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<title>Direct Trade Coffee Club: Blog Posts</title>
<link>http://www.dtcoffeeclub.com</link>
<pubDate>2012-05-19</pubDate>
<description>List of Latest Blog Posts at Direct Trade Coffee Club</description>
<language>en-us</language>
<isc:store_name><![CDATA[Direct Trade Coffee Club]]></isc:store_name>
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<title><![CDATA[Why the Roasters Pick.]]></title>
<link>http://www.dtcoffeeclub.com/Why-the-Roasters-Pick_b_16.html</link>
<pubDate>2012-05-18</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ One question we get asked a lot is whether or not you (the customer) choose which roaster ships you the coffee. The answer is no and it’s not because we are jerks or we don’t know how to make that work. The real answer is that we are incredibly focused on experience, getting you the best coffee and promoting various roasters of direct trade coffee.  ]]></description>
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<content:encoded><![CDATA[One question we get asked a lot is whether or not you (the customer) choose which roaster ships you the coffee. The answer is no and it’s not because we are jerks or we don’t know how to make that work. The real answer is that we are incredibly focused on experience, getting you the best coffee and promoting various roasters of direct trade coffee. ]]></content:encoded>
<isc:description><![CDATA[One question we get asked a lot is whether or not you (the customer) choose which roaster ships you the coffee. The answer is no and it’s not because we are jerks or we don’t know how to make that work. The real answer is that we are incredibly focused on experience, getting you the best coffee and promoting various roasters of direct trade coffee. One way to better understand this is to think of walking into one of the nations finest restaurants, with some of the nations best chefs and being able to ask them, “make me your favorite dish, whatever it is on the menu that you are most excited about”. That would be pretty awesome. Now imagine, you have the ability to go to all of the nations top kitchens, every week or every month and you get to ask each chef their favorite dish. One chef in California might be excited about their Soft Shell Crab this week and the next you go to the Midwest and get to enjoy the chef’s Braised Beef Short Ribs, and you get to try a different region each week. This is the experience we hope to offer you. We are keeping you from routine because while those Braised Beef Short Ribs maybe delicious, variety is the spice of life. This is exactly what we have done with Direct Trade Coffee Club. We have selected the nations best direct trade roasters, all of whom have won awards for their quality and been through our rigorous process for selecting roasters, and asked them to showcase their most delicious direct trade coffees. The roasters choose their favorite direct trade coffee and ship within a day or two of roasting directly to you. So while you may have enjoyed last weeks roast from Barismo, the next week you might get another delicious coffee from a different farm roasted by Intelligentsia. The one constant is that we know these roasts are world class because our roasters and their farms are willing to put their name it. If you have any other questions about our roasters or about the club check out the Frequently Asked Questions section and, we will be sure to try and answer more questions as they come up on our blog.  ]]></isc:description>
<isc:productid><![CDATA[16]]></isc:productid>
<isc:author><![CDATA[josh]]></isc:author>
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<title><![CDATA[Why do labels matter?]]></title>
<link>http://www.dtcoffeeclub.com/Why-do-labels-matter_b_15.html</link>
<pubDate>2012-05-16</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ There is officially no “Direct Trade” label. This bugs some people but in the long run it might be one of the reasons why direct trade works. To delve deeper, since this topic isn’t widely researched in direct trade, we will understand the issue as it relates to the “organic” label.  ]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dtcoffeeclub.com/Why-do-labels-matter_b_15.html</guid>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[There is officially no “Direct Trade” label. This bugs some people but in the long run it might be one of the reasons why direct trade works. To delve deeper, since this topic isn’t widely researched in direct trade, we will understand the issue as it relates to the “organic” label. ]]></content:encoded>
