Five Gold Stars for Cafédirect!

posted at 2:18pm, 26 Jul 10 by Siobhan [ 2 comments ]

We are delighted to have won FIVE prestigious Gold Great Taste Awards this year for two of our coffees and three of our teas.  If you haven’t yet heard of them, the Great Taste Awards are widely regarded as the Oscars of fine food & drink.

Each product entered undergoes a rigorous judging process with each entry tasted and reviewed by at least three different judging panels made up of restaurant critics, chefs, food writers and other industry experts.

“We are thrilled that the growers’ hard work and dedication has led to these exciting wins.These awards demonstrate how our direct grower partnerships deliver the best quality products. We’re honoured this has been recognised once again by these important awards.” Anne MacCaig, CEO Cafédirect.

We’ve shared the exciting news with the growers behind these great tasting products including Andrew Ethuru,  Chair of the Fairtrade Premium Committee at Michimikuru Tea Factory in Kenya, whose tea goes into Everyday Tea.  Here’s what he says: “I’m really delighted by the news of these awards. At Michimikuru, our partnership with Cafédirect started in 2005, during which time they supported us for two years in qualifying for Fairtrade certification. Cafédirect is very different from other Fairtrade certified buyers as, alongside the normal premiums paid, they use their profits to support us through their yearly reinvestment programme.”

Our award winners are our bright & refreshing Everyday Tea and Decaffeinated Everyday Tea blends, our invigorating English Breakfast tea, the lovely & mellow Machu Picchu Fresh Ground coffee and our intense Rich Roast coffee. All of these are available to buy from our online shop here as well as from major supermarkets, Oxfam shops and independent retailers so treat yourself to an award winning drink today!

Reaping our rewards from the roof-garden

posted at 3:10pm, 21 Jul 10 by Siobhan [ 0 comments ]

We’ve been busy working in the garden today doing some much needed tending to the vegetables before we got to the best part: harvesting! We’ll be busy cooking some tasty meals tonight so stay tuned for the recipes! Here are some photos of the pick of our crop and you can see the rest here on Flickr.

If you’re growing your own we’d love to see your photos, especially if you’re growing them in unusual objects, so send us your pics. You  could be in with a chance of winning an exclusive gastronomic getaway!

Curly carrots

Traffic light tomatoes

Courgette close ups

Freshly picked onions

Host a Big Lunch this Sunday!

posted at 2:53pm, 14 Jul 10 by Siobhan [ 0 comments ]

This Sunday July 18th is a the day of The Big Lunch! If you haven’t heard of the Big Lunch  its a celebration of people, community and food! The idea  is to bring people together over lunch –  get to know your neighbours and your community, catch up over coffee (Cafédirect of course!),  share stories,  share food you’ve made (and maybe even grown yourself!), and have fun.

We made our own coleslaw last Friday with our home-grown veg which is perfect for a Big Lunch. Its easy to make and tastes great so have a go.  We used one medium sized cabbage shredded, four carrots and one onion straight from our roof-garden, some light mayonaisse, pepper.

Place cabbage in a large mixing bowl or salad bowl. Grate the carrots and finely chop the onion and add to cabbage. Mix well keeping the carrots and onions evenly distributed throughout. Add mayonnaise (approx 3 tbspoons – depends on your tastes!)  salt and pepper.  Use a spatula to mix the ingredients together thoroughly. Keep stirring until the cabbage is completely coated. Taste a small sample to see if the coleslaw salad suits you. You may want to add a pinch more salt or pepper or mayonnaise, then stir again. Enjoy!

If you’d like to take something sweet too try our Coffee & Macadamia Ice-cream or have a look at the rest of our recipes here.

Check here to see where the nearest Big Lunch  in your community is, or organise your own  – you can make it a Big Fairtrade Lunch and make Cafédirect part of it too! Have a look at the website for tips on getting started – you can even download Big Lunch music. We’d love to hear about your Big Lunch so leave comments on our blog telling us about yours!

