Millstone -- Some Questions Answered

I received the below email from the company who sent me the samples answering some of my questions from my last post. It is good that these marketing firms are keeping up with those that are talking about their product and trying to answer as many questions as possible. Saw your post on receiving the samples and thought I'd repond to some of your points. The coffees sent to you - Millstone Organic Deep Peruvian Forest Blend, Millstone Organic Nicaraguan Mountain Twilight Blend, and Millstone Organic Mayan Black Onyx Blend - are actually all double-certified as Organic (by the USDA) and Fair Trade (by TransFair America). These three blends are available in bulk, whole bean verities at grocery stores and retail outlets like Wal-Mart nationwide. In addition, as you mention, we also offer Millstone Rainforest Reserve Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee and Millstone Organic Mountain Moonlight Fair Trade Certified coffee. These roasts are available in whole bean, prepacked bags at grocery stores nationwide (you can use the storefinder on the Millstone site to see where they're selling it near you: www.millstone.com). I'll be sure you receive samples of these products later this week. Hope this answers some questions you posed. Let me know if you have others. Because you cannot order any of the Fair Trade Certified products off their website, I took her advice and headed over to site to look up "Bozeman Montana" on their store locator. I found the Organic Mountain Moonlight that is Fair Trade Certified. They have it available under the "whole been prepacks" section. I decided to find out where they sell in Bozeman and got the following results: Stop by one of the stores near you listed below to explore the many varieties of Millstone coffee. Varieties and quantities will vary by store. Please call each store directly to ensure availability of specific products. You searched for: Product: Whole Bean Prepack Variety: Mountain Moonlight Fair Trade Certified within 25 miles of this zip code 59718 Bozeman, MT Search took 14 seconds 2 stores found New Search? Click here -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALBERTSONS 2006 (16 miles) 200 S 23RD AVE BOZEMAN,MT 59715 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- L & F FOOD FARM (21 miles) 106 E MAIN MANHATTAN,MT 59741 While I wish I could say that all the stores in Bozeman carried this blend, only one does. I guess my next step should be to fill out comment cards at each location and try to get more Fair Trade availablity. I know some people still hound these big companies about their Fair Trade blends available, I have to give some credit. This is a start. I would challenge this company to make more of a commentment however. This is a huge company that could make a huge difference. Global Exchange offered an article talking about this companies entrance into the Fair Trade Market. Procter & Gamble's Millstone brand will immediately offer Fair Trade coffee to wholesale accounts such as universities, restaurants, and hospitals. Millstone will eventually begin retailing Fair Trade coffee in supermarkets nationwide. P&G has committed to a major marketing effort to increase the volume of Millstone's Fair Trade sales to at least two to three million pounds within two years. Unfortunately, P&G's Folgers brand will not be offering Fair Trade coffee. This is a disappointment for Global Exchange and our allies, since we had hoped to bring Fair Trade to the millions of coffee drinkers who don't consume specialty coffees. Nevertheless, the P&G agreement marks an important victory—not only for farmers—but also for the larger corporate accountability movement. Procter & Gamble's announcement shows that, when united, citizens can force even the largest corporations to change their business practices. The P&G victory proves that citizen action—the efforts of people just like you—is as powerful as the deepest corporate pockets. If we keep on these guys, maybe we will see Folger's join in and really put some marketing dollars into this campaign. ..be bold Tagged: cafe evoke, coffee catering, coffee, espresso, tea, bozeman, montana, millstone