The Coffee CUP Handbook

Transcription

1 The Coffee CUP Handbook How to start using and/or selling fairly traded coffee (and more) in your congregation All Nicaragua photos were taken during the 2010 PC(USA) Enough for Everyone trip Table of Contents What difference can a good cup of coffee make? 2 What is Coffee CUP? 2 What is Equal Exchange? 2 What is Fair Trade? 3 What is the Presbyterian Coffee Project? 3 How to Get Involved 4 Way 1: Using Equal Exchange Coffee at your church 4 Way 2: Selling Equal Exchange Coffee to your Congregation 5 Overcoming cost/budget concerns 6 Educating your congregation about Equal Exchange and Fair Trade 6 How to get started 7 Determining price 7 How to order 7 Reprintable newsletter announcements 8-9 Contact information 10

2 What difference can a good cup of coffee make? The Coffee CUP (Caring and United Partnership) program of the Cincinnati Presbytery was founded by three individual congregations to promote the benefits of Fair Trade coffees, teas, chocolates and cocoa throughout the Presbytery. By serving and selling Fair Trade products, you can: Energize your church fellowship (quite literally, unless you re brewing decaf) by serving coffees, teas and cocoas that encourage warmth and camaraderie Draw adults to Christian education by serving delicious products Be involved in world mission and justice-- simply by drinking very good products Support hard-working small-scale farmers and their families who grow coffee in some of the poorest countries in the world Follow Christ's command to "Do unto others" by providing these small farm families a living wage for a delicious product Exchange as a way to enjoy quality products while promoting good stewardship, economic justice and global connectedness. What is Equal Exchange? Founded in 1986, Equal Exchange is a worker-owned cooperative based in Massachusetts that empowers both farmers and consumers by supporting family farms that use organic methods. Equal Exchange partners with cooperatives of small-scale farmers who make their own decisions on business and community matters. Equal Exchange's mission is to build longterm trade partnerships that are economically Meet Norman Aguilar, one of the farmers of the El Tesoro Cooperative in Nicaragua, suppliers of high-quality, organic coffee to Equal Exchange. Ready to make a difference by the coffee you serve? Good! We invite you to join us. What is Coffee CUP? The Presbytery of Cincinnati recently endorsed Coffee CUP (Caring & United Partnership) as a congregational mission partnership. Founded by three churches (Union, Community of Faith and Fort Thomas), the purpose of Coffee CUP is to encourage and support the serving of Fair Trade coffee within congregations and to encourage the personal use of Fair Trade coffees, teas and chocolate from Equal Norman inherited about 17 acres of land high on a mountainside. Through the profits of fair trade coffee, he has been able to buy additional land. Today Norman owns 120 acres, 25 of which are planted with coffee. In fact, he has so many coffee trees now that he has to hire 20 workers to help with the harvest, helping to spread the economic benefits of fair trade coffee. 2

3 just and environmentally sound, to foster mutually beneficial relationships between farmers and consumers and to be involved in creating a more equitable, democratic and sustainable world. Equal Exchange products include fairly traded and organic coffee, tea, chocolate and snacks from farmers around the world. Equal Exchange has created an Interfaith Program solely to work with faith communities, including the PC(USA) through the Presbyterian Coffee Project. You can find more on Equal Exchange at What is Fair Trade? Fair Trade was created to provide producers with a basic level of security, a social net to raise people out of abject conditions so that All the coffee of El Tesoro is organically grown. The minimum price for organic Fair Trade coffee, set by the Fairtrade Labeling Organization, is $1.51* per pound. Equal Exchange pays farmers a minimum price of $1.56* per pound of organic coffee. Compared to the current world price for nonfair-trade organic coffee of about $1.30* per pound, El Tesoro co-op farmers earned an additional $28,500 in 2010 than they would have gotten on the world market. (*as of Jan. 2010) they would have the ability to approach their situations with more complex strategies, not to alleviate poverty, but to change their economic conditions. The original founders of Fair Trade knew that economic conditions don t change by extending charity. They understood the far more impactful goal of supporting farmer organizations so that together, the farmers can tackle the myriad issues which will enable them to create better conditions for themselves. Organized farmers build economic and political power, create social programs, lobby governments, enlist the collaboration of others by building solidarity networks. This is the true power (and potential) of Fair Trade. (Source: What is the Presbyterian Coffee Project? The Presbyterian Coffee Project offers a special link between congregations and communities around the world. Churches can now reach out to neighbors overseas not only with the prayers and offerings we give, but with the goods and products we purchase. A warm cup of coffee (or tea) in our hands is perhaps the most tangible daily connection we have with farmers around the world. It represents warmth, hospitality, fellowship, hard work and life s pleasures both fine and simple. Buying Fair Trade through the Presbyterian Coffee Project ensures that more of the money we spend on coffee reaches the hardworking farmers who actually grow it. You can find more on the Presbyterian Coffee Project at gamc.pcusa.org/ministries/enough/ presbyterian-coffee-project. 3