Friends of the month – Helen & Tony fresh from Machu Picchu

posted at 2:59pm, 13 Jul 10 by Siobhan [ 1 comment ]

July’s Friend of the Month is Helen, lucky winner of our Machu Picchu competition, who has recently come back from her trip to Peru.  Helen took her father Tony as her guest and we caught up with both of them ….

“I really enjoyed the trip to Peru – I still can’t believe that I won it! Machu Picchu was spectacular and made the 4 days of hard trekking to get there all worthwhile. It was also really interesting to see how Machu Picchu coffee is produced and Alejandro and his family, who we stayed with, couldn’t have been more welcoming. All in all, it was an unforgettable experience!”

Helen & Tony with Alejandro & his family in Peru

How did you first discover Cafédirect?
H: Through visiting my local Traidcraft shop and seeing Cafédirect products being sold there.
T: Just in the supermarket looking initially for Fairtrade coffee.

How did you feel when you won the Machu Picchu competition?
I couldn’t believe it when I found out I’d won the trip – I got an email saying that I was the lucky winner, but I had to ring up Cafédirect as soon as possible to check it was real!  I’ve always wanted to visit Peru, so to win a trip there was great. I thought I should take someone who would really appreciate the trip – and seeing as my Dad is a Geography teacher who has been teaching about Peru for years, he seemed like an obvious choice!

Had either of you seen our film with Alejandro and his family before you went on your trip and met him?
H: No, I hadn’t seen the video before we went to Peru.  I’ve watched it since though, and it’s really surreal to think that I met him and his family at their home, halfway around the world.

What was your favourite moment on the trip?
H: Finally reaching Machu Picchu after 4 days of trekking was a brilliant feeling – I felt a real sense of achievement and to actually be at one of the New 7 Wonders of the World was amazing.  I also really enjoyed having dinner with Alejandro and his family, as they were so welcoming and friendly.

T: The absolute best moment has to be when we climbed up the steps to the Sun Gate and saw Machu Picchu for the first time after slogging along the Inca Trail for three and a half days. It was also very special walking through the jungle to school with Camila, Alejandro’s daughter. She walks through the forest alone every day for an hour to get to school. We talked to the children at the school and played football with them in the playground. I have put my photos of Camila’s journey to school into a PowerPoint presentation and taken it to three of our feeder primary schools so far. The children here are amazed to see how different their journey to school is to Camila’s.

What did you learn about coffee growing that you never knew before?
H: I didn’t realise how labour-intensive the coffee growing and harvesting process is, as all the coffee cherries being harvested by hand.  It was also really interesting to find out about just how organic the production of Machu Picchu coffee is, with the pulp from the cherries being used as compost.

Picking coffee with Alejandro

T: I did not realise that the coffee would be growing in amongst a whole variety of other plants/trees in the upland jungle. I thought it would all be growing row after row in a large plantation. The way it is cultivated in Alejandro’s area is much better for the environment.

Tea or coffee?
H: Coffee - particularly Cafédirect Machu Picchu coffee, now that I’ve met some of the people who grow it and have seen how it is produced.
T: By coincidence Machu Picchu is my favourite Cafédirect coffee!

Sunset or Sunrise?
H: I would have said sunset until my trip to Peru, when I saw the sun rise over Machu Picchu – definitely a highlight of the trip.
T: It has got to be sunsets as I see a lot more of them than sunrises although after my recent visit to Machu Picchu perhaps I will have to change my mind!

Name something not many people know about you.
T: I played football once against a team that has won the FA Cup and we beat them 2-0!

Do you have any hidden talents?
H: I’m learning to play the trombone at the moment – although my next-door neighbours may not say I’m especially talented at it!

If you could have 3 wishes granted, what would they be?
H: Winning my trip to Peru was a pretty good start, as it is a country I have always wanted to visit! I would also really like to play my saxophone with Jools Holland and His Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. From a more worldwide perspective, I would like to see everyone have access to clean drinking water.

T:1. That people all over the world get the true value of their work in their wages/salaries.
2. That people raise their eyes to appreciate the true beauty of much of the natural world.
3. That children develop a real interest in history and geography as they grow up so that throughout their lives they never fail to feel involved with their surroundings.