A Taste of Christmas from around the world!

posted at 1:56pm, 24 Dec 09 by Alex [ 0 comments ]

Marjorye is involved in Cafedirect Producers Limited (read more about this here ), and is based in Peru – home to our award winning Machu Picchu coffee

“Con mucho gusto te comento como celebramos la navidad y el año nuevo en Perú;

Marjorye's Family Christmas Dinner!

En Perú solemos esperar la medianoche del 24 de diciembre en familia para todos juntos celebrar la navidad. En algunas familias se cena pavo, otros lechon y otros pollo eso depende de cada familia, pero mayormente es pavo acompañado de ensalada de verduras y paneton (es como un biscocho que tiene pasas y frutas confitadas, que solo lo venden en esta epoca). Y de beber se acostumbra tomar chocolate caliente (se derrite chocolate y se mezcla con leche). Luego de la cena navideña se pasa a entregar los regalos a todos ya sea familia y amigos, es costumbre tambien de adultos y niños hacer el intercambio de regalos. El 25 es feriado aqui y en familia re reunen a seguir comiendo el pavo.”
 
In Peru we wait until midnight on the 24th of Dec. to celebrate all together as a family.  Some families eat turkey, others eat pork or chicken, but the majority eat turkey with vegetables and ‘paneton’ (which is like a sponge cake with raisins and candied fruit that is only sold around Xmas).  And to drink it’s customary to drink hot chocolate.  After dinner all the presents are given out to family and friends and adults and kids also exchange gifts.  The 25th is a holiday here and families get together to keep eating turkey. 

“La musica que se suele escuchar son los Villancicos, que son niños cantando diferentes canciones navideñas.”

The typical music around Christmas are ‘los Villancicos’, or carols, which are kids singing different Christmas songs. 
 
  
Houses are decorated with a Christmas tree with ‘rayos’, which are strips of shiny paper, colored balls and sparkling lights (sound familiar?!).  The lights are also put up around the balcony, door and in other parts of the house to the liking of the family.  Other decorations include garlands, and the nativity scene acting out the birth of Jesus. 

Peruvian Nativity Scene

“La decoracion de la casa es: adornar el arbol navideño con rayos (papeles brillosos de diferenetes colores), bolas de colores y luces navideñas que prenden y se apagan solas (las luces se pone en el balcon, en la puerta y en diferentes partes de la casa, segun el gusto de la familia). Decorar tambien con guirnaldas, bastoncitos de colores, etc. Tambien se arma el nacimiento del niño Jesus.”

“Para celebrar el año nuevo, la cena es la misma que para navidad. En este caso ya no se entregan regalos  despues de la cena cada familia sale a diferntes lugares a reunirse con amigos para bailar y tomar algun trago. En las fiestas de año nuevo las personas se ponen cotillones (sombreros amarillos y collares de plastico amarillos too). Algunas personas tienen a tener diferente forma de vestir como por ejm: si se visten de amarillo eso significa prosperidad, de rojo es amor, de verde es dinero…son cabalas que algunos suelen tener. Como tambien el de comer a medianoche del 31 de diciembre 12 granos de uva, pidiendo 1 deseo en cada una de ellas o el de salir corriendo con maletas a medianoche que significa viajar varias veces durante el año. Eso son solo cabalas.”
 

Marjorye and Mother last Christmas!

To celebrate New Year, the dinner is the same as for Xmas.  There aren’t any gifts after dinner and each family goes to different places to gather with friends to dance and have a drink.  In these parties people tend to wear ‘cotillones’ (which are yellow hats and yellow plastic collars).  Some people dress differently as well, for example, wearing yellow signifies prosperity, red is for love, green is for money.  It’s also a custom to eat 12 grapes at midnight on the 31 of Dec, asking for one wish with each grape, or to leave the house running with suitcases at midnight which signifies travelling very often during the coming year. 

I was also able to catch up with Raymond Kimaro briefly when he was over for our December Board meeting – apparently there were more important things to talk about than Christmas and New Year celebrations!!

According to Raymond, Christmas is traditionally a family occasion as well, where they would eat salted Goat – a local delicacy!
Rayomnd, and the other 60,000 members of the KNCU in Tanzania (home to Kilimanjaro R&G coffee) live in a more rural area than Marjorye, so it is often difficult for everyone to come together, as they also have their farms to tend to.

