The so called “Direct Trade” (actually nothing of the sort) gimmick & marketing campaign has emerged as nothing short of green cloaking, or sustainable skam, a spin job on relationship models that really don’t exist and some that are integral to our business- everybody real in coffee has a relationship with & visits thier suppliers folks, and with few exceptions, Intelligentsia’s coffee comes throught the same importers everybody else uses- and that serves to break down Cooperatives (key word there is COOPERATIVE folks) and pits Coops & Coop members against each other in pursuit of the highest (up front) bucks from the smallest segment of the global coffee market. Geof Watts, Doug Zell (who proudly calls himself the “Suge Knight of coffee”) & the other self proclaimed “George Jung” coffee treasure hunters are looking after their own business interests (and tiny market share); they will stop at nothing to find the “best” and pay the highest prices for the smallest lots (?! a red flag), even if it means separating farmers from their family and community. These buyers are not content with their Finca This, Hacienda That, Fazenda Over There Estate coffees; they want to globalize and dominate the smallest artisanal producers and pit them against one another just like mini-plantations. These buyers actively work to disconnect the growers from the ONLY two truly effective programs to EVER IN HISTORY improve the lives of Coffee Growers and empower them within the supply chain: Fair Trade and Organic Certification. They actively work to discredit the only coffee farming method that is both sustainable AND produces a high quality cup: Shade Grown Organic. These elitists pay big for only the top 5-10% of beans available, only 10% of what they purchase, and leave the coop with no option for the bulk/rest of thier crop (second quality) which they are forced to send into the “comodity” market at sub-standard/base prices, where these very same Companies buy the very same coffees to blend with the “Top Micro Lots”, unbeknownst to buyers paying $45 a pound or $10 a cup who never wonder how a “limited, exlusive micro lot lot of only 20 bags (3000 Lbs)!!!” can be sold daily for six months in 3500 locations. Were these companies, (who built thier reputations on the sustainable certifications and supply chain they now eschew in favor of thier own phoney look a likes), Fair Trade Certified, or 100% Organic Certified, or Shade Certified, these gimmicks would be transparent and traceable for all to see, but outside of certification, there really isn’t anyone to stop the fraud. Colonialism and exploitation hasn’t faded away from the coffee business, it just got “Third Waved” and tatooed!
For the people who grow coffee, and we in the industry who sincerely wish to better thier lives and empower our supply chain while protecting cultures and environments, it’s a very dangerous & dirty game these companies are playing, and many insiders know that Intelli, like Starbucks, scrambling to salvage failing companies and increase profits by any means neccessary, and failing that, make thier companies more attractive for acquisition by agribusiness. We hope that the citizens of LA will choose to not be taken in by “The Suge Knight of Coffee” and his nasty slacker minions posing as ‘experts” seeking to discredit the best hope for a safe, healthy, fair and equitable coffee supply chain: the certified Organic, Shade Grown/Bird Friendly and Fair Trade Cooperative CERTIFIED coffee movement.
As your post reminds us, we should read between the lines and verify that the information being given to us in sales pitches (nowaday often disgued as journalism or blogs) is the truth, and we will add, ask yourself “Who benefits here?”.

Luisa — Hope you get to try this one, though if you’re getting this humidity as well, I don’t blame you for waiting. It was horrid today! Apparently this’ll work with other low-gluten flours, too…

buckwheat is awesome for pancakes AND amazing crepes, so there’s actually a reason to buy it. did you ever find your sourdough starter? if so, then you don’t need the rye…

i don’t know if im willing to go buy buckwheat -and- rye for this though. i still have masa because of you!