Now when you order your favorite specialty drink, brewed coffee, or tea on Friday, get TWO punches on your caffeine cards! That’s right, a double punch for the price of one!

The Cooperative “Producers’ Union Maya Vinic” is composed of some 700 coffee farming families located in 36 highland communities in the municipalities of Chenalhó, Pantelhó and Chalchihuitán, in Chiapas, Mexico. Inspired by the traditions of their ancestors, Maya Vinic is organized and operates in keeping with a respect of local culture, language, reverence for the Mother Earth and traditional forms of self-government.

Maya Vinic is born out the wider civil society “Las Abejas”, an organized response to the prevalent injustice in their communities and in the hopes of promoting positive change and autonomous development by pacific means. The plight of their communities came to the public eye in the aftermath of the infamous Acteal Massacre, where 45 men, women and children were killed by paramilitary forces and thousands more displaced from their homes.

The organizational structure of Maya Vinic holds a General Assembly as its maximum authority. An Assembly of Community Delegates works in close conjunction with the Producers’ Board of Directors to accomplish the tasks assigned to the Education, Technical Assistance, Marketing, Administration and local Arbitration and Problem Resolution Committees.

Coffee production is nothing new to the farmers of this region. “Recruited” since the arrival of the plantations in the early 1900s as poorly paid hired hands during the harvest, they learned about production and processing, and the wealth that coffee had made for a fortunate few. Soon, seeds began trickling back to the Highland communities of Chiapas.

Farmers eventually were able to organize themselves into producer cooperatives in search of more equitable markets. In keeping with this legacy, Maya Vinic has recently been accepted to the FLO register and is in the second year of organic certification. Cooperative Coffees purchased the first Maya Vinic coffee to be exported under fair trade terms in 2001.

While you may not have noticed, our brewed coffee has changed from last year. While we were brewing Midnight Oil and Fluid Sculpture last year, this year we have opted to change things up a bit…

Prepare yourselves for the Coffee World Tour: 2009. Instead of one or two coffees, we’ve chosen to do a rotating drip coffee experience to stimulate and excite your taste buds to the flavors of the coffee world. Check out the Tour dates below and experience the world one cup at a time.

September: Sumatra Gayo Mountain- Full-bodied coffee with definite nutty characteristics in both aroma and flavor with sweet, chocolate fragrances as well. Low acidity with a sweet, earthy aftertaste.

October: Mexico Maya Vinic- Honey sweet with a rich coffee flavor and suggestions of Dutch Cocoa, orange blossom & toasted nuts- smoky cinnamon finish.

November/December: Guatemala SHB Huehuetenanago- Sweet, fruity aroma and clean, sweet flavor with medium acidity.

January/February: Ethiopia Sidamo Natural- Smooth, medium bodied and somewhat wild in the cup, with soft floral, lush berry & stone fruit aromatics. Profound, layered fruit flavor.

March/April: East Timor- Full-bodied coffee that is gentle and smooth with notes of sweet chocolate and a hint of rice.

All dates subject to change. Stay tuned for expanded coffee offerings.