Cold Organic Coffee Perfect for Hot Summer Days

To help coffee drinkers switching from hot to cold coffee during the hot summer months, the Organic Coffee Collaboration, a project of the Organic Trade Association (OTA), is providing seven delicious cold organic coffee recipes. These include iced coffee, malteds, and even cold coffee shakes blended with avocado! The organic coffee drinks can be made with organic decaffeinated, caffeinated, flavored and instant coffees widely available at retail outlets nationwide and direct from roasters via the Internet.

Bolivian organic coffee farmers target niche markets

In the green and misty hills of Bolivia's tropical Yungas region, thousands of farming families are working together to get better prices for their organic, high-altitude coffee.

May is the start of the harvest for the Yungas cooperatives and red coffee berries hang heavy on their branches in the shade of mandarin trees and banana plants. Everywhere, families are at work, picking, hulling and sun-drying the coffee beans on which their rural way of life depends.

"Our coffee compares well with coffee from Jamaica or Central America but it's not so well-known. We still need to earn the confidence of buyers," said expert coffee taster and grower Martin Oluri, adding that the region's coffee is characterized by chocolate, honey and citrus flavors.

Winner: Best Organic Wine

At the Los Angeles County Fair Wines of the World Competition, judges rated 3,786 wines entered from 18 countries. Their vote for the best organic wine: 2005 Bonterra Vineyards Muscat, Bartolucci Vineyard, Lake County, California ($16-$18) - Their description: "a delightful, light and delicate little orange blossom."

Cotton’s sustainability story hits the road

Agriculture’s latest buzzword “sustainability” probably has as many definitions as it does letters, nevertheless, whatever it is is impacting agriculture from the turn row to the retail counter.

California wine grape growers have had a major sustainability push for several years and others are trying to meet a sustainability litmus test to mollify consumers.

Cotton is the latest crop to be called on the sustainability carpet, not yet by consumers but by people who buy cotton and make and sell textile products from the natural fiber.

What's new with food? These healthful products

Amid the flavored water, organic beef jerky and other samples offered by 2,000 exhibitors at the Food Marketing Institute's trade show this month in Chicago, a theme with a familiar flavor emerged.

Food companies are catering, above all, to consumers' desire for ever-more-healthful, ever-more-organic products.

How a £1.50 chocolate bar saved a Mayan community from destruction

Green & Black's Maya Gold, the first British Fairtrade product, is more than an organic chocolate bar - it's the livelihood for a whole district of Belize. But with demand outstripping supply, could a newly discovered 19th-century cacao plantation be the answer?

What is fair trade?

The idea of fair trade dates back to the 1940s when American churches were selling handicrafts made by refugees in Europe after World War II. The first fair trade certification of commodities began in 1988, when coffee was imported from Nicaragua and Mexico according to “fair trade” standards. Most international trade, however, operates under so-called “free trade” standards.

So what is the difference between “free trade” and “fair trade”? Free trade is so named because the prices of goods and services are market-driven, all producers get the same conditions (in theory) and there are no import limits. Does that actually happen? Not so often. In reality, certain industries get government financial help so that they can sell their goods at unfairly low “dumping” price levels. Furthermore, the large corporations that control most of the world’s coffee trade strive to undercut each other on price, which they commonly achieve by cutting wages and benefits to laborers. When these workers earn about $.80 per pound of coffee – while consumers pay double that, and more, for a single cup – “free trade” becomes something less than fair.

The fair trade movement, sometimes called the trade justice movement, promotes standards for the production and trade of different goods and services. Fair trade strives not only for economic development, but also for social justice, environmental protection, and maintaining stronger trade connections.

Labels used in United States ("Fair Trade Certified"), United Kingdom ("Fairtrade") and Europe ("Max Havelaar") are a guarantee that the producers of the goods you buy meet fair trade standards. Today, 19 countries have their own labeling initiatives which operate under the guidelines of the Fairtrade Labelling Organization, and more than 500 partner organizations have already been certified in accordance with international fair trade standards. They require a guarantee of fair process, no child or slave labor, anti-dumping practices, and high quality standards. In addition, they must employ environmentally-friendly growing methods. Thus organic farming is often linked with fair trade movement, because of the common emphasis on environmental and social balance. All these standards also follow the conventions of the International Labor Organization.

As consumers, we don’t need to donate large sums of money to make a difference. When we choose fair trade products – such as coffee, bananas, tea, chocolate, honey, sugar, orange juice or flowers - we support the movement. We help third world producers keep their farms, and improve the living and working conditions of small farmers, workers, and families in regions that need us the most.

