Green Mountain Fair Trade Coffee and Grace Potter and Michael Franti

This post is a review on my latest Bzzagent Campaign of Green Mountain Fair Trade Coffee as well as a few short notes about the Grace Potter and Michael Franti Fair Trade source trips. October was Fair Trade Month.

As part of the "Great Coffee, Good Vibes, Pass It On" campaign, Green Mountain Coffee took musician Grace Potter to Colombia and musician Michael Franti to Sumatra to experience firsthand why fair trade means better coffee for consumers and a better life for farmers. This consisted of free concerts and an opportunity to win a trip to Costa Rica. Music was streamed on the facebook pages.

Columbia and Sumantra are two of the many locations where Green Mountain Coffee Fair Trade Certified coffee is grown. Fair trade means better treatment and payment to the growers and workers of the coffee. Fair treatment also makes for healthier, happier families of the farmers and workers.

Here is what Grace Potter had to say about her experience: "During my trip to Colombia, I didn't just meet the coffee farmers, I met their children and their families...Fair trade has truly brought a better quality of life to farming communities, from access to education to community development, and meeting with these people really opened my eyes to the impact fair trade has had on their lives." -GMCR

Michael Franti did an online concert for fans of the Green Mountain Coffee Facebook page. Free samples of Fair trade coffee were handed out, and then he talked about his one on one experiences he had with coffee farmers in Sumatra. He wanted to let people know the extreme importance of Fair Trade. I think this was a fantastic way to get the importance of Fair Trade out to the consumers and general public.

What a wonderful message. Now I will provide you details of my experience with brewing and tasting these amazing coffees: My husband and I are coffee lovers in our little country home. (See my picture of holding my coffee at my kitchen window, trying to awaken my sleeping gnome fellow with the beautiful aroma)

We enjoy waking up to the deep rich aroma of a good coffee that envelopes your senses into its arms. Being November, and very cold here, we have a hard time leaving our comfy warm (memory foam specialty type) bed. Our home is 100 years old, with drafty walls and icy cold floors and it is so easy to want to stay in bed on mornings like these. But, we have a 22 month old toddler, and we are waking up at 6 am or 7am, much earlier than my 9 am desiring self wants to awake. :) I need something delicious and potent to coax my sleepy lids to open.

Now entering the kitchen: My Bzzagent campaign from Green Mountain Coffee. This coffee is certified fair trade. Fair Trade means that the growers/workers of the coffee get a fair payment for their hard work that they put into the coffee. Fair Trade also means that these farmers and workers have safer, happier working conditions. Green Mountain is the largest purchaser of Fair Trade Certified coffee in the world. They are well known for producing high-quality, delicious, and sustainably-sourced coffee.

Now onward to the tasty results: I received 3 packets of coffee to try, each with 4 flavor blends: This was perfect for my husband and I to share and test. Vermont Country Blend is a blend of light and dark roast Fair Trade coffee, a perfect blend to have any time of the day. I am a morning coffee drinker and my husband, well, he likes coffee all day long! I cannot drink coffee in the afternoon or evening as I am a natural insomniac and must limit my caffeine. I enjoy my coffee with lots of whip cream (from a well known easy use red can) and no sugar. My coffee is a light khaki beige color when I am ready to drink it. This particular Vermont blend is absolutely amazing, delightful, and consistently good. Sumatran Fair Trade coffee from Green Mountain Coffee is a bolder, dark roast coffee. It is very bold when served black, but it takes on a milder note with cream and sugar that is wonderful. Colombian Fair Trade Select coffee is a medium roast. My husband loves this coffee as it is milder. We both enjoyed this coffee. He drinks his coffee with "2 creams and 1 splenda packet." The Wild Mountain Blueberry Coffee at first made my husband and I puzzled. (and make a disgusted face) Blueberry and coffee? We were quite unsure that this would taste well together. But we were pleasantly surprised! Who knew that blueberries and coffee were such a perfect pairing? I guess it is sort of like the words "salted" and "caramel" ---sounds a bit gross, but when paired together, they are quite yummy! Wild Mountain Blueberry smells delicious! I enjoyed making it, (it may be perhaps my favorite) it made the kitchen smell so sweet and welcoming, like homemade blueberry muffins. It is a light roast coffee with a touch of blueberry flavor. It is amazing with lots of cream and a small bit of sugar.

I wonder if I should try this Blueberry one as an iced drink? (using my well loved, special clear tumbler (previous K-cup campaign) but of course!) I drink iced coffee more than hot coffee--weird I know, considering it is wintertime. I am the same person that orders an ice cream cone at the drive through when it is snowing outside!