News Blog
Coffee of the Month - July
July 04, 2008
Bean North’s newest coffee of the Month is a dark blend called Sexy Mexy. A rich chocolaty brew of Mexican Chiapas dark roast with a splash of brightness from a touch of Mexican Chiapas medium roast. A great way to start your day!!
For a more detailed account of our Mexican partners and the Chiapas story, please click here.
As a special for the Coffee of the Month, we are pleased to offer a Recycled Plastic Travel mug and a bar of Cocoa Camino special dark Chocolate with Cranberries and Almonds(40gm), with the purchase of 4 pounds of Peruvian Pangoa. A $11.89 value!!
Click here to buy the Sexy Mexy Blend Coffee
Arthur is riding for the MS Society of Canada
June 16, 2008
Hi everyone,
Update on the Arthur’s ride:
Arthur did the race in 10 hours and 13 minutes. The weather wasn’t great but he says he had a great time. He has raised over $5000.00 for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada. Way to go Arthur!!
We’re super proud of Arthur who cycled in the Kluane Chilkat International Bike Relay Saturday, June 21.
Arthur was fund raising for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada and he rode the entire race solo which is a distance of 238.3 km/ 148.1 miles. That is no small feat and we cheered him on!
If you are interested in donating to the MS Society of Canada in support of Arthur’s ride, you can e-mail us or call us at 867-667-4145.
Taste for Justice - Amnesty International
June 05, 2008
Drink, Buy, Hoard!!
From June 1-15, 5% of all our cafe sales go to Amnesty International’s work to stop violence against women. Buy beans at shops in town. Visit our Garden Cafe at Km. 9.3 on Hotsprings Road, or call 667.4145
Big Red Roaster Journey
May 09, 2008
Bean North Coffee is donating “Big Red,” a beautiful small-batch coffee roaster, to the SOPPEXCCA Cooperative in Nicaragua.
Bean North Coffee Roasting Co. has embarked on an ambitious plan of eco-integrity. They just replaced ‘Big Red’ their small-batch roaster with a big, beautiful blue roaster that will connect to a giant hot water system which will capture the heat produced by the roaster and use it to warm the cafe, storehouse, and roasting room. And this is just the beginning as they plan to heat homes and a year-round greenhouse … a project they are working on with local organic farmers.
This has freed up ‘Big Red‘– a shiny machine worth $10,000 – which Bean North is overhauling, servicing and writing an operating and repair manual for. The challenge now is to get it to SOPPEXCCA who are ready to venture into roasting their own coffee and providing it to tourists, locals and businesses in their own country! So Bean North is looking to their friends and customers to help raise enough money (current estimate is $8000) to send ‘Big Red’ by truck to Skagway, by ship to Honduras, and by train to and truck to Jinotega, Nicaragua.
Members of the SOPPEXCCA Cooperative are coffee growers for Cooperative Coffees, North America’s original and most respected 100% fair trade cooperative (even the Wall Street Journal recognizes their good work and integrity), of which Bean North Coffee Roasting Co. is a founding Canadian member.
650 families are members of SOPPEXCCA. Located in Jinotega, in the northwest region of Nicaragua, SOPPEXCCA has won awards for the high quality of their coffee. They have trained members to be coffee quality inspectors, barristas, and environmental educators and have been recognized for the high level of cooperation of their members.
They are delighted to be getting “Big Red”! Due to the success of their cafe and local sales they could really use a roaster to meet their growing demand for fresh roasted coffee.
Keiran Duncan, our contact with FLO International said: “That is fantastic news about the roaster, the spare parts and possible support on installation. I spoke to the folks in SOPPEXCCA on the phone and they are delighted about being able to take up the roaster whenever it suits you.”
We accept donations of all sizes and types with gratitude. Money will help us get it there. So will an in-kind donation from a transport company. Can you help?
We can be contacted at 1-867-667-4145 or we would love to see you person. Come on out to the shop at KM 9.3 on the Hotsprings Rd.
We can also be contacted via email through this link – e-mail Michael
Take Action - Send an E-mail to Save Nicaraguan Land for Nueva Vida Women's Coop
February 08, 2008
This is an appeal from our friends at the Jubilee House Community outside of Managua, Nicaragua which houses the Nueva Vida Women’s Sewing Cooperative we visited in 2005. Bean North has carried their fair-trade t-shirts & bags since 2005.
The land this cooperative holds title to and where they work is in danger of being stolen. They outline their plight and ask you to e-mail the First Lady of Nicaragua. (scroll down for her e-mail and sample letters in both Spanish and English you can cut and paste into your e-mail.) Please forward this to all you think may be concerned and send an e-mail to support this incredible project and these amazing women.
