Published February 2007
Gimme! Coffee presents the Ithaca premiere of “Black Gold,” in collaboration with the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (FLEFF) and Cornell Cinema. The “vivid and galvanizing” documentary (Time Out New York) explores the international coffee trade and its effect on Ethiopian farmers.
We're pleased to help bring “Black Gold” to Ithaca as a community educational opportunity. We want to educate consumers and ourselves — and place us all in a better position to make informed choices about economic and ecological sustainability.
Screenings and Forum
“Black Gold” will screen on the following days:
Friday & Saturday, March 16 & 17, 2007
Cornell Cinema, Willard Straight Hall, 7:15pm
Cornell Cinema will serve Fair Trade Organic coffee compliments of Gimme! Coffee
Friday, March 30, 2007
Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival, Cinemapolis, 7:15pm
March 30th is opening night of FLEFF 2007 and “Black Gold” is the headline film. The screening will be followed by a forum discussion with panelists from Ithaca College, Cornell University, and Gimme! Coffee.
Cinemapolis will sell Fair Trade Organic coffee from Gimme! Coffee
The World Coffee Crisis
Coffee is second to oil as the most valuable commodity in the world, yet many coffee-producing communities still suffer from poverty.
The coffee market is dominated by five giant multinational corporations — Kraft, Nestlé, Proctor & Gamble, Sara Lee, and Tchibo — that buy 50% of the world's coffee, often at prices that do not cover the farmers' costs of production. The “Big Five” have big influence in politics and business, yet it's often smaller specialty roasters who most actively push for change.
Sustainable Solutions at Gimme! Coffee
Gimme! is proud to serve Fair Trade coffees. Fair Trade is one of many programs that allow us to support sustainable development for coffee farmers and their communities. A few related efforts at Gimme! Coffee:
- Specialty Market
- We source some of the highest quality coffees in the world at premium prices. Small roasters in the specialty coffee niche market generally pay the highest prices for raw materials.
- Sustainability Certifications
- Fair Trade, Organic, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, Rain Forest Alliance, and other programs help secure higher and more stable prices for farmers.
- Cup of Excellence (COE)
- We paid over three times the Fair Trade price for our Cup of Excellence El Bergel harvest. COE competitions fetch record prices and are free and open to all farmers — even those who cannot afford the fees required to gain Fair Trade certification. When you buy COE coffee as a consumer you can actively support small farms.
- Consumer Education
- By taking an active role in educating our consumers through events like “Black Gold,” Gimme! is promoting sustainable thinking in our community.
- Barista Training
- Our standard barista training document, “Barista Manual 1.0,” contains a primer on sustainability in the coffee industry.
- Trips to Origin
- For years we've been sending key Gimme! staff on trips to the farms and communities that grow our coffee. We're building relationships and increasing staff awareness of life in countries of origin.
- Shade-Grown
- Shade-grown coffees which preserve the biodiversity of forest ecosystems.