<isc:description><![CDATA[There is officially no “Direct Trade” label. This bugs some people but in the long run it might be one of the reasons why direct trade works. To delve deeper, since this topic isn’t widely researched in direct trade, we will understand the issue as it relates to the “organic” label. Fair Trade, Certified Organic, Natural Food - they are all labels we see daily and generally we like to think we understand what they mean. Fair Trade means little 5 year olds were not picking the beans, Organic means no pesticides, Natural means no 30 letter words on the label. Whether these things are true or not doesn’t really matter, what matters is that we feel better buying these things because they have been marketed in a way that makes us feel good. There are a lot of reasons why we label our food in these ways, but we’ll delve into the reasons why we shouldn’t be labeling our food this way. We do realize this simplifies the issues into broad ideas, but we wanted to make it accessible and find out your thoughts. How Organic Labeling Works in the US?The most common practice is for farmers to get “certified” as organic. This is supposed to cost the farm on average of $750. Some small farms ($30,000/year) can get certified for as low as $90 and some “super” farms (over $10,000,000) certification can cost upwards of $150,000. The prices range also based on the certifying agency and admin fees etc. These fees allow them to use the USDA label on their foods to market them as “organic”. The list of what is organic however, continues to change. Like any ever growing movement in order to get more followers you have to relax a few of your policies, like in 2006 allowing certain artificial ingredients, loosening terms like cage free and free range. Critics say that these lax policies have caused confusion for consumers who are truly concerned about what they eat. On the other hand, large farming advocates say it helps fill the need for more organic foods. What’s Wrong With It?Inherently, there are a lot of issues with the way we label our food especially when some of the labels begin to mean less. If two farms both call themselves “organic” chicken farms but one has their 200 chickens roaming in a large field and the other is still “cage free” but still has 1,000 chickens cooped in a small barn or shed, those are not the same thing but with organic certification they are the same. So when you buy your organic chicken it is impossible to know the difference. What’s more is that these costs might appear small but put a possibly unnecessary burden on the farmer. We should think of this certification cost as solely a marketing expense because, many small farmers, who are just trying to sustain their farms in the age of the factory farm, are often already farming organically. The assumption is that if you don’t have the label you are not organic. So small farmers must get this label lest they be considered “unorganic”. Why labels don’t matter for direct trade -The model of direct trade is built around the roaster visiting the farm. The roaster knows the farmers, knows the dirt, understands the climate and understands how that affects coffee. The roaster knows that they need to offer good prices in order to get the best quality beans. This relationship is why labels are not necessary. When you know the farmer and know how they grow you don’t need to see the sticker on their bag of beans; you know first hand. With Fair Trade this falls apart. With Fair Trade the roaster doesn’t deal with the farmer; they deal with the coop. The coop certifies the farmer which, much like organic labels, has begun getting more and more lax in the past few years. Also, unlike direct trade, there are no sustained relationships that benefit the farmer. The roaster just picks a name off a sheet and says that is the coffee I want and they can switch for the next batch. With direct trade you work with the farmer to create better coffee every year. This is why the farmer has incentive to get better and the roaster has incentive to pay more. The label doesn’t bring quality, the relationship is what brings quality. Again, this is a controversial idea and one that should not be without debate. Please tell us your opinion and tell us why we are wrong.  ]]></isc:description>
<isc:productid><![CDATA[15]]></isc:productid>
<isc:author><![CDATA[josh]]></isc:author>
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<title><![CDATA[The Less Sexy Side of Coffee]]></title>
<link>http://www.dtcoffeeclub.com/The-Less-Sexy-Side-of-Coffee_b_14.html</link>
<pubDate>2012-05-08</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ We are going to have to put coffee’s natural sexiness aside for this post but, the post remains along the lines of questions we’ve been talking a lot about lately like, why do you drink coffee, and what is your coffee ritual. We’ve gotten a few answers but one that seems to be sticking out with us and one that has gotten us talking has been from people who didn’t post comments or tweet us but from a couple people who emailed us. These discreet folks said the reason they drink coffee is that it keeps them regular. ]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dtcoffeeclub.com/The-Less-Sexy-Side-of-Coffee_b_14.html</guid>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[We are going to have to put coffee’s natural sexiness aside for this post but, the post remains along the lines of questions we’ve been talking a lot about lately like, why do you drink coffee, and what is your coffee ritual. We’ve gotten a few answers but one that seems to be sticking out with us and one that has gotten us talking has been from people who didn’t post comments or tweet us but from a couple people who emailed us. These discreet folks said the reason they drink coffee is that it keeps them regular.]]></content:encoded>