It's Not Enough to Be a Vegetarian

here wasn't much wiggle room left for the casual carnivore when über-ethicist Peter Singer got finished with us in 1973. That's when his uncompromising assault on trans-species suffering, Animal Liberation, had millions of readers trading in their T-bones for tofu.

But now even the moral high ground of a vegetarian lifestyle isn't good enough. Singer's new book, The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter argues that, all things considered, only a vegan lifestyle will do. The reasons go far beyond Singer's past exposés of animal abuse and factory farming. Tracking the source of food served at three very different American tables, Singer and his co-author Jim Mason uncover more than they could swallow.

Cool beans

At 8,000 feet, the air is pure and clear in Chiapas, a state in southern Mexico where steep, green hillsides are plushly carpeted in maize fields, banana plants, and coffee trees. Here, in the rich, volcanic soil, the trees break out in red berries that, when mature, produce $250 million in prized altura coffee each year.

Unfortunately, due to the volatility of the coffee market, a lack of equipment and technical know-how, and profiteering middlemen, these Chiapas campesinos, many of whom farm on less than seven acres, live on about $3 a day — less than the price of one Venti latte at Starbucks. ...

Fair Trade practices are viewed as one solution to the coffee crisis, which persists despite rising international prices and demand. Fair Trade principles prohibit forced child labor and provide living wages for farmers, while sustaining their communities. And there are environmental benefits, as well: Although sun-grown coffee produces greater yields, Fair Trade coffee is shade-grown, which eliminates the need for clear-cutting and preserves delicate ecosystems. And since many farmers can’t afford pesticides and other chemicals, there is an ample supply of organic Fair Trade coffee.

Organic farms help to plough in rich returns

KOCHI: Here is some good news for the health buffs and die-hard greens. Organic farming in the country is gradually becoming a movement and those who practice it, a force to reckon with.

The natural progression of organic wines

Not so long ago, folks interested in organic foods and wines had little to choose from; "organic dining" meant a bowl of brown rice and a glass of uninspired wine.

In recent years, though, as demand for organic choices continues to grow, wineries have responded with quality and variety. Still others, committed to the advantages of natural growing methods, are bottling organic wines while leaving "organic" off the label.

Another commercially-available source for organic tea

Bigelow, Inc. has introduced certified Organic Green Tea and Organic Decaffeinated Green Tea, a healthy experience for consumers and the environment, to its more than 50 varieties of specialty teas. Bigelow has put its delightful organic green tea in airtight, flavor-protecting fresh packs to ensure a smooth, all-natural cup each time it is brewed.

The 96-cent daily grind - the real effects of fair trade coffee

Perhaps you're reading this over a cup of coffee. Maybe a Starbucks coffee. Maybe you even paid extra for Shirkina beans, a fair-trade variety that sells for the conscience-soothing premium price of $10 (U.S.) a pound in North America. The employees of Ethiopia's largest coffee processing factory and the small family farmers — all 86,762 of them — who grew the Shirkina beans would like to thank you.

Panel discusses benefits of fair trade coffee

Some would consider the idea of choosing a more expensive coffee simply because the label says “fair trade” to be ridiculous. But many people are doing just that, and a panel of speakers experienced in the coffee industry and fair trade came to Seattle University on May 10 to explain why.

Organic wine - it's around you, but it might be hard to tell

"People will sleep better not knowing how their sausage and politics are made," Otto von Bismarck said — and he might have added wine to the list, though one sees the Iron Chancellor as more of a beer man. The production of wine grapes in recent decades has become a festival of chemicals — pesticides, fertilizers — from which many of us instinctively avert our gaze; we like wine, we want good wine, and when we get good wine, we are not inclined to ask any questions. Still, there is growing evidence that a paradigm shift is under way, to judge by the public relations emphasis that winemakers around the world are placing on organic and biodynamic grape production and on the broader if slightly hazier theme of sustainability.

Can vegan diet fuel an athlete?

Lots of organic-eaters are also vegetarians or vegans. Here's an athlete that insists that protein is no problem on a vegan, whole-foods diet. So what did you eat yesterday? Bradley Saul, a former pro-cyclist and founder of Organic Athlete, stopped in Tucson last week to talk about his organization...What he had munched on that day: half of a case of strawberries, two heads of lettuce chopped into a salad, some oranges and about 50 small dates.