4 How to Get Involved You can choose how much (or how little) to get involved with Fair Trade at your church. We think that it s easy to start small and grow, if you choose, and we hope this handbook will make it similarly simple to start big. Way 1: Easiest The simplest way to gets started is to serve Equal Exchange coffee at your church during fellowship time and at church events. Here s how to determine which type of coffee you ll need If your church has a commercial coffee brewer similar to this, you can use the Equal Exchange pillow packs. They are premeasured so that you use one pack for each pot of coffee. If you grind your own or choose ground drip, don t skimp on coffee. Bunn recommends one 8-ounce cup of ground coffee for a 12-cup pot of coffee and a heaping cup for 15-cup pumpers. Some churches use carbon-filtered water, especially if city water tastes chlorine. If your church has a home-style coffeemaker, you can get 12 oz. bags in ground or whole bean (you need a grinder for whole bean). If you use a lot of coffee at your church, you can choose economical 2-pound bags of whole bean coffee (available in limited varieties). If you have a 1.5-gallon brewer, satellite packs are also available. If you use a percolator, Equal Exchange has special 1-pound packages specially ground for percolator brewing, or you can use the economical 2- pound bags of whole bean (with a coffee grinder). All available products are listed on the Presbyterian order form (available on this web page: Accessorize, accessorize, accessorize Equal Exchange offers several products to complete your coffee fellowship, including organic sugar packs and biodegradable/recyclable coffee cups and lids. While these certainly aren t necessary, they are a good way to continually promote the fact that you serve Fair Trade coffee at your church. 4

5 Way 2: More demanding (but a great way to get more people involved) The second approach (admittedly somewhat more time-consuming) is to make Equal Exchange products available to individual members of your congregation for their personal use. The churches that started Coffee CUP do this in different ways. Option A: You can buy coffee, teas and chocolates and then sell those products at a kiosk/cart at the church every Sunday or on select Sundays. For questions on this approach, contact Jack Kleier by at jhklr@fuse.net or call Pros You generally have product available to sell whenever you have an interested customer Appeals to impulse buyers Cons Requires upfront, out-of-pocket investment until the products are purchased You may not have the product in stock that the person is looking for (though you can always take an order and include it with your next order) Option B: You can accept orders from the congregation, place those orders monthly and distribute at the church (on Communion Sundays, for example). This can be done by paper order form (distributed by church newsletter, Sunday bulletin, in the church pews, wherever your session and minister feel comfortable distributing) or through a website. Coffee CUP has developed a website template for ordering and would be happy to work with you on customizing it for your church. (For more on the website template, Andy Long at longa@nku.edu or call CUP also has a paper pamphlet that can be adapted for your church (for more information, contact Dean Shupe, dean.shupe@uc.edu, phone ). Pros Church members can purchase from a range of products, not just what is in stock (Note: orders to Equal Exchange are subject to split case charges, covered in the next section) This format is well-suited to forming a "club," joining with other churches in your area to help offset shipping and split-case costs Cons Money needs to be collected before placing orders or once products are delivered to church members Church members may not want to wait to get their purchases (deliveries from Equal Exchange typically take about 7-10 days) Products are occasionally out of stock at Equal Exchange, which requires going back to the customer to change their order 5