<isc:description><![CDATA[We are going to have to put coffee’s natural sexiness aside for this post but, the post remains along the lines of questions we’ve been talking a lot about lately like, why do you drink coffee, and what is your coffee ritual. We’ve gotten a few answers to those questions but one that seems to be sticking out with us and one that has gotten us talking has been from people who didn’t post comments or tweet us but from a couple people who emailed us. These discreet folks said the reason they drink coffee is that it keeps them regular.Again, it’s something I think a lot of us realize and even appreciate about coffee but few people consider it as a reason to drink coffee. So we are going to hopefully turn off the shamed eye around talking about why coffee is often used as a laxative. I hear it at coffee tables all the time and even around the office people saying they had too much coffee and that they have to run to the bathroom. However, in most cases they are talking about having to number 1, as they say. It’s fairly well known that, like beer, cranberry juice and most other caffeinated drinks, coffee is a diuretic. This means it is a drink that increases your passing of urine. It’s something we have all obviously understood since our first cup coffee and has been openly talked about for years but is it that same diuretic quality that helps you urinate that also keeps you regular?The actual reason coffee helps people stay regular is that coffee stimulates the bodies ability to perform “peristalsis”. Obviously, I had to Wikipedia what that even meant and what I found was that your small intestines work like a an earthworm moves (kind of) and coffee makes those motions more easy or happen more often. The more your small intestine moves like that the more likely you are to need to use the restroom. Over time with the weakening of coffee due to our newer brewing methods coffee is less of a laxative but still does induce peristalsis. And that’s it. There is no long story or hard to understand science behind it. There are a lot of myths out there about the affects of coffee on the electrolytes in your body because it’s a diuretic, that the caffeine in coffee can dehydrate you and that decaf coffee does not have these laxative qualities but they are all not true. Caffeine has been shown to not affect fluid levels any more than water and the caffeine has nothing to do with coffee making your body perform peristalsis. Let us know if you have any other questions about coffee or want to give any more context to any of these answers.    ]]></isc:description>
<isc:productid><![CDATA[14]]></isc:productid>
<isc:author><![CDATA[josh]]></isc:author>
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<title><![CDATA[How to tell if it's fresh?]]></title>
<link>http://www.dtcoffeeclub.com/How-to-tell-if-its-fresh_b_12.html</link>
<pubDate>2012-04-28</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ This is easy to understand for fresh fruits and veggies but we often do not have the same thoughts about coffee. Fresh coffee tastes better and the customers can tell. Keeping in mind the fruit and veggie idea, coffee is not much different although the degradation process begins at a different point. ]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dtcoffeeclub.com/How-to-tell-if-its-fresh_b_12.html</guid>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[This is easy to understand for fresh fruits and veggies but we often do not have the same thoughts about coffee. Fresh coffee tastes better and the customers can tell. Keeping in mind the fruit and veggie idea, coffee is not much different although the degradation process begins at a different point.]]></content:encoded>
<isc:description><![CDATA[There is a local diner, Bartertown, in town that prides itself on having the most fresh ingredients, just as most all restaurants do, but unlike many restaurants Bartertown runs out of food daily... and they're cool with that. Instead of stocking up with a months supply of fresh asparagus and freezing it they get enough to use and when it's gone its gone. They know frozen asparagus is not as good as fresh. They know the customer can tell the difference. So they're ok with running out and so are the customers. This is easy to understand for fresh fruits and veggies but Bartertown has the same thoughts about coffee. Fresh coffee tastes better and the customers can tell. Keeping in mind the fruit and veggie idea, coffee is not much different, although the degradation process begins at a different point. Coffee, like asparagus, begins going bad after being picked however due to