Square One Organic Vodka Debuts

It's not just about organic wine...Square One(TM) Organic Vodka (www.squareonevodka.com) premiered on May 15th, 2006 at a party at Frisson restaurant, just in time for the 200th anniversary of the cocktail (The New York Times, May 12, 2006). Wine and spirits industry veteran Allison Evanow, a Marin County resident who bartended her way through her MBA program, created Square One as a top-shelf artisanal spirit, produced in a socially conscious manner, yet also superior in its flavor profile and stunning in its sustainably-created packaging.

How to know if a product meets fair trade guidelines

Can you really help cure social and environmental ills half a world away just by switching the brand of coffee you drink, or the type of wood you use for home renovation projects?

That's the promise of the "fair trade" movement. And the answer, proponents say, is yes.

Organic food - a German trend goes global

Organic products are not just for eco-freaks nowadays. Supermarkets have discovered the trend too. Germany is a world leader in the organic food movement.

This time it is the other way round. The trend does not come from the United States, but is moving from Germany across the Atlantic. Germans are known for their environmental consciousness and the demand for healthy, untreated food - and increasingly have imitators throughout the world. Healthy food is not just a fad for "lentils fans."

Organic wines make a natural progression

For the past four years, a group from the Sierra Club in Denver has hosted an annual tasting featuring organic and other eco-friendly wines. Last month, on Earth Day, the dinner attracted even more people than Eddie Hackstaff, the group's treasurer and wine guru, had expected. "Interest is so high. A lot of people didn't realize that so much of it is out there in stores," Mr. Hackstaff says, adding that the group's verdict was clear: "They're good."

Organic landscapers brew 'compost tea'

It's becoming a universal truth in many horticultural circles: Organic gardening beats reliance on chemical fertilizers. Chemicals, many organic farmers say, might accomplish growth spurts and higher crop yields, but when it comes to taste, smell, and health, organic is preferable.

Here's a biodynamic winery that's figured it out

Here's a California Central Coast winery that was first organic, then went fully biodynamic. Its 2003 Califa Estate Pinot Noir was rated a coveted 96 by wine writer Robert Parker. Not too shabby!

Biodynamics is Voodoo... Or Not?

Here's an installment of the wine videoblog that I brought up a few days ago, this time about biodynamic wine. Despite being trendy, biodynamics is actually a time-honored organic approach to winemaking that respects the entire ecosystem of the planet. Counter Vegetarian Restaurant has just released a videoblog they shot of a recent masterclass in biodynamics held by the founder of the modern biodynamic movement, French winemaker Nicolas Joly of La Coulee de Serrant.

"Organic" isn't just a new-age trend

Organic husbandy is happening in the wetlands of Hollagaru village in Shimoga district of Karnataka. The high production of arecanut, paddy, vanilla and coffee has changed the fortunes of the local farming community. Read how Indian farmers reap rich dividends by going organic.

What do sheep have to do with organic wine?

Instead of growers spending hundreds of man-hours toting around weed-eating machines or using hundreds of gallons of industrial herbicides, these four-legged nibblers do the job of several workers in less time, with less environmental damage, and often for significantly less money than it would cost to use humans, according to their proponents. Read more...

Why is it so hard to find organic wines?

You can find wine made with organically-grown grapes, but it's harder to find truly organic wines. This article explains why.

Looking for that all-organic vacation?

Scottsdale, Arizona now boasts the first all-organic resort in the United States. With an organic menu, cooking class and produce already available, The Boulders Resort & Golden Door Spa recently began its transformation into an all-organic resort. The resort will soon begin implementing large-scale gardens on the grounds that will produce a variety of produce, herbs and spices for the resort’s kitchens and provide an organic in-room dining menu to guests. Currently, resort guests and local residents can enjoy Scottsdale’s first all natural farmers market at the resort’s festival marketplace, el Pedregal. On Friday evenings from 4 to 7 p.m., the el Pedregal Fresh Marketplace exclusively features seasonal produce from local farmers that is either certified organic, non-certified organic in practice, Natural GrownTM or pesticide free.

New Videoblogs on Organic Wines and More

Counter Vegetarian Restaurant and Organic Wine and Martini Bar, one of New York's premier vegetarian bistros, has recently launched a new series of succinct, informative videoblogs about cuisine, wines and cocktails. Not only about the food, Counter is also dedicated to promoting sustainability, supporting small local organic farmers, and artisanal winemakers who eschew pesticides and practice earth-friendly viticulture.