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GUATEMALAN (MEDIUM DARK ROAST)
Certified Fair Trade, certified organic, shade grown
Taste Profile: A coffee insider's favourite and the
little black dress of our lineup. Elegant acidity highlights
a nuanced, medium-bodied cup.
Our bag description says it all. This is our classic coffee offering, our darling and the origin that was the inspiration for Ethical Bean in the first place. We pursue perfection with this guy, nurturing, tweaking and loving it into a balanced, focused, people pleasing cup. Its intense, simple acidity is always approachable at this signature medium dark roast.
Maya Ixil coffee cooperative is situated in the mountains of the tropical Ixcan region in the department of Quiche, Guatemala. The fertile valleys, temperate climate and high altitudes have a positive effect on cup quality, but this top quality cup is a direct result of the technical crop improvements of the Ixil farmers who are from the surrounding communities of San Juan Cotzal, San Gaspar Chajul and Santa Maria Nebaj.
Maya Ixil evolved out of the necessity to improve coffee prices. In 1998, a group began to organize and succeeded in gaining organic certification. It meant not only an improvement of the quality of life for the farmers, but also improvements for the environment through sustainable practices. Their socially responsible coffees are grown under shade trees, preserving native fruit and animal species. In 2004, Maya Ixil was certified Fair Trade coffee.
Today, more than 135 Quiche families represent Maya Ixil coffee cooperative and are gaining greater opportunities for business growth and community developments.
"Before I became a cooperative member, I did not know about organic coffee agronomy, but now with the support of Maya Ixil I
have learned and I feel very happy because my harvest is selling at a fair price."
— Gaspar de la Cruz, Santa Avelina Village
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ETHIOPIAN (MEDIUM DARK ROAST)
Certified Fair Trade, certified organic,
shade grown
Taste Profile: Never boring, often sensational. A complex cup of ephemeral aromatics laced with fruity, floral innuendo. Expect the unexpected.
"Season's change and so do I..."
— U2, Indian Summer Sky
Often lost in the fuss over roast profiles, cupping notes and the search for the perfect shot of espresso is the fact that coffee is an agricultural product. Our raw ingredients for this delightful beverage are as susceptible as any other crop to the changes in weather and season. From crop to crop, year to year.
Our Ethiopian has recently changed from one thing to another. Not better or worse, just different.
Coffee is processed via one of two ways: the Washed Process (needs lots of water) or the Natural (i.e. Unwashed) Process (needs lots of sun). Our Ethiopian coffee over the past couple of years has been a Natural Processed beauty. We loved it and have encouraged many of you to step out of your comfort zone and join us in our affection for this distinctive cup. Natural processed coffees tend to be colourful, wild and fruity... very punk. Ours was all this and more.
This year the rains came and the Natural processed coffees didn't dry well. Problem. Washed coffees, due to their different preparation are alive and well. They’re cleaner, more balanced and consistent. Basically, more grown up. Ours is dressed up in a medium dark roast with delicate lemon notes, elegant acidity and a handsome full body.
Our Ethiopian coffee has recently changed from a Natural to a Washed Process Sidamo. Enjoy.
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SUMATRA (MEDIUM DARK ROAST)
Certified Fair Trade, certified organic, shade grown
Taste Profile: Breathe in the exotic. A heavy cup with Burgundian fullness, alive with fruit, smoke and earth notes. Blossoms at this roast.
Sumatra coffee is a West Coast roasters favourite for it's ability to take a dark roast and deliver the kind of handsome, bearishly full bodied cup necessary to carry us through the grey, cold, rain soaked winter.
This coffee's inimitable cup quality owes to its production from exclusively small holding farmers and "semi-washed" processing. An unconventional pulping and drying procedure that adds underlying flavour taints shunned in coffee from other origins but virtuous in this country's coffee. A sweet, low acid and balanced cup laced with the barest hint of musty, earthy tones, contrasted with glimmers of fruit and chocolate. The Ethical Bean Sumatra flirts with all of the above and is the perfect choice for those partial to the whiskies of Islay or anyone longing to leave Ontario for the hedonistic, milk and honey dappled lifestyle of the West Coast.
Our Sumatra is from Gayo Mountain, sourced from Takengon in Northern Sumatra. Organic certified by SKAL, it is produced in a one of a kind facility; excellence oriented and with the unique ability to offer a range of custom prepared coffees. Their vision is to establish a reputation for a consistent, unparalleled cup.
Leveraging the business acumen from the Holland Coffee Group there is an ongoing commitment to the “best coffee being the best business” – in order to secure a solid future for the product and the people that grow it.