the inducing of oxygen and high temperatures once it is roasted it begins degrading much more rapidly. Although, unlike asparagus, coffee doesn't change much visually so it is hard for people to put a finger on when their coffee is past its peak freshness. Here are a few tips on knowing when your coffee is past it's peak: Coffee is really fresh for about 15 days: The first few days are when the nuances of the roast are beginning to come into their own. Though it is hard to get 3 day old coffee it will keep this level for a few days and up to about a week or so after this becoming less fresh around the 2 week old mark. Ground coffee is only fresh for about 10-20 minutes: The degradation curve moves very quickly when it comes to ground coffee. You'll be able to notice a difference in freshness within about 10-20 minutes after it is ground. That is why you should never buy pre-ground coffee at the store or have them grind the coffee for you in the coffee shop. Look for bubbles: Depending on how you brew your coffee you should see CO2 bubbles when brewing fresh coffee, this is called off gassing [see video]. As the coffee blooms you should see the grounds rise, sometimes even to the point of overflowing, and bubble. Once your coffee stops showing bubbles while you are brewing it the coffee is dead, though it is still drinkable it has lost a lot of the characteristics it once had. There are a few ways of getting really fresh coffee, one is obviously to get order through the Direct Trade Coffee Club (shipped from roasters the day of roasting and arrive at the 3 day point). Also most local roasters have their coffee for sale and it will have the roast date on the bag. Most national coffee shops store their coffee for months and many of the coffees at large grocers are already ground so they are not good to begin with. Just like Bartertown is not cool with serving old fruits or vegetables you too shouldn't be satisfied with drinking stale coffee. There are plenty of ways of getting and fresh and once you've tried really fresh coffee... it's tough going back. (Full disclosure: Bartertown is a wholesale vendor of Direct Trade Coffee Club but they are not paying for any press... we just really like their food and style)  ]]></isc:description>
<isc:productid><![CDATA[12]]></isc:productid>
<isc:author><![CDATA[josh]]></isc:author>
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<title><![CDATA[What is your ritual? [Question]]]></title>
<link>http://www.dtcoffeeclub.com/What-is-your-ritual-Question_b_13.html</link>
<pubDate>2012-04-26</pubDate>
<description><![CDATA[ Wake up, set water to boil, grind coffee, put grounds in the Hario and start pouring and breathing in the smell of the bloom. This is the moment in my morning that I look forward to before I go to bed but it has nothing to do with caffeine or flavor. It’s something I’ve gotten used to over the past few years and when I wake up any differently the difference is tangible. Other people hit the Starbucks drive-thru on their way to work or make sure their first meeting is at the local roasters cafe. It’s a method, a routine, a ritual.  ]]></description>
<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.dtcoffeeclub.com/What-is-your-ritual-Question_b_13.html</guid>
<content:encoded><![CDATA[Wake up, set water to boil, grind coffee, put grounds in the Hario and start pouring and breathing in the smell of the bloom. This is the moment in my morning that I look forward to before I go to bed but it has nothing to do with caffeine or flavor. It’s something I’ve gotten used to over the past few years and when I wake up any differently the difference is tangible. Other people hit the Starbucks drive-thru on their way to work or make sure their first meeting is at the local roasters cafe. It’s a method, a routine, a ritual. ]]></content:encoded>
<isc:description><![CDATA[Wake up, set water to boil, grind coffee, put grounds in the Hario and start pouring and breathing in the smell of the bloom. This is the moment in my morning that I look forward to before I go to bed but it has nothing to do with caffeine or flavor. It’s something I’ve gotten used to over the past few years and when I wake up any differently the difference is tangible. Other people hit the Starbucks drive-thru on their way to work or make sure their first meeting is at the local roasters cafe. It’s a method, a routine, a ritual. To a lot of people this ritual is more important as the actual caffeine or the flavor of the coffee. It helps with the clockwork of the morning, it slows you down before a hectic day or it is the calm before the storm. So we are wondering what it is about coffee other than the caffeine and the flavor that changes your day. How does coffee affect you in ways other than energy? And does your ritual involve making coffee at home or do you get your moment of peace at the coffee shop?  ]]></isc:description>
<isc:productid><![CDATA[13]]></isc:productid>
<isc:author><![CDATA[josh]]></isc:author>
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