A Rite Of Spring

Fair Trade Spring Revival coffee is back – just in time to welcome the first tulips and daffodils – and brighten your Spring mornings. This seasonal blend has just been released by Green Mountain Coffee and it’s a pure delight. Full of sweet, floral aromas with touches of mellow honey, this coffee is as pleasant as a sunny meadow in May. Rich,  ripe fruit notes with a dash of citrus and fragrant spices, this coffee is bound to brighten that morning cup.

Spring Revival is a blend of beans from Mexico, Peru, and Rwanda which makes for a smooth but complex blend. This is a Fair Trade Certified coffee and some beans come from a cooperative in Mexico, the Union Regional de Pequenos Productores de Café in Huatusco, Mexico. This cooperative was formed by a small group of farmers who realized that by working together there was hope of raising their tiny village up and out of extreme poverty. They have had remarkable success and, today, this co-op has a membership of more than 1,908 small coffee farmers. The group includes 600 women, which is a big step forward to helping them and their families. With the increased money that is earned as Fair Trade farmers, the members of this co-op are working to build schools and regional health care centers for their small villages.

The coffee from Peru is also Fair Trade Certified and was produced by small farmers who are organized into the Frontera se San Ignacio Coffee Farmers’ Cooperative. This group was able to raise or borrow enough funds to purchase a coffee mill located on the Pacific coast of northern Peru. By actually owning the mill, the co-op will lower its costs for milling and will be better able to standardize the quality of its coffee. This will benefit the farmers and, also, improve the quality of YOUR cup of coffee.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters supports the efforts of local farmers in coffee growing areas of the world. When a coffee is Fair Trade Certified, it means that the workers who raise and process the beans receive a more equitable portion of the sales price. To earn this certification, a coffee importer and the beans must meet stringent international requirements. In addition to paying the farmers more fairly, the importer must assist with the transition to more organic methods and provide them with much needed credit for purchases. Coffee importers, like Green Mountain, assist these farmers in their efforts to improve the health, education, and development of the people living in their small villages.

When you have a cup of Spring Revival coffee, be assured that you will enjoy wonderful, fresh flavor from beans raised by farmers, whose community will benefit from their sale. In 1961, the Pan American Coffee Bureau said, “Good coffee is like friendship: rich and warm and strong.” Spring Revival is a positive symbol of this feeling.