Fairtrade Fortnight Cafe Crawl...

Members of the City Fairtrade Group decided to celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight by going on a Café Crawl around various cafes in the City that are committed to serving Fairtrade products.

Where better to #takeabreak than the brilliant stalwart of the UK high street, Greggs? We started off with some wonderful coffees (and donuts!) at Greggs on Cheapside. We were excited to see all the Fairtrade information on their cups.

We ended our run at the fantastic Soho Coffee Company in the shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral. In the lovely, cosy atmosphere we drank yet more coffee and tea - all of it Fairtrade. The food looks good here too... 

Amidst the hundreds of cafes and coffee shops in the Square Mile, it was wonderful to visit and try out just a few of those that champion the important work Fairtrade is doing.  

Goldsmiths’ Fair 2016

Week One: 27 September – 2 October 2016

Week Two: 4 – 9 October 2016

Goldsmiths’ Fair is the UK’s premier showcase for fine jewellery and contemporary silver. Staged at the sumptuous Goldsmiths' Hall in the City of London, you can expect a brilliant line-up of emerging and established talent, special exhibitions and engaging design talks. Buy directly from designer-makers or commission personal one-off pieces. Ute Decker, a leading proponent of ethical jewellery and a Fairtrade Gold licence-holder, is showing at Goldsmiths’ Fair on Week Two, Stand 70.  

Find out more about Fairtrade Gold here.

Not Guilty wine, cheese and chocolate tasting at the Old Bailey

On Monday 13^th June we hosted what is turning out to be an annual City Fairtrade event – wine and chocolate tasting at the Old Bailey. This year we added even more ‘yum’ with some glorious British cheeses from Cheese at Leadenhall.

Gathered in the Judges’ Dining Room, warmly welcomed and hosted by Sheriff Charles Bowman, 70 lucky guests were guided by our expert Sarah Jane Evans, Master of Wine, as she led us into the world of mouthwatering wine, cheese and chocolate. Pairing the delicious Golden Cross goat’s cheese with South African Fides wine was an inspiration – at least one guest who was not normally a fan of goat’s cheese was totally converted after this pairing.   

We tried some fantastically weird and wonderful chocolate (particularly the Zotter with actual bits of bacon in it!), and finished with some truly excellent Muscat from Stellar Organics.

The night was a real success, thanks to our wonderful hosts at the Old Bailey and our fantastic guide Sarah Jane. We look forward to turning up at the Old Bailey again next year with another selection of Fairtrade treats for people to try!

Wines

Miguel Torres Chile, Santa Digna Estelado Rosé, Maule, Chile 

Miguel Torres Chile, Days of Summer/Días de Verano 2014, Itata Valley, Chile

Fides 2015, Wellington, South Africa

Stellar Organics Running Duck No Sulphur Added Pinotage 2015, Western Cape, South Africa

Stellar Organics Heaven on Earth Muscat d’Alexandrie NV 50cl, Western Cape, South Africa

Cheeses

Old Winchester 

Golden Cross

Bath Blue

Chocolates

Damson Chocolate raspberry & Lemon Bar

Damson Chocolate Brazil 70% Fazenda Camboa Bar

Zotter Bacon Bits Bar

Rococo Chocolate Kalamansi Lime Salted Caramels

The event also unearthed more treasures, as the lovely Roxy from Trading Visions came along and told us about another Fairtrade chocolate and wine tasting happening at Fairly Square on Thursday 9^th July – see here for more details: https://goo.gl/PUi1S3

If you couldn’t make it to Not Guilty at the Old Bailey, show your support for Fairtrade and learn all about Divine chocolate and heavenly wine pairings by signing up!  

CaféDirect Coffee Tasting

Here at the City of London Fairtrade group, we are really committed to getting ethically sourced products into every part of the Square Mile, and so every few months we get together nice and early in the morning at the Guildhall to plan exactly how to go about doing this.

These meetings are always productive and full of interesting ideas from our wonderful volunteers. Our meeting this morning, however, was made even more special from a visit by CaféDirect, who told us about their coffee and exactly how they build long-standing, ethical partnerships with their producers.

It was exciting to hear about the different co-operatives they work with in order to source their four single-origin coffees, from Tanzania, Colombia, Costa Rica and the slopes of Machu Picchu in Peru.  We even got to try them, from the sweet and gentle tastes of the Costa Rica blend to the hearty full bodied Kilimanjaro coffee from Tanzania (sure to wake up even the most groggy of minds!).

What a great start to the day. Thanks guys!

BAKING FOR FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT

There is no better way to celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight than with some delicious homemade blueberry muffins! Members from our group who work at JustShare and St Mary-le-Bow Church got to enjoy these tasty treats.

The recipe uses Lyle and Tate's Fairtrade Golden Caster Cane Sugar.

The recipe is below, or read it here.

Ingredients
(Muffins)
380g (13½oz) self-raising flour
110g (4oz) Lyle’s Golden Syrup
50g (2oz) Tate & Lyle Fairtrade Golden Caster Cane Sugar
175ml (6floz) vegetable oil
150g (5oz) thick Greek-style yoghurt
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 lemon, zested
30g (1¼oz) rolled oats
150g (5oz) blueberries
(Topping)
1 level dsp Tate & Lyle Fairtrade Golden Caster Cane Sugar
1 level dsp rolled oats

Method

• Preheat oven –180°C/160° Fan, 350°F, Gas 4.
• Sift the flour into a bowl and make a well in the center. Add the Lyle’s Golden Syrup and Golden Caster Sugar, the vegetable oil, yoghurt, eggs, vanilla and lemon zest. Lightly and quickly stir together with a wooden spoon.
• Using a metal spoon, fold in the oats and the blueberries (the mixture will be very thick and paste-like – this is fine). Divide between paper cases in a 12-hole tin, filling almost to the tops.
• Mix the extra Golden Caster Sugar and the oats together and scatter over the muffins.
• Bake on the middle shelf for 25 minutes or until golden and risen (a fine skewer poked into the center should come out clean).
• Remove to a wire rack to cool for a few minutes

HAPPY FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT 2016!

Some of the City Fairtrade Group members were happy to celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight 2016 at the Guildhall with a Fairtrade breakfast as part of the nationwide theme "Sit down for breakfast, stand up for farmers."

Our group were also proud to help facilitate the Faitrade Foundation's 2016 Fortnight PR launch by giving access to the rooftop of One New Change shopping centre for the photoshoot for "Sit down to breakfast, stand up for farmers!" featuring Radio 1 DJ Alice Levine and TV presenter Laura Jackson, who together host the Jackson & Levine Supperclub.

CROWDFUNDING - CAN YOU HELP?

Our friends at Cafédirect Producers’ Foundation are crowdfunding for Small Folders: Urban Gardening Project. The goal is to raise $25,000 to help launch an initiative that showcases smallholder knowledge and innovations.

The project will generate a sustainable income source for their programmes and, by sharing smallholder expertise with western audiences, flip the standard transfer of knowledge from the North to South on its head.

SmallFolders will help CPF to develop, modify and adapt their urban gardening products further, creating more robust products for your home, and to continue supporting their network of 280k smallholders improve livelihoods through their programmes.

You can help by making even the smallest donation, and also get some really amazing urban gardening products as rewards. Click here to see the full campaign. Samples of rewards are listed below.

Deadline: 28th December 2015

Bug Trap - a simple way of controlling unwanted bugs from destroying a harvest. From farmers of: FEDECARES, Dominican Republic

Vertical Garden - a simple way of keeping a kitchen garden in a small space From farmers of: Michimikuru Tea Factory, Kenya