Come on down all you espresso freaks! To the 2007 Bay Area Barista bash-up! Thursday April 26th from 4pm to 11 pm or till we pass out from too much espresso.
Team Barefoot will be hosting a whole raft of Barista competitors in a mock competition and party. This will be a fully intense competition no holds barred, all sheets to the wind Barista competition.

The espresso swankies from Team Barefoot, Yaelle Levine and Dominic Taylor (rockin!), The Ritual Roasters crazies Chris Baca and Crystal Yeaw, The party freaks from Temple Fine coffee in sac town Sean Komescher and Lucky Rodrigues will all be throwing down the proverbial Barista gauntlet. Full USBC rules will apply. They will all be doing their complete performance and all drinks. 15 minutes to serve 4 single espressos, 4 single cappuccinos and 4 signature drinks to 4 judges while a cast of thousands watch and stress them out.

Barefoot will be closed from 4 pm. There will be NO espresso drinks sold during this time. There will be free drip coffee available.

Anyone who wants to come and watch the competition run through is welcome to come. However please be respectful of the competitors and be quiet so they can speak without shouting. Do come and cheer on your favorite Baristas and maybe even taste some of the drinks if you are lucky.

We also need a few volunteers to help with running dishes and helping out. email monica *@* barefootcoffeeroasters. com if you want to help out.

Latte Art Class!!!

The ever popular Latte Art and milk steaming class will be held at Barefoot Coffee Roasters again Sunday May 20th 2007. There will be two classes each one hour long. Class one is from 4-5 pm and class two is from 5-6 pm. Space is limited to the first 10 people to confirm for each class. The cost is only $5 per person so signup today!! Learn to steam milk into sweet luxurious silk.
Email us at info@barefootcoffeeroasters.com to signup for a class.

By Adam Teitelbaum

There has been a heated discussion lately among the organic community about a controversial new enforcement policy by the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) organic certifying body. The policy affects all organic crops but may have much more disastrous effects for organic coffee because of the nature how most organic coffee is grown in co-op groups made up of hundreds or thousands of individual farmers.

In short, the rules of the NOP and the ways farms are inspected and certified have not changed. The way the NOP is enforcing the rules has. The result can be a disaster for the organic coffee industry.

The current National Organic Program (NOP) rules state that all farms in a co-op must be inspected annually. Currently all farms in a Group Management Operation or co-op are not inspected by an external NOP certifying agent. Group Management Operations (co-op groups) have established Internal Control Systems (ICS) inspectors who do inspect 100% of farms that make up co-ops. The ICS and up to 20% of farms in a co op are inspected by a NOP certified agent. This practice of using internal ICS inspectors in conjunction with NOP inspectors has been an accepted practice in place since 2002 and is in line with the National Organic Standard Board (NOSB). The practice has been accepted by the European Union and the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements.

Who benefits from this new enforcement tactic? Larger and wealthier farms who can afford to pay the inspectors.

The bad news is that if the new ruling stands, the cost of organic inspection and certification of organic individual coffee co-op farms will be prohibitive, costing $150.00 – 270.00 per day per farm not including travel expenses for an NOP certifier. Most of these farmers make around $2,000.00 per year. This would drive many farmers to be de-certified thereby loosing the environmental, social and economic benefits brought by growing certified organic coffee. This could end up being a total disaster for the organic coffee industry, by making large farms the only ones who could pay the inspection fees. ICS inspectors, on the other hand, are much more affordable and familiar with the co-op and the local traditional farming practices. Fair Trade coffees would be eliminated since 80% of their coffees are organic and they only certify co-ops.

The good news is that we can mobilize to successfully change this disastrous practice as we in the organic coffee community did in 2002 to protect the integrity of organic certification. Back then, the NOP wanted to include genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and irradiated foods in the definition of organic. We were successful in blocking that NOP effort then with 250,000 email comments and we can turn them around again with an intense campaign of phone calls, emails, letters and faxes.

We are the people who have supported organic coffee for the past 20 years and have seen it grow to an important and significant part of the specialty coffee industry. We have shaped the rules and the discussion, and we will determine the ultimate outcome of this sad attempt to undermine a successful, proven system of sustainable development that has made a meaningful difference in so many lives.

Below are the names and contact info for the Executive Director and Deputy Administrator in charge of the USDA and NOP.

Ms. Valerie Frances, Executive Director, NOSB, USDA-AMS-TMD-NOP,
1400 Independence Ave., SW., Room 4008-So., Ag Stop 0268,
Washington, DC 20250-0268.
FAX (202) 205-7808, valerie.frances@usda.gov, or by phone at (202) 720-3252.

Mr. Mark Bradley Associate Deputy Administrator USDA-AMS-TMP-NOP

Room 4008 South Building 1400 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20250-0020, 202-720-3252 202-205-7808 (fax)Mark.bradley@usda.gov

Sign the petition http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/501659372?z00m=9425014&ltl=1176956814

This is a very complete article by Samuel Fromartz that ran on salon.com

http://www.salon.com/mwt/food/eat_drink/2007/04/03/coffee_organic/

Letter from the Independent Organic Inspectors Association to the USDA

http://www.ioia.net/images/pdf/LetMarkBradleyFeb807.pdf

SCAA White Paper

http://www.scaa.org/pdfs/news/USDANOPWhitePaper.pdf

it’s an emergency rock show 4/17 at Barefoot! our own Benjamin Henderson pairs with this vodka-clear Julia Dawn girl from Fresno and quirky rock by another man named Justin Winokur for a feast of hiphop-tinged neojazzy folk. Come down at 8pm, so you can tell your grandchildren you were there.

Benjamin Henderson: http://www.myspace.com/benjaminhenderson

Julia Dawn: http://www.myspace.com/juliadawnmusic

Justin Winokur: http://www.myspace.com/justinwinokur

Click here to vote for your favorite Best of’s in Silicon Valley. If we all band together we can avoid the tragedy that has been the history of the Mercury News best of’s. Where all the mega chains win the Best Of including such resounding winners as Chevy’s being Best mexican food in Silicon Valley… I mean come on!!!!!

So get out and vote early and often. Vote For Barefoot Coffee Roasters for Best coffee.

http://www.mercurynews.com/bestinsv

This weeked brings us two men and their stringed instruments. On Friday, Ted Schram visits us. He says he builds his own guitars, but then, he says a lot of things. Listen to him at www.myspace.com/tedschram.

Then, on Saturday, the return of the electro-acoustic sounds of Steven Gary. He says he’ll bring guests, so be on your best behaviour. Electro-ecoutez: www.myspace.com/stevengarymusic. what do you think the odds are i can get myspace to sponsor the music program, since i’m giving them all this free publicity?

This Friday, we welcome Far From Kansas (www.myspace.com/farfromkansas) to the ‘Foot. They’re an upbeat country rock band from Ventura.

Then on Saturday, our First Saturday art opening features Zeruch, whose multimedia portrait and figurative drawings you liked so much a couple months ago, representing a showcase of some of the best artists on DeviantArt.com from around the world.

both shows start at 8pm!