Fair Espresso Martini – not for tea-totallers

posted at 1:53pm, 03 Mar 10 by Alex [ 4 comments ]

As we head towards the final weekend of Fairtrade Fortnight you are probably all looking for ways to put the finishing touches to your Tea Party plans!

FAIR Fairtrade quinoa vodka

For those of you that aren’t tea-totallers, the world of Faritrade is your oyster, and you can even join The Big Swap and round off the party with Fairtrade Vodka!

We’ve teamed up with our friends at Fair Vodka to bring you the Fair Espresso Martini, in a couple of simple steps…

What you’ll need (for each cocktail)
4 cl FAIR™ – Fairtrade quinoa vodka (available online here)
3 cl Cafédirect coffee

2 cl Fairtrade Vanilla infused sugar syrup (can be home made)
Dash of cream
Plenty of Ice!
Ideally cocktail shaker too!

Step 1
Prepare the vanilla syrup.
Add 500g Fairtrade golden sugar to 400 ml water, bring it to the boil, add the vanilla pod and allow to cool. You can keep it in a bottle for a while and reuse at your leisure.

Step 2
Prepare the coffee!

Ideally you’d use a 3cl shot of Cafédirect espresso coffee, but if you don’t have access to an espresso machine, don’t let this put you off – simply prepare some strong Rich Roast – our friend Theo knows all about this . Then allow to cool.

Step 3
Add all ingredients to the shaker
Shake vigorously (do not stir – if you want to create a stir go here)  Serve in a Martini glass and strain the ice off.
It you want to make it very fancy (like our delightful photo here) you can try to float a dash of cream on top and garnish with a few Machu Picchu coffee beans, or perhaps a sprinkle of Fairtrade cinnamon or San Cristobal drinking chocolate!

Fair Espresso Martini

Remember – Drink Responsibly!

Update from Uganda

posted at 11:17am, 03 Mar 10 by Cafédirect HQ [ 0 comments ]

Heavy rains in the Bududa district of Uganda have led to devastating mudslides in Mount Elgon National Park.  Media reports state that three villages have been buried under the mud with at least 86 people dead and at least 300 people missing.

This is a truly horrendous situation and we have been in touch with Gumutindo, our coffee grower partner in the area, to find out what is happening on the ground and how Cafédirect can best support them.  We will be providing an update as soon as we have more details.

Swap your clothes for tea….

posted at 3:23pm, 02 Mar 10 by Siobhan [ 0 comments ]

Fairtrade Fortnight may be halfway through but there’s still time to get involved!

Drop into an Oxfam shop and donate some unwanted (but good quality!) items, and in return you’ll get some Cafédirect Everyday Tea.

Donating quality items can help Oxfam to raise money to fight poverty and as donations to Oxfam have decreased by 15 per cent over the past 12 months – the steepest decline for years – this is the perfect time to do so.

To find your nearest participating shop, search for ‘food’ here, call 0300 2001 333 or look out for the poster displayed in shop windows.

Cafédirect Big Swap with Oxfam

While you’re in there pick up some crockery and you can make your own unique cake-stand to use at your Tea Party! We made some for our Office Tea Party with crockery we picked up at a local Oxfam- it really is easy!

Follow these instructions, and don’t forget to  share your Tea Party photos on Facebook for your chance to win a Fair Cake Cupcake class!

Strictly Fairtrade Tea Dance Fun!

posted at 5:09pm, 01 Mar 10 by Siobhan [ 1 comment ]

Saturday’s Strictly Fairtrade Tea Dance in Spitalfields was lots of fun! The Cafédirect team (including the lovely Tea Ladies!) were there serving tea, chatting to Fairtrade fans and learning some dance moves!

Cafédirect Tea Ladies at the Strictly Fairtrade Tea Dance

From salsa to Bollywood and swing to samba, there were dance workshops throughout the day for everyone to enjoy. In between dancing, there were lots of Fairtrade stalls to browse, and of course Cafédirect tea to drink!

Here’s a poem from Tea Lady Karen describing the day:

“Today there was a lot more prancing, today I learnt some real dancing!
To the Fairtrade fair they came, to show us how to be less tame!
So we waltzed and jitterbugged, and then the trolley we lugged
To hand out samples of tea, to the many who wanted to see
What Fairtrade’s all about.
They tasted nuts, chocolate and our tea – which was, of course, complimentary!
They felt cotton and smelt soaps: which brought smiles and future hopes:
Learning of Fairtraders adding might, to help growers grow right.
People chatted and shared, the ways that they cared
Talked of their swaps, between dancing ‘bops.’
After beautiful Bollywood moves, we really got into our grooves:
The teapot was left for the rumba, the strutting limbered my lumbar!
We shimmied in our salsa so fine, forgot rain made our own sunshine!
Spitalfields deserves three cheers, a fairtrade must for coming years!”

We took lots of photos of the event, which you can see on Flickr and Facebook. If you spot yourself in the Tea Dance photos tag yourself in, because on Monday 8th March, we’ll have a prize draw for anyone who tags themselves in these photos. The winner will receive a three month supply of tea!