days. 

b. Will be roasting locally in Brantford Ontario. 

c. Need to fire sale 285 pounds of ground coffee. Please call us if you want a bulk order. We will get you a deal! 

5. Travels: Nicarauga / Canada

a. Adam and Yoani might go to Nicaragua in the near future. 

b. Gus might be coming to Canada in August 2012. 

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Ryan Taylor of FTJCo has been a great friend and advisor to us as we struggled to get this project off the ground, so it was really exciting to see this fantastic three-part video series on how his company sources their fair trade metals, works with clients, and more. Short and super watchable! 

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Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.

Dr. Seuss

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Sampling the first batch of our first farmer's coffee! 

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Welcome to the Ethical Coffee Chain blog

We'll be posting a variety of bits here—from director's updates to random fun—as we make our way on this journey. If you've got ideas on things we should talk about, give us a shout at info@ethicalcoffee.co. And thank you all for your support!