6 Overcoming cost/budget concerns A common concern many congregations have is that Equal Exchange is more expensive than cans of coffee from the grocery or Samʼs Club (especially the mega-tubs of coffee). And that is a valid concern, especially in todayʼs economy. But Equal Exchange is much less expensive than similar quality coffee (compare a bag of coffee at Starbucks, for example), and that can of grocery or club coffee usually isnʼt organic or fairly traded, which means the farmer who grew it may not be earning a living wage for all his hard work. And, frankly, we think it doesnʼt taste as good or as fresh. You may want to address cost concerns by promoting the positive benefits of Fair Trade coffee in your fellowship time and adult education. Also, a member or members of your congregation may be willing to underwrite all or a portion of the cost--or you can place a basket near the coffee pot for donations. In addition, the Coffee CUP partnership has limited matching funds available to help defray costs while you get started. For more information about matching funds, contact Dean Shupe by at dean.shupe@uc.edu or phone We believe that once your congregation tastes how good it is and understands the social justice aspects of Fair Trade products, it will be easier to gain congregational support. Educating your congregation about Equal Exchange and Fair Trade Many people get excited about Equal Exchange products when they understand they are getting a good product at a good price that supports a good cause (a living wage for small farmers and their families in some of the poorest countries in the world). A number of items are available to assist your congregation in learning about Equal Exchange and Fair Trade, including: A 10-minute DVD presentation produced by Coffee CUP is ideal for sharing information about Equal Exchange and Fair Trade with your session, mission committee or adult Sunday school classes. It is based on Daryl Knauer's recent trip to Nicaragua with the PC(USA) s Enough for Everyone delegation. A representative from Coffee CUP will be happy to be on hand to answer questions (for the DVD or to schedule an in-person presentation, Daryl Knauer at dknauer@insightbb.com or call A wide range of promotional material, such as bulletin inserts, flyers, display racks, posters and tent cards, is available from Equal Exchange--much of it free of charge. You can learn more or order these materials at the Equal Exchange website. A representative from Equal Exchange meets with Norman Aguilar and his son Norman Jr. Several newsletter announcements have been developed by Coffee CUP to help church members better understand Equal Exchange products and Fair Trade. These are included in the back of this handbook and can be edited specifically for your church. (See the end of this handbook for all of the announcements). 6

7 How to Get Started We recommend recruiting a few coffee enthusiasts who you can count on to be vocal supporters of a good product. (It helps if they are also enthusiastic about adult education, fellowship and/or mission). Determining price Equal Exchange currently charges $3.50 for shipping and $3.00 for a mixed case (as of 7/1/10). We recommend a small price markup to cover these costs and to simplify pricing. (For example, charging $ = $6.00 for a 12-oz bag of organic coffee). How to order 1. Set up an account with Equal Exchange. 2. Order a case (6 bags) for your coffee enthusiasts to sample. We think all of the coffees weʼve tasted are quite good, but Organic Mind Body Soul Blend and Organic Colombian are two favorites. Organic Decaffeinated is a good decaf choice for fellowship time. A sampler of pillow packs is also available. Focus initially on coffee and don't worry about shipping & mixed-case charges. You can use a credit card to order directly from the Equal Exchange Interfaith Program store but the online order form doesn't accept mixed cases. You can also order by phone or by fax (mixed case orders accepted). An order form for the Presbyterian Coffee Project is available online. More information is at " Credit terms: To establish a credit agreement for your congregation with Equal Exchange, call them at or interfaith@equalexchange.coop. If you have any questions about ordering or establishing an account with Equal Exchange, contact Dean Shupe by at dean.shupe@uc.edu or phone Whether you expect payment in advance for orders is up to you. The member churches of Coffee CUP currently accept IOU's from church members, which is helpful to church members who would like to order but donʼt have cash or a check with them. 4. Once your shipment arrives, orders will need to be distributed. We recommend obtaining approval from your minister/ session to distribute these before or after Sunday service. We also highly recommend obtaining addresses with orders so that you can send order reminders and alert purchasers to upcoming deliveries. " IMPORTANT NOTE About Chocolate Bar Shipping To ensure that chocolate bars donʼt melt in transit, Equal Exchange ships bars via normal methods only during October through April. You may still order chocolate bars from May through September, but they are shipped in an insulated container for an additional cost. Coffee CUP churches order a quantity of the most popular bars before shipping stops for the summer to have some on hand for our addicted customers (and trust us, they are addictive!) 7