In KNCU, as Christmas is a time for family, New Year is more of a time for friends!
Rayomnd tells me his days of partying into the small hours are behind him (although he was leading the 75th anniversary celebrations in November last year), but the ‘younger generation’ gathers from the surrounding hillsides in Moshi Town to celebrate the New Year….

So Merry Christmas to you all!
Intersting to see the snow scenes we’re used to in England have found their way to Peru and Tanzania – this is a poster I saw on a hot day near Kilimanjaro!!

Santa in Kilimanjaro (spotted in March)!

I’m off to finish my Christmas shopping, and buy me 12 grapes + a yellow, red and green “Cotillone” for the New Year!!

Calling all chocolate lovers!

posted at 4:19pm, 22 Dec 09 by Siobhan [ 1 comment ]

Here at Cafédirect we’re currently working with smallholder cocoa farmers from an island off the West coast of Africa, called Sao Tomé, to produce high quality cocoa to create a delicious new Cafédirect instant hot chocolate.

We’d love your input so if you have five minutes to spare please take our short survey. Everyone who completes the survey will be entered into a prize draw to win a three month supply of Cafédirect San Cristobal drinking chocolate.

Take the survey here.

Christmas Party Friday Fun…

posted at 9:52am, 18 Dec 09 by Alex [ 10 comments ]

So this is our last Friday Fun of the year, and we are asking for your inspiration!

We’ve found some seasonal fun on the internet, like the Cafédirect dancing elves or these guys who are desperately in need of our San Cristobal Drinking Chocolate and considered relating our Friday Fun to that, but actually we need your help….

We had our Christmas party last night – and are all in need of a bit of a boost today! Luckily we are blessed with a plentiful supply of coffee in the office.

Please share your tales from your Christmas parties (the more fun the better – but keep them clean!) as well as any exciting of  unusual gifts you have given or received from your colleagues….

The rules are simple:
Post your stories and suggestions in the comment box by 5.30pm TODAY. The most entertaining and stimulating entries will be chosen by judges from Cafédirect and announced here on Monday.
If the accolade of winning our final Friday Fun of the year isn’t enough, we’ve got the great prizes of a ‘Winter Warmer’ set of knitted accessories (pictured) from our friends at People Tree plus some Cafédirect Rich Roast (my own choice for hangover cure*).

There are two sets to give away; one for the best gift, the other for best Christmas Party story!

If you’re not lucky enough to win this great prize, our friends at People Tree will give you 25% discount on their online store  with the promo code PTCD09. (The offer is valid for online orders only and can only be used once. Offer not valid in conjunction with any other offers. Offer expires 23/12/09 at midnight.)
Prizes can only be sent to a UK or Ireland postal address.

Good luck!

*always drink responsibly!

Teatowel X Factor – the results….

posted at 4:57pm, 16 Dec 09 by harriett [ 1 comment ]

At last the results of our ‘Design a Tea Towel’ competition are in! We were absolutely delighted to receive so many wonderful entries, including some from budding designers as young as seven years old!

Andrew and I judging the teatowel competition

The standard of artwork was exceptional and we were quite simply spoilt for choice. But unfortunately there can only be one winner! The judging panel, made up of Andrew Ethuru from Michimikuru Tea Factory (growers of exceptional tea!), Emma Devine, one of our very talented designers, and myself, had a very tough job of deciding the winner.

The winning teatowel entry by Merel Newton

Just like the X Factor, there was one very tough judge, one very diplomatic judge, and one very overly emotional judge (yes, that was me when I saw the wonderful creations from primary school children!), but we finally came to our conclusion… and it is the design created by Merel Newton.
In the words of graphic designer Emma:

‘It had everything that says ‘We Are The Growers’ and what Cafédirect really stands for. The image said so much about the brand and what goes on behind it in a simple pictorial way. I loved the design, and thought it stood out for me as the winner!’

So congratulations to you Merel and we hope you’ll enjoy your year’s supply of our award winning hot drinks, and drying your dishes on your very own set of designer tea towels!

Runners up in the competition are Samantha Jenkin and Kevin Bennett, who will both recieve a Cafédirect goodie bag. Well done!

However, we also felt that there was another design that merited special mention, for attention to detail and a super interpretation of our message. So a special runner up prize is on its way to Martin Cooper of  Croft Malloch Primary School in Glasgow, along with a bumper goodie bag (with lots of extra award winning Cafédirect San Cristobal Drinking Chocolate!) to share with your classmates and teachers.

Congratulations to you all and thank you all for your entries!

Harriett