This model of quality, laced with social and environmental responsibility has provided stability and growth in the regions notoriously volatile political environment.
Some marked benefits of their efforts include:
- A healthy and profitable business providing a strong base for a successful future
- A protective buffer for the farmers and mill workers during political unrest
- Ongoing education for children and adults
- Completion of a water treatment plant
- Support for health care facilities and clinics
- The revitalization and support the local Research Station in order to control quality and improve future crops
- Ongoing education of proper farming techniques for the growers
- The ongoing enthusiastic economic and social support in this region and the rebuilding and bolstering of the Aceh economy remain key goals. It is easy to see why our Sumatra is the darling of the Ethical Bean lineup.
During 2007 we opened a health clinic and a kindergarten on our compound and are in the process of opening two additional health clinics and kindergartens during 2008 in various parts of the coffee producing communities.
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PERUVIAN (DARK ROAST)
Certified Fair Trade, certified organic, shade grown
Taste Profile: Dark but not too dark. Edgy on the one hand, seductively smooth and full-bodied on the other. You might want to take two.
An origin with the potential to produce coffee equal to the Grand Cru offerings of Guatemala and Kenya. Peruvian coffee often goes unnoticed. Blended and grinding away in anonymity, they are rarely showcased. Having found this spectacular offering, we have bucked tradition, wrapped it up in a dark roast and set it free.
Dark roast done right. A mellow, clean, cocoa laced cup. Gentle but quietly powerful.
Unicafec-Union de Cafeteleros Ecologicos
UNICAFEC is a small producer association located in the small town of San Ignacio in Northern Peru.
The coffee comes from an isolated place with roads that wash out with heavy rain, no bank and ongoing problems with water and electricity. The nearest commercial center is hours away yet despite the isolation, the area is a hotbed of coffee interests. Multinationals and the ubiquitous middlemen mix it up with small farmer organizations.
From this place, UNICAFEC was born in 2001. A small group of keen shareholders looking to distinguish themselves with their improved quality and in turn reap the benefits of direct export. They were certified organic (OCIA) in 2003 and certified Fairtrade in 2005, promoting economic and social development in harmony with nature.
Since the beginning they have become educated and organized, benefiting from the mutual assistance that comes from banding together toward a common vision.
They continue to wisely steward their Fair Trade premiums by buying land and servicing their technical and organic programs. The result? Improved well-being and a better standard of life for their members.
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ESPRESSO BLEND (MEDIUM DARK ROAST)
Certified Fair Trade, certified organic, shade grown
Taste Profile: A multi-dimensional, full-bodied velvet slipper for your tongue. A stand-up straight shot. Marries beautifully with milk.
Espresso is more than a definition, a beverage, a neon sign, a ubiquitous offering or the bad joke that is so often served. It is a religion.
It is coffee purified, pared down, reduced and supremely focused in intensity... It starts with a suggestion, softly whispered. Beans are roasted, feathered in flames and smoke. Sifted and combined, coffees from every corner of the earth shake hands in agreement. Their assembly becomes like a welder's flux, fed through and flowing. Ground, heated, pressed and applied. Extracted with restraint to rest unadorned and unashamed in preheated porcelain. Coffee, kahwa, caffe... espresso = coffee2.
Ethical Bean Espresso is a complex, complete and consistent blend of beans. Deliberately roasted to maximize sweetness, body and complexity it is the Doug Gilmour of the '96 Toronto Maple Leafs; the perfect two way player tasting great in a lot of milk, a little milk or no milk at all. Smooth and nuanced with lush body and a long, lingering finish.
Are you ready?
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NICARAGUAN (MEDIUM ROAST)
Certified Fair Trade, certified organic, shade grown
Taste Profile: Coffee you can bring home to meet your mother. Medium body, nutty aroma and a sweet brightness. |
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DECAF SUMATRA (DARK ROAST)
Certified Fair Trade, certified organic,
shade grown
Taste Profile: A very undecaf decaf. Gobs of body with
an intriguing bittersweet chocolate character and a
finish that just won't quit. Dynamite as a drip, scintillating
as an espresso. SWISS WATER® process.
The Gayo Organic Coffee Farmers Association (also known
as PPKGO) was founded through a partnership between
the indigenous people of the Gayo region of Sumatra
and ForesTrade, a Vermont-based company. This association
is the first, and still the only, coffee co-operative
from Indonesia that is Fair Trade Certified. The co-op
members are small coffee farmers dedicated to producing
100% shade-grown, organic coffee. Despite the political
unrest in the region, the partnership has continued
to produce, process and export high quality Sumatran
coffee. The coffee is SKAL and NASAA certified organic.
