Bolivian Cup of Fair Trade

The C&C tasting panel's favorite coffee, among tough competition, is still Paradise Roasters' Calama Marka Bolivia Cup of Excellence, which is now, sadly, sold out. In that review, I discussed the cancellation of the 2006 Bolivian Cup of Excellence, due to political foolishness. Gary Howe of Traverse City, MI was kind enough to leave a comment on a follow-up post, pointing me to his blog, where he talks about his recent trip to Bolivia to attend the Cup of Fair Trade event.  He includes a slide-show clip describing the event, featuring his really outstanding photography (wow!).

Gary went to Bolivia with Chris Treter, of Higher Grounds Trading Co., a northern Michigan roaster.  Their web site looks completely unfamiliar to me, yet I know their name well (there was a nice piece in the Detroit paper recently about them). I swear the last I checked their site, they did not offer online ordering, so they did not end up in my righteous roaster list.  Whether I'm right and things have been updated, or if I just completely missed the boat, they have now been added to the sidebar and interactive roaster map, and are on my "to try" list.

Thanks to Gary for bringing both Higher Grounds and the Cup of Fair Trade event to my attention.  I really would love a report on the winning farms!