8 Newsletter Announcements Please feel free to tailor these to your church: We re now serving Equal Exchange coffee Our church is proud to serve Equal Exchange fairly traded coffee during fellowship time. Equal Exchange is a worker-owned Fair Trade company that builds equitable trade relations with cooperatives of small-scale farmers, while also working to reform an increasingly consolidated and unjust food system. Enjoy a little taste of justice! Did You Know? It takes about $2000 to buy the coffee harvest from a typical small Latin American family farm. That farm might support 6 to 8 people: grandmothers, infants, children, uncles and all. Fair Trade means they get a fair price for their work, a chance to stay on their land and build a future. Our support of Equal Exchange helps extend Fair Trade across our planet--family by family, hillside by hillside, continent by continent. Small Farmers, Big Change Coffee and chocolate are big business, but small-scale farmers see few of the benefits. As large corporations tighten their grip on the food industry, small farmers find themselves increasingly vulnerable, with little say in matters that affect their families, their farmland and their communities. Weʼre now offering Equal Exchange products Our church is proud to offer Equal Exchange fairly traded organic coffees, teas, and chocolates from small-scale farmers all over the world. Equal Exchange is a worker-owned Fair Trade company that builds equitable trade relations with cooperatives of small-scale farmers, while also working to reform an increasingly consolidated and unjust food system. Try a little taste of justice! For more information, contact [ADD YOUR NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATION]. But Equal Exchange believes there's a better way to do business. EE guarantees its farmer partners a fair and stable price, as well as a long-term relationship. The farmers are organized into co-ops, owned and run by the farmers themselves. By choosing EE products, you are helping to keep farm communities alive and rural cultures strong. And because EE products are grown sustainably, we also get healthy foods that won't harm the planet. We are proud to offer Equal Exchange products to our congregations. For more information, contact [ADD YOUR NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATION]. 8

9 What is Fair Trade? All Equal Exchange products are fairly traded. That means small-scale farmers earn a fairer share of the income generated by their hard work, which enables them to adequately care for their families. Equal Exchange chooses to work with farmers who work together and pool their resources to form a cooperative so that they can sell their products without relying on middlemen. Instead of providing charity to temporarily assist these farmers, Fair Trade helps develop long-term, ongoing relationships that fundamentally change the food supply system, enabling farmers to improve the living conditions of their families and their communities. Organic Chocolate Bars The premium Fair Trade organic cacao in Equal Exchange chocolate bars is grown by small farmers organized into cooperatives in the Dominican Republic, Panama and Peru. The organic sugar and organic vanilla are both Fair Trade Certified. The sugar comes from small co-ops in Paraguay and Costa Rica, while the vanilla is grown by a farmer association in Madagascar. For more information, contact [ADD YOUR NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATION]. Cooperatives can use the additional profits to make improvements in their communities, such as building schools or health clinics, improving farm conditions and providing training in areas such as biodiversity and leadership development. From a health standpoint, farmers who work with Equal Exchange use environmentally friendly growing practices that benefit farm families, the planet and the quality of the coffee you drink. To order Equal Exchange products, contact [ADD YOUR NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATION]. 9

10 Questions? Feedback? We would love to hear from you. Dean Shupe Dean is the founder of Coffee CUP and is our direct contact with Equal Exchange. He can answer questions you might have about the ordering process. Daryl Knauer The coffee beans of El Tesoro are sent to a dry mill, a modern processing facility owned jointly by El Tesoro and other co-ops formed by small farmers to give them greater control over their product and to enable them to earn additional profits for their coffees that would previously have gone to middlemen. The original store room for the dry mill was built in 2008 with a grant; the land was purchased with co-op profits. In 2009 they used co-op profits to acquire more land and build a new warehouse, office and honey processing center. At the dry mill, each lot of coffee is tagged and tracked throughout the process, giving the co-op a level of quality control that European and US buyers demand. For further quality control, the dry mill has its own testing and cupping lab (shown above). They roast, grind and make fresh coffee right on the spot and this is where they determine the taste profile. Daryl Knauer was a delegate with the recent PC(USA) s Enough for Everyone trip to Nicaragua to visit with farmers and families of El Tesoro, an Equal Exchange co-op. He is available for presentations on either the PC(USA) s involvement with Fair Trade or the economic/social justice aspects of Equal Exchange coffee. Jack Kleier jhklr@fuse.net Jack Kleier buys a quantity of Equal Exchange products and sells them from a kiosk at his church. He adds an additional amount per product, which is used to help fund mission programs. Jack can answer questions about the kiosk system of selling Equal Exchange products. Andy Long longa@nku.edu Andy maintains the website for the churches that founded Coffee CUP. He can provide more information about operating an order website and provide a website template for your church or coffee club. Steve Long salong_now@yahoo.com Steve is a member of Mt. Washington Presbyterian and an avid Equal Exchange consumer and supporter. 10