Significant premiums from selling to the Fair Trade and organic markets allow this co-op to contribute to a wide variety of programs, including:
- Community nurseries to provide improved and grafted coffee and shade tree seedlings
- Rehabilitation of degraded lands and unproductive coffee trees
- A weed cutter program to help farmers avoid the use of herbicides
- A member's credit union to extend small loans to families in the co-operative
- Upgrades to all processing facilities
- Community infrastructure projects, such as clean water supply
- Increased staffing and development of the association
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Co-op farmers live in an environmentally sensitive region, the buffer zone to a National Park, which contains critical watershed areas and sanctuaries for endangered species such as the Sumatran tiger. Fair Trade price incentives and technical support provided by the cooperative have encouraged sustainable agriculture and resource conservation. |
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COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS
Ethical Bean is excited to launch its new Community Blend program, which benefits local non-profit organizations. Our chosen partners provide invaluable community services on tight budgets in an increasingly expensive world.
Our existing 'give-back' program (via Child Aid) benefits children from a region in Guatemala where we source our coffee.
Every December, $1 from every 1lb of coffee sold goes to sponsor kids through primary school (45 students in 2006).
Locally we wanted to acknowledge two great organizations that we support by creating a blends in their honor. Secret blend ingredients were selected by the organizations during lengthy, sessions of delicious coffee tasting. So every time you purchase our Festival Blend or Family Blend, a portion of the proceeds goes to the host organization.
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FESTIVAL BLEND (MEDIUM DARK ROAST)
Certified Fair Trade, certified organic, shade grown
Taste Profile: Dark, full bodied blend with a think chocolate-y richness and a touch of sweet delicate fruity notes.
Your San Francisco muse in a cup. A grounded yet dynamic and expressive blend with eight-octave range on the palate. Flavours of the Far East's exoticism, conjure memories of teakwood and spice, lovingly enveloped in earth mother sweetness with an echoing finish. Peace, buttercup.
Urban cultural events help create healthy and engaged communities. Vancouver's Folk Music Festival is the ultimate annual Vancouver event — a chance for the city's diverse citizens to mix as performers, volunteers and audience members. The Folk Festival provides an invaluable community service, promotes sustainability, is accessible and tons of fun.
In November 2006, the Festival Blend won Best Organic Beverage (non alcoholic) from the Certified Organic Associations of BC. Hooray!
FESTIVAL CONTEST EXTENDED — Our Willy-Wonka-tickets-in-bag promotion was a great success as a fundraiser for the Vancouver Folk Music Festival held 13,14,15 July 2007. But there are still a few bags priced at reduced rates with tickets in them at participating stores. Any tickets found are redeemable for next year's Festival (July 2008), so take the opportunity to get a great deal on Fair Trade Certified Organic Coffee and win a pair of tickets to next year's Folk Music Festival.
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FAMILY BLEND (MEDIUM DARK ROAST)
Certified Fair Trade, certified organic, shade grown
Taste Profile: Ultra smooth, rich in body and a grounded earthy flavour accented with light spicy and fruity overtones.
"Ethical Bean is excited to launch the Family Blend and raise awareness about the Adoptive Families Association of BC," says Elaine Arrowsmith, Ethical Bean's Director of Business Development. The AFABC's mission is to find a family for every BC child. With over 1,000 foster children in BC, AFABC's mission is an important one. The AFABC also supports families through the adoption process.
Ethical Bean owners, Lloyd Bernhart and Kim Schachte, are the adoptive parents of two children. "The Adoptive Families Association of BC played an integral part in the adoption process. They were the 'how-to' on adoption and helped my wife and I find our much-needed adoption direction," says Bernhart.
Their family has continued to use AFABC as a resource over the years, consulting with the organization in various stages of their children's growth. When their daughter was singled out in grade one for not looking like either of her parents, the AFABC helped Bernhart and Schachte educate teachers and classmates.
Ethical Bean began when Bernhart and Schachte traveled to Guatemala to meet their daughter. Little did they know that their visit would inspire them to start a coffee company. While waiting for their daughter's adoption to be finalized, they saw firsthand the lives of coffee pickers in Guatemala. When they returned to Canada with their daughter, the researched Fair Trade and started the Ethical Bean Coffee Company.
"We are truly inspired about adoption and feel fortunate to be able to give back through our company," say Bernhart and Schachte.
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