The letter from Jubilee House
Dear Friends,
We urgently need your voice NOW! Someone is trying to steal our land, and we need you to write in our support! We normally don’t immediate action to help us prevent the theft of the land where we and our projects are located. In the last few days we have been summoned to court to respond to a demand on the part of Señora Yelba Carvajal, a person well known here in Nicaragua to be involved in several fraudulent land deals. We have been investigating, and have managed to find out that she is claiming in the courts that she is the legitimate owner of the property where we are located, even though we have legal title. On the basis of a typographical error in the title, Señora Carvajal is asking the court to invalidate our title and recognize her as the legitimate owner of the property. You will remember that we originally purchased our land from a cooperative in the 1990s, and she later purchased the rest of the land that the cooperative owned. It would appear that this is an open and shut case in our favor; however, as Father Miguel D’Escoto once said to us about land issues in Nicaragua, “You can have the law and justice on your side, and it’s still not enough.”
What does this mean? It means that the Nueva Vida women’s sewing cooperative, the Fair Trade Zone, is in danger of losing its land, building, and free trade zone status, therefore putting 50 people out of their jobs that they have worked so hard to maintain for the last nine years. It means that the fledgling Genesis spinning plant cooperative, only days away from setting its first post in the ground, is in danger of losing the land where they will build their factory, all the work they have put into their project for the last year, and the opportunity to create full-time employment for 60 people and their families. These are only two examples of the negative impact that this would have, resulting in the closing of all of the CDCA’s projects in Ciudad Sandino.
What can you do? We are asking you to send an email to the First Lady of Nicaragua, Rosario Murillo, requesting that she, as a strong defender of poor women throughout this country, investigate this attempt to steal from these cooperatives that are made up in their vast majority of poor women who have worked so long and so hard to better the lives of their members. Below we have included an example of an email in Spanish and in English on which you can base your message. If you have the time, we ask that you personalize your message as we feel it’s important that she receive individual emails.* (Feel free to send an email in English only if you do not speak Spanish.)
Please send emails to rosario@presidencia.gob.ni and sign your name and address including country. Please copy the Jubilee House Community on the email at jhc@jhc-cdca.org.
Thank you for all your support,
The Jubilee House Community Inc. – Center for Development in Central America
English Letter
Dear Compañera Rosario:
I am writing you out of a deep concern for an injustice that is being perpetrated on a group of poor women in Ciudad Sandino. Following the devastation of Hurricane Mitch, the newly formed community of Nueva Vida began to reorganize their lives and plan for the future working in conjunction with the NGO Jubilee House Community (a Mission International invited to Nicaragua by Father Miguel D’Escoto in 1993 to work in sustainable development). One result of this grassroots organizing was the formation of several cooperatives to provide employment to the residents of Nueva Vida, principally single mothers. Today these cooperatives include the women’s sewing cooperative Cooperativa Maquiladora Mujeres de Nueva Vida (COMAMNUVI) which now operates under the trade name Fair Trade Zone /Zona de Comercio Justo as the world’s only worker-owned free trade zone; the spinning plant cooperative Cooperativa de Mujeres Hilandería “Génesis”; and the agricultural cooperative Cooperativa de Productores Orgánicos y Tradicionales y Exportadores de Nicaragua (COPROEXNIC) among others. All of these cooperatives are located in a small industrial park which provides over 100 jobs with justice, primarily to poor women.
Now all of this work is being put at risk by the efforts of Señora Yelba Carvajal, who is attempting to have title to the property, which is legally registered by the government of Nicaragua to the Jubilee House Community foundation, annulled and ownership passed to her. The information that I have received is that Señora Carvajal is well known for her unscrupulous and immoral practices in repeated attempts to deprive the poor of Nicaragua of their property rights. As a defender of the poor and particularly poor women, I would request that you investigate this situation and use the full weight of your office to assure that justice is done.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Spanish Letter
Estimada Compañera Rosario:
Reciba saludos cordiales de mi parte. Me dirijo a usted con una preocupación profunda sobre una injusticia en contra de un grupo de mujeres pobres en Ciudad Sandino. Después de la devastación de Huracán Mitch, la comunidad de damnificados de Nueva Vida empezó a reorganizar sus vidas y planificar el futuro, trabajando en conjunto con la ONG Jubilee House Community (una misión internacional invitada a Nicaragua en 1993 por Padre Miguel D’Escoto para trabajar en desarrollo sostenible). Un resultado de este proceso de organización de base fue la formación de varias cooperativas para crear puestos de empleo a favor de los residentes de Nueva Vida, principalmente madres solteras. Hoy en día estas cooperativas incluyen la Cooperativa Maquiladora Mujeres de Nueva Vida (COMAMNUVI) la cual ahora opera bajo su nombre de comercio Fair Trade Zone /Zona de Comercio Justo como la única zona franca en el mundo en manos de los trabajadores; la Cooperativa de Mujeres Hilandería “Génesis”; y la Cooperativa de Productores Orgánicos y Tradicionales y Exportadores de Nicaragua (COPROEXNIC) entre otros. Todas estas cooperativas están ubicadas en un pequeño parque industrial que brinda empleo justo a más de 100 personas, principalmente mujeres pobres.
