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This past Sunday, Gimme Coffee brought home the trophy which Team Gimme fought for in the first ever Battle For The Bean against Team Coffee Mania. Here Gimme's Tomas Reyer is enjoying the thrill of the win surrounded by Team Gimme rollers.

It was nip and tuck in the first half as the two teams battled it out. But the 2nd half was dominated by Team Gimme leading to a final score of 113 to 157.

Check out the handmade trophy as it makes the rounds to each store.

The Ithaca League of Women Rollers is partnering with Coffee Mania and Gimme! Coffee for the first-ever intraleague bout on Sunday, May 16, at the J.M. McDonald Sports Complex in Cortland - the league's springtime home track.

For this special event the ILWR teams, the SufferJets and BlueStockings, will be reblended to form two high-octane teams--Team Gimme! and Team Coffee Mania. Whether you wear Gimme! red or Mania purple, you'll be able to cheer for your favorite ILWR skaters as these one-time teammates turn on each other for this special event - the Battle for the Bean. Come see which team will take home the Bean Trophy.

Doors open at 4:30 pm and the first whistle blows at 5:00 for this Sunday evening event. Tickets are $10 for adults. Kids aged 12 and under are admitted for free. Tickets for this bout and the entire 2010 season are now available through the league's newly designed website. Tickets are also available at the Ticket Center at Center Ithaca on the Ithaca Commons. For information on riding the ILWR Fan Van from Ithaca to Cortland, e-mail events@ithacarollerdery.com.

The J.M. McDonald Sports Complex is located at 4292 Fairgrounds Drive in Cortland. Join your favorite skaters after the bout for more fun and music at the Darkhorse in downtown Cortland.

A portion of the evening's proceeds will go to support the Women's Opportunity Center of Ithaca.

This bout is generously sponsored by Gimme! Coffee and Coffee Mania. ILWR is sponsored all season long by platinum sponsors Cayuga Xpress, Gorges Website Design & Development, Clayburg Creative, and Angry Mom Records.

Mark your calendars for the first ever Battle For The Bean, presented by The Ithaca League of Women Rollers and sponsored by Gimme! Coffee and Coffee Mania. More details to come!

Who doesn't love Boston in March? If you've got the urge for a road trip, head to Boston for the Northeast Regional Barista Competition this coming weekend, March 19-21.

We're a Sponsor of the NERBC Espresso & Coffee Bar at which we'll be serving our Leftist espresso and 3 of our favorite single origins on the brew bar - Panama Hartmann Honey, Guatemala Santa Elena and Colombia Las Mingas Huila.

Gimme! Coffee barista Liz Clark will be competing against the best of the Northeast again this year! Good luck Liz!

Look at this hot little number.

Soon, we'll be offering three carefully selected gift boxes in stores and online - including free shipping in November and December.

Organics box will feature Ethiopia Amaro, Costa Rica and Guatemala
Blends box will include Leftist, Mocha Java and Piccolo Mondo
Select box will contain Panama, Kenya and CoE Honduras

Fire engine red, sturdy, reusable and filled with at least one of your favorite Gimme coffees.

Make it a complete purchase with the Hario Skerton Ceramic Burr Grinder we'll be getting in. More to come on that soon!

Upcoming October Events in Ithaca

Farmer's Ball & Live Auction - 5th Annual Farmer's Ball hosted by Full Plate Farm Collective to benefit Healthy Food for All.  Bid on a Gimme gift certificate and other local items. October 3, Free, Everyone Welcome, Farmer's Market Pavillion, 6pm potluck.

Chamber of Commerce Annual Auction -  Plan on attending one of the biggest and best auctions around - the Great Big Chamber Auction 2009. Our CEO, Kevin, was the auctioneer at this event a few years back. We've donated some goodies to the live auction. October 29, Celebrations, 5:30pm.

Arts For All Marathon - Fundraiser for CSMA's Scholarship program. A "moveable auction" book filled with items to bid on will circulate to Ithaca venues in which artists work and perform. Sept 28 - October 24, culminating in a Gala Finale.

