About Cafe Evoke Catering

    Café Evoke Catering's mission is more than coffee; it is a passionate interaction with the local and global communities. We use Fair Trade Certified products whenever we can. When Café Evoke Catering is at your event, rest assured your coffee, tea, and espresso is Fair Trade Certified.

    When you hire one of our Baristas, you are getting a trained professional who is passionate about coffee from the bean to the cup. We strive to give each and every one of our clients the personal attention that is deserved.

    Please contact us today for booking and package information. You can email us through our website or call 405-517-0517.

    Thank you for choosing a Fair Trade coffee catering company. We look forward to a long friendship.

    ..be bold (Oh, and tell your friends!)

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    Saturday, April 08, 2006

    Its about Life

    I was meeting with a friend/roaster/cafe owner in Nashville over a year ago and he told me story of a trip to a coffee growing country. The group that went soon formed Cooperative Coffees. They went with Habitat for Humanity to build homes in coffee growing regions. The part I remember most about this story was when the told me of a particular coffee farmer and his family.
    We went to the job site that day to find a family of coffee growers with a house that resembled a tent if anything else. It was sad to see the living conditions. The site manager got the plans out and begin looking at the plot to see how the house could fit and was marking trees that just had to go. He turned around to find the father of the family running toward them with his arms raised and waving. He told the contractor that he could not cut down this group of 4 trees. This was his coffee "plantation" and if they were to cut this down, their entire revenue stream, the one thing that brings in money for the family, would be ruined. The farmer says that he would rather have the trees than a the brand new house that this group was there to build for them -- for free.
    This is why fairly traded coffee is as important to my wife and me and Cafe Evoke as anything else. Yes, we are an independent and might not be able to make as big of an impact as some of the large chains if they dedicated their time, effort, and money to the cause but we will do what we can.

    By working together, we can help make a difference in the global coffee industry. Request Fair Trade certified coffees and teas at your local coffee place. Ask your grocery stores to stock more Fair Trade foods on their shelves. A few extra cents per pound does not seem like a lot of money to us but for the small coffee growers, it can be life or death. Think about it, would you be willing to cut 3 or 4 trees down for a brand new house at no cost to you? For these farmers, 3 trees is to many and could cause the family to run out of money before the year end.

    ...be bold

    Tagged: , , ,

    ...a thought by Cafe Evoke Coffee Catering at 4/08/2006 07:39:00 AM

    Comments on "Its about Life"

     

    Anonymous Bird Barista said ... (4/08/2006 02:30:00 PM) : 

    If I'm not mistaken, Cooperative Coffees members have direct relationships with their producers, and pay them fair trade prices, or more. However, the members have broken with TransFair USA, which certifies here in the U.S., because they feel that TransFair is too corporate-friendly, among other things. So, ironically, members (some if not all) do not sell CERTIFIED Fair Trade coffee, although they uphold all the worthwhile principals. You are right that we need to look for socially responsible and environmentally sustainable coffees; they just might not all be certified. Same with shade coffee...I'm working on how best to identify worthy uncertified shade coffees at Coffee & Conservation now.

     

    Blogger big mike said ... (4/08/2006 05:24:00 PM) : 

    FWIW, the the Wall Street Journal had a front page article on the coffee business this morning. Specifically: Dunkin' Donuts bid to become a nationwide player against Starbucks.

     

    Blogger Jason Duncan said ... (4/09/2006 06:46:00 PM) : 

    Bird Barista,

    Thanks for pointing that out. I think you bring up a good point and one worth discussing. If the co-op shows numbers and details what they are paying for coffee, is it okay to not be certified Fair Trade by TransFair?

    There is a big push for companies to buy certfied products but how about the people that have personal relationships with growers and coffee producers? It is more imporant that fair prices are paid, not that the label appears. It is not always easy, however, to feel confident that coffees, teas, and other products not carrying the label were fairly traded.

    Thanks again for bringing that up.

    ..be bold

     

    Blogger Jason Haeger said ... (4/13/2006 02:04:00 PM) : 

    I think the major problem with Fair Trade is that it's become a selling point in itself. People seem to have a clearer conscience when they buy Fair Trade coffee.. even if they don't know what all that entails.

    The other part of the equation is how difficult and expensive it actually is to become certified in the first place.

    Same story with organic.. alot of farms can't afford to NOT grow organic coffee, which in turn results in not being able to afford being awarded Certified Organic status.

    There is a whole lot of muck around these labels. A little research wouldn't hurt.

     

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