Ahora todo este trabajo está en riesgo debido a las esfuerzas de la Señora Yelba Carvajal, quien busca la anulación de la escritura de la propiedad, la cual está registrada con el gobierno de Nicaragua a la fundación Jubilee House Community, y pide que se le pase la propiedad a ella. La información que yo recibí es que la Señora Carvajal es conocida por sus prácticas inescrupulosas e inmorales en intentos repetidos de privar a los pobres de sus derechos a su propiedad. Como defensora de los pobres y mujeres en particular, yo le pido a usted que investigue la situación y apoye con toda la dedicación de su posición el asegurar que se haga justicia.
Agradeciéndole su atención al presente, me despido de usted.
Atentamente,
Why Bean North chose to do something about our emissions.
January 14, 2008
by Michael King
Purchasing and installing an afterburner/oxidizer is not a simple decision. There is a lot of information to digest and balance before a decision can be made.
Lets start with the craft of roasting coffee. When coffee is roasted a number of emissions are released into the environment. These emissions can be harmful and include volatile organic compounds, particulate matter and combustion products. Some of these emissions are compounds that are released from the green coffee beans during roasting while others come from the process of roasting itself.
The majority of coffee roasters are typically gas-fired, however there are some electric and small solar roasters available. As a result of the fuel combustion necessary to roast the coffee in a gas fired roaster, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide emissions occur. The roaster is also the main source of airborne pollutants, including alcohols, organic acids, nitrogen and sulfur compounds. When all of these emissions mix together, it forms smoke.
The smoke emitted from the roaster stack also contains a variety of suspended particulate matter that includes tars, bean fibers, bean chaff and coffee oils. It is this smoke and odor that can upset close neighbors.
To help control emissions a roaster can use an oxidizer, more commonly called an afterburner. The oxidizer is a gas-burning chamber that uses high heat to break down the odor and smoke converting it into water vapor and carbon dioxide.
Diedrich offers a conventional afterburner and the new DCO Catalytic Oxidizer. In comparison to a conventional afterburner, the Diedrich IR- Series DCO – Catalytic Oxidizer helps to lower operating costs by being energy efficient and dramatically reduces fuel usage by operating at lower temperatures. The oxidizer itself slightly lowers C02 discharge, that along with burning less fuel makes the system one of the most environmentally friendly on the market.
With the information at hand it was time for us to make some decisions. Smoke and odor problems usually occur in urban areas. Our rural location is a benefit, as the smoke does not get an opportunity to mix with vehicle exhaust so it smells like coffee. We have yet to receive a complaint, if anything folks say they enjoy the aroma when they hike or ski on the local trails. Although we have had no complaints we live and operate Bean North on a 2.3 hectares parcel of land with close neighbors and this smoke is hazards to our local air quality even though we currently meet all local air quality standards!
After smoke, the only aspect of the chimney discharge we see is the chaff. We collect the majority of our bean chaff and use it in our compost. What does not end up in our gardens, we collect for a local organic farm that lists it as their only input.
Another thing we had to consider was if we purchased the new DCO Catalytic Oxidizer were there other possible applications? Even though the new Oxidizer is considered environmentally friendly it will add to our fuel consumption and there is also the initial purchase cost to consider. To balance these extra costs, could we harness the heat that escapes up the chimney unused?
We soon discovered if we included the Oxidizer in our purchase many new opportunities materialized. Extracting the heat from the chimney using innovation and existing technology was not impossible. Of course there are some drawbacks. We would be taking a risk with the heat exchange system itself and all the additional costs associated with its design and installation.
Getting optimal use from any non-renewable fuel resource is a must in today’s environment. With the current situation of global fuel resources and the inevitability that prices will continue to rise it makes both environmental sense and business sense to look for alternatives. The opportunity would not only help keep our carbon footprint low it is well within our vision for the future of Bean North Coffee Roasting Company Ltd. and our commitment to the environment. We decided to proceed slowly and in stages.
To start with we installed the necessary tubing in our expansions concrete slab. Off that system we plan to install radiators throughout the rest of the building. The Oxidizer emits enough waste heat to heat all of Bean North throughout the Yukon’s cooler seasons and with the simple addition of more hot water storage tanks we could heat a large greenhouse at no additional cost!
The heat exchange systems operation has yet to commence however its installation is imminent. We are in the final stages of our expansion and the chimney for the roaster and Oxidizer should be installed soon. Once the chimney is in the heat exchange system is next. The opportunities are endless………
