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Super Bowl XL, check received for free soda and chips.
∗Now for Super Bowl XL, more free soda and chips!
∗Lots of Goodies at the Green Festival in DC this Weekend
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When my wife and I visit the Teaism Tea House/restaurant on 8th Street in Washington, DC for their Thursday and Friday night happy hour, which features a complimentary asian dish and salad, we usually order at least one glass of Moroccan Mint Iced Tea. Because of that, I was happy this weekend to have the opportunity to sample the Choice Organic Tea’s Moroccan Mint Green Tea. The tea has a nice mint flavor and an improved taste over the standard green tea. I tried it hot and it was nice. But, next time I’d give it a try cold, since I know now that is my preference.
Choice Organic describes the low-caffeine organic green tea as A tea of hospitality and quiet grace. It is a blend of organic herbs including spearmint, peppermint and lemongrass.
The Fair Trade Designation
Last year at the Green Festival, we sat through a Fair Trade presentation from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. The information we learned there got me interested in Fair Trade. Unfortunately, we generally sit on such a backlog of purchased coffee and tea that we have not yet purchased any Fair Trade products.
Green Mountain explained that wholesalers purchasing coffee from the grower under the Fair Trade designation pays a minimum of $1.26 per pound as compared to prices starting at thirty cents pound for normal coffee.
A farmer getting paid pennies per pound has to grow a lot of coffee really fast and as cheaply as possible. So they need to use commercial growing techniques to get as much from the land as is chemically possible. Not only that but thirty cents per pound doesn’t leave much money to pay the coffee pickers.
Obviously, just from the income standpoint receiving four times the price per pound helps the communities growing the coffee or tea. But not only that, it helps fund lower stress agriculture, including the growing of more organic products.
I understand a few of the effects of industrialization of an industry from the time I spent commercial fishing during the summers in Alaska.
In Middle School and my freshman and sophomore years of High School on, I trolled for salmon; this was commercial fishing using hook and line. Generally, we caught Coho salmon which was sold for one to two dollars per pound. Catching a hundred salmon was a good day. The fish had value and each one was treated very well, dressed nicely and iced down quickly. The fish could get some discoloration from being packed in ice, but overall were top quality, destined for fine restaurants.
During my last few years of High School and all of College, I moved up to Seine boat. There, we used nets to entrap schools of salmon, which were hauled into the boat. The Pink and Chum salmon we caught were worth from five to twenty cents per pound. In a good day, we hoped to catch over thirty thousand pounds of fish. The fish were dumped into a hold of ice cold water, uncleaned, until they were processed at the cannery. The refrigerated water that the fish are held in was an improvement over the ice we used to pack the troll caught salmon. But the Seine caught fish’s quality usually was usable only for canning. When you are dealing with such a volume of fish they are compressed from the weight of other fish, and not being cleaned quickly degrades the quality.
From my experience fishing, I understand that the money for the producer can increase with industrialization, but it can come at a cost to product quality and the environment. It is for that reason that I think Fair Trade is a good idea. It helps farmers keep small farms, produce a quality product, and pay their workers a living wage.
The Fair Trade Certified label guarantees:
A fair price
The Fair Trade Certified label guarantees that farmers and workers received a fair price for their product. The Fair Trade price means that farmers can feed their families and that their children can go to school instead of working in the fields.Quality products
By receiving a fair price, Fair Trade producers can avoid cost-cutting practices that sacrifice quality. The Fair Trade producers’ traditional artisanal farming methods result in exceptional products.Care for the environment
Most Fair Trade Certified coffee, tea and chocolate in the US is certified organic and shade grown. This means that the products you buy maintain biodiversity, provide shelter for migratory birds and help reduce global warming. source
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