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We've been busy at Café Campesino, setting up and testing
our new roasting equipment, welcoming new staffers, saying
goodbye to others. In this month's edition of Fair
Grounds, our intrepid reporter Nate Wayman interviews
our new roaster, Lee Harris, about joining Café
Campesino, the roasting process and more. We've also got a
staff update, a report on our recent travels, a new trivia
question, a brand new recipe and a Dr. Coffee question.
And looking forward to holiday gift giving, we've got a
super special on CDs. Read on and enjoy…
(Back
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Nate Wayman
 Lee
Harris recently came on board with CC to take over coffee
roasting and production duties. This Fair Grounds
writer recently caught up with Lee for a quick chat.
Fair
Grounds:
How long have you been with Café Campesino now, about 4
months?
Lee
Harris:
That’s about right, I moved back to Americus in July
and jumped right into the roasting process.
FG:
This is not the first time you’ve spent time in Americus
then?
LH:
No, in fact, this is my hometown! Most recently, I
returned from Tallahassee, Florida, where I had been a
chef/co-owner of Cypress restaurant.
FG:
And before that, you also had a restaurant in Americus, is
that right?
LH:
Yes, Lee’s Bakery/Deli, which was located just
down the street from where we are now.
FG:
That’s right…I have fond memories of that place! Now
tell me, what is it about cooking in general, and your
most recent restaurant in particular, that you loved?
LH:
Let’s see…I just love to be in the kitchen. Cooking,
baking, preparing food for folks — it’s a great way to
relax and share the fruits of my labor with others. And my
last restaurant? I enjoyed combining my love of cooking
with an avenue to "do good". I was able to bring
our restaurant into the Second Harvest food
donation network to assist people in need in the
Tallahassee area.
Don't miss the rest of this great interview. Find out
about Lee's transition from restauranteur to roaster, as
he tells how fair trade coffee was a perfect match with
his ideals and takes us behind the scenes of the roasting
process. Click here to read more!
(Back
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To say that we are going to miss him is one huge
understatement. After two years in Americus, Daniel is
leaving our little coffee company. Many of you know Daniel
— or have at least had the opportunity to
"meet" him over the telephone. If so, you’ve
undoubtedly experienced his enthusiasm for fair trade,
environmental issues and for Café Campesino. Many of our
customers have stated that his passion for and commitment
to the ideals of fair trade have inspired them to look
beyond the beans and into the underlying issues present in
their cup of coffee. When Daniel arrived two years ago,
this company was struggling with fundamental growth and
mission issues. We were the classic rudderless ship —
but afloat with full sails. Daniel lead us through two
exciting years of continued rapid growth, change,
refinement, frustration and success on many fronts. Along
the way he built a loyal wholesale customer base and made
sure that we quickly and accurately shipped thousands of
retail orders. And he did all of this while making sure
that — first and foremost — we always led waving the
fair trade banner.
One
of the most rewarding aspects of Café Campesino is the
quality of our customer base. It is always fun to answer
the phone here, knowing that one of the delightful,
interesting supporters of our work will probably be on the
other end of the call. Daniel has developed many
friendships with our customers and fellow fair traders,
and we hope that you all will stay in touch. His email, daniel@cafecampesino.com,
will continue to function for the foreseeable future. We
wish him well — knowing that he will be wildly
successful in his future endeavors.
(Back
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It’s been a very busy travel month for coffee brewers at
Café Campesino. First, Lee and Bill were off to western
Massachusetts for the Cooperative Coffees Annual Meeting
(and Disco Bowling tournament). We shared a long weekend
of laughter, strategic thinking and emotion with the other
members of our green coffee cooperative. The event was
hosted by Dean Cycon of Dean’s Beans and over 30 members
of the coop attended – along with guest speakers from
Oxfam, Forestrade, Coffee Lab International and Ecologic
Enterprise Ventures. And continuing the fine traditional
established at last year’s meeting, we bowled until the
cows came home Saturday night. Also, Lee joined the Board of
Directors of Cooperative Coffees at this meeting.
Congratulations to him!
During
the first weekend in October, Geoffrey and Luz served
coffee to hundreds of cyclists at the Fall BRAG in Newnan,
while Daniel served the regulars at Southface on Friday
and the Georgia Native Plant Society on Saturday. Geoffrey
and Victoria (back from England) returned to the Mt Dora
Bicycle Festival last weekend. It was good to see so many
familiar faces and friends at these events!
(Back
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We're
giving away coffee!
Think
you know a lot about coffee? Then enter our Fair
Grounds Trivia Contest. Click
here for our question of the month. Entering is easy
and it's FUN!
We
were surprised by the number of Fair Grounds readers that
sent us the correct answer to last month's trivia
question. To make our drawing as fair as possible, we
carefully etched the initials of all the entries on a
green coffee bean. Then we gave the beans to Lee. Lee
started to roast the beans and when he heard the first
"Crack!", he quickly grabbed the winning bean
from the roaster.
The
bean had the initials E.F. still slightly visible so Elicia
Fritsch is our Lucky Winner! Congratulations!
(Back
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One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is
constantly making exciting discoveries!
—
Winnie the Pooh
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