Cornell Cycling "Red Cross" Cyclocross - a mix of mountain biking, road cycling and motocross. We're supplying the pre-race caffeine and some beans to enjoy at home for the top finishers. This event will bring cyclists from all over the Northeast to the Broome-Tioga Sports Center. October 24, 10am.

Upcoming bicycle events we're supporting this week.

Ithaca
Cascadilla Hill Climb.This is a just-for-the-fun-of-it race up one of the steepest hills in Ithaca organized by the Finger Lakes Cycling Club.  There'll be Gimme Coffee at the bottom of the hill to help the racers up! Saturday, September 26, 9am sign up, $5. 10am race.

New York City
Bicycle Habitat weekly giveaway item - Gimme cycling hat, 1 pound of coffee and 1 gift certificate! Enter to win at Bicycle Habitat, two blocks west of Gimme Mott St at 244 Lafayette. Keep your stub for an extra chance to win prizes at the Bike Bash, October 8.

We support many fund raising events throughout the year and I'd like to begin highlighting them here. Here are some happening this weekend:

Ithaca

• Coffee Tasting Expo at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Taste different organic coffees with Smithsonian Bird Friendly certification, such as our Guatemala Asobagri. Learn about the migratory birds that depend on shade-grown coffee farms for their survival. Free. Sunday, September 20, from 11am-3pm.

• Cornell Lab of Ornithology Lecture: The Science Behind Bird-Friendly Coffee, by Dr Greenberg, Director, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center.  Free. Monday, September 21, from 7:30pm-8:45pm.
  

New York City

• The Mia Abides: Fundraiser for the Ocular Melanoma Foundation at the Living Room. An Evening of joyful music in celebration of Mia Jarlov, featuring Adam Levy & the Mint Imperials. $10. Sunday, September 20, doors at 7pm.
  

As you may recall, we've been working for months to increase our recycling efforts as part of our participation in the Tompkins County ReBusiness Partner Program.

Next week, in all upstate stores, we'll begin expanding our composting program by leaps and bounds! Stores will begin to collect and compost nearly all materials we use. This will mean way less trash and, literally, tons more compost.

In fact, our Cayuga Street store began a little pilot project a few months back and they have decreased their trash to 1 bag per week  - that is about a 90% reduction in waste! They went from a full to overflowing dumpster to one little bag, above. Cayuga Compost turns our diverted waste into fertile soil, which gets used by local farmers, landscapers, and wineries.

Please, when you patronize our stores, be conscious of our efforts and sort your waste into our compost bins.  Thanks for your helping us do our part. You'll feel good about it, I promise.

We are proud to be the official coffee sponsor of the 11th Annual Southern Tier AIDS Program Ride for Life on September 12 in Ithaca, NY!

The Ride for Life is a 50, 85, or 100-mile bicycle ride around Cayuga Lake.  Last year, the Ride raised over $250,000 to benefit AIDS services and education through the Southern Tier AIDS Program.

Congratulations to all the riders, staff and volunteers who make this event such a great success each year!

We'll be getting these lovelies in about 4-6 weeks. But of course they won't be blank. Picture a red Gimme! Coffee logo on both sides, full of our freshly brewed Las Animas micro-harvest.

For sale and for use in stores. For sale online.

Welcome the Gimme Pint!  This 16oz pint will be available for sale in stores beginning June 8.  All for-here iced and blended beverages will also be served in these glasses to reduce waste.
  

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What does your Gimme sticker collection say about you? Is your bumper covered with !'s? Do you have a wall plastered? What about your bike frame or favorite parking meter?  Have you seen a Gimme sticker in a foreign country?  Here's a paw on the bumper of an obvious animal lover.

Send your pictures to janet.murray at gimmecoffee dot com. I'll put together an assortment of the best and post a gallery.

This is a mylar bag which once contained our vacuum-packed Brazil Daterra.  Vacuum-packing green coffee at country of origin preserves freshness and locks in all the goodness, ensuring coffee remains airtight until the beans are roasted, which can be a bit after they arrive at port and then at our Roastery.

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We produce a lot of coffee grounds. Our upstate stores are diverting about 24 tons per year from landfills and putting them to good use. Cayuga Compost, a local food waste collection & composting business, has been hauling away our grounds for nearly 3 years.

