09470
June 11, 2009

Just coffee isn’t just coffee

New book chronicles story of PC(USA)-backed coffee cooperative

by Bethany Furkin
Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE — The story of Just Coffee began long before it was published.

Conceptualized in 2001, Just Coffee is a grower cooperative based in Salvador Urbina, Chiapas, Mexico. Just Coffee has strong Presbyterian roots — it was founded in part by Mark Adams, a mission co-worker with Frontera de Cristo, one of the bi-national Presbyterian Border Ministries.

And with the recent publication of a book outlining the history and goals of the cooperative, Just Coffee now has the possibility of coming to more coffee cups around the country.

Although the fair trade movement is becoming more familiar in the American marketplace, Just Coffee takes the initiative a step further. Instead of following the standard model of U.S. fair trade coffee companies, Just Coffee labels itself as fair trade PLUS.

Other fair trade coffee companies purchase only the coffee beans from coffee growers and do the roasting, packaging and shipping themselves. In this system, the fair trade companies — not the growers — collect profits from these later processes. But under Just Coffee’s system, the growers participate in and benefit from the entire process, from the farm to the final package. This model not only increases profits for farmers, it provides more local jobs in the areas of management, production, processing and transportation.

“The Just Coffee model runs against the way the coffee world has worked for hundreds, if not thousands, of years,” said Tommy Bassett III, co-author of the book along with Adams, and Just Trade Center developer with Frontera de Cristo.

The book, Just Coffee: Caffeine with a Conscience, further describes the differences between fair trade and fair trade PLUS, as well as several other aspects of the Mexican coffee industry, including immigration issues and practical information about the coffee-roasting process.

The book also reflects one of the goals of the Just Coffee cooperative: to highlight the growers themselves so that customers can put a face and a story to the coffee they drink. At the beginning of each chapter, two or three growers are briefly featured, and each bag of Just Coffee lists the name of the grower from whose farm the coffee came.

“It was the idea of getting the farmers’ story out more broadly in a way that was more easily understood,” Adams said. “The goal was to be able to get the story out to a broader audience and then also to use it as a tool to help new cooperatives start.”

Also sprinkled throughout are personal reflections, photos and graphics, and reasons behind the cooperative’s start.

One reason is that organizers were looking for ways to address labor migration from Mexico to the United States.

“It kind of addresses the immigrant question from a third perspective,” Bassett said.

As explained in the book, thousands of people cross the border from Mexico to the United States in search of work. Even though such immigration is illegal, American society effectively supports it because of the high demand for cheap labor.

“Until this issue is adequately resolved, hopefully humanely, we will not be able to change the realities at our border — no matter how high or how long the fence.

“What if meaningful and sustainable work at a livable wage could be generated in the home village? What if there was some way for good people to support themselves among their families where they were born and raised?”

This example from Just Coffee highlights the impetus for forming the cooperative.

Such information about the cooperative might not have reached the Just Coffee audience if not for the help of Don and Nancy Tubesing, two book-publishing professionals who traveled to New Mexico on a mission trip and were intrigued by Adams and his work with Just Coffee.

“I was so impressed with Mark and the educational experience,” said Nancy Tubesing. “It was a wonderful experience to be in the culture and to be treated so warmly and respectfully.”

Inspired by the culture along the border and the story of Just Coffee, the Tubesings encouraged the idea of a book detailing the program. The Tubesings were impressed with the success of Just Coffee, and understood that a book outlining the cooperative’s model could help others get off the ground.

One major challenge in editing the book was trying to blend the voices of Adams and Bassett into one cohesive writing style. The Tubesings also worked with the writers to sequence the story and to explain the work of Just Coffee in the larger context of immigration issues.

Another important aspect was to include sufficient background information so that those who knew nothing about Just Coffee — or even fair trade or the coffee industry — could read the book and be able to comprehend the impact of the cooperative.

“(The people at Just Coffee) are so close to it, they don’t always see the incredible miracle, and they don’t see how different they are,” said Don Tubesing, adding that he and Nancy Tubesing helped coin the phrase fair trade PLUS to help highlight the unique qualities of the Just Coffee cooperative.

One of the most important goals of the book is to expand readers’ knowledge about immigration. Making money from the book isn’t the goal, but raising awareness is. What makes this book stand out from others about immigration is its message, Don Tubesing said.

“All the other books that we read, they really described the situation,” he said. “This book really described a response that’s working.”

To read reviews of Just Coffee or to order a copy, click here.