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Cafe Life New York is almost out of stock - get one of our last copies today! 

While you're here, pick up the perfect ceramic cup for sipping one of our newest crops, Colombia Las Mingas.

In an effort to recirculate $3000 worth of Ithaca Hours, we've made large contributions to the Tompkins County SPCA and the Ithaca Health Alliance, Ithaca non-profit organizations that use Ithaca Hours to buy products and services for the people and animals they serve.

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"I love giving kisses. That's why my nose is so pink," says Laci.

This Valentine's Day, support the Tompkins County SPCA Lover's Loot for Cupid's Critters fundraiser and enter to win one of several Gimme prizes, including a demitasse, a pound of Nicaragua and more! 

We are proud to support our local no-kill animal shelter dedicated to preventing animal cruelty and overpopulation.

In the very early 1900's, there was still lots of traffic on N Cayuga St, the location of our original Gimme! Coffee espresso bar. In this historic photo, we're looking northwest at Cascadilla Creek flowing toward Cayuga Lake under the Cayuga St bridge. Our first Gimme opened on the corner of Cascadilla and N Cayuga St in 2001, about 100 years after this photo was taken.

We had the remarkable pleasure of donating coffee to the African Diaspora Inaugural Ball, hosted by the African Diaspora for Change, held on January 18, as part of the inaugural celebrations in Washington.

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We like to reuse our cups. This is the line-up in Lance's office. Time to get him a Gimme! SIGG.

The David Pier Lux-Delux Mug and Saucer has a smaller 8oz sibling (right). David sent us two last week and I couldn't resist a photo shoot of the two together.

As 2008 comes to an end, I'd like to take a look back and highlight our philanthropic activities.  We've proudly donated coffee and goods valued at over $10,000 to more than 150 local and national organizations!

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After months of planning, design, and production, our Gimme! ceramics finally arrived at our Roastery on Wednesday.  Buy them in stores or online beginning Friday!

Our Brooklyn crew donated many gallons of coffee for the 3rd Ward Handmade Holiday Craft Fair last week. More than 1000 people turned out to support local artists and the Food Bank for New York.

We were also proud sponsors of 3rd Ward's Open House Art Swap this past Spring when this photo was taken.

What's in the box? This stylish, reusable gift box is filled with 3 pounds of coffee goodness.  Select from 3 Coffee Gift Boxes - Organics, Blends and Limited Edition.

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Announcing the addition of the Gimme Hat to our family!  This embroidered black Thermax performance hat is perfect for keeping your noggin warm and dry.  This guy will be available for sale in stores and online very soon!

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I had the pleasure of meeting the folks at Cafe Imports last week while in Minneapolis.  Amanda gave my family and I the grand tour of their warehouse, roasting lab and offices. 

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We are pleased to participate in the Ithaca Youth Bureau Mentoring Discount Program which matches adult volunteers with youth in need of positive role models and supportive social networks.  Our espresso bars provide a third place for mentors and mentees to come together for fun, learning and discovery.

Other donations to the Ithaca Youth Bureau include prizes for the One-to-One Big Brothers Big Sisters annual fundraiser, Bowl for Kids' Sake, and the Recreation Partnership's first annual Ithaca Festival Mile. The program coordinator said of our coffee donation for race competitors, "I even heard squeals of delight from the winners."

In case you missed us in this month's issue of Barista Magazine, I'm quoted in the sustainable cafe series talking about the energy decisions we're making.  This summer we switched to renewable energy at our 6 espresso bars and Roastery.

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This holiday season, you'll be able to spread the cheer with Gimme! Coffee ceramics!  No one will say, "you shouldn't have."

These hand-crafted Italian ceramic demis, cappuccino and latte cups are printed with our logo on both sides and the saucer has an ! in the center.

Available for sale in stores and online in December!

Hillcrest Dairy is the new milk vendor for our upstate espresso bars. 70 Holstein cows graze on lush grasses and exercise on 20 acres in the fresh air and sunshine.

View all the photos

Gimme! Coffee sponsored one of the Ithaca Area Ultimate Alliance teams this year, and they called themselves Pwn.  Team members were provided with drinks to fuel their game-day spirits.