Coffee

Mild Espresso (250g)	'Italian Roast' Espresso (250g)	Mild Filter (500g)

This high-quality 'Arabica' coffee comes from beans cultivated, harvested and prepared by the 'Mut Vitz' growers cooperative, Chiapas, Mexico. 'Mut Vitz' (from the Tzotzil meaning 'Mountain of Birds') was set-up in 1997 to enable small farmers to bypass the traditional middlemen ('coyotes') and get a fair price for their produce. The cooperative now comprises over 700 indigenous campesinos of the Tzotzil community all of whom support the Zapatista insurrection in Chiapas. The cooperative guarantees the proper use of the soil by promoting organic farming (1) and obtains the best quality coffee beans in a natural way.

This coffee is imported by volunteers of Hamburg's Café Libertad co-operative. Café Libertad guarantees 'Mut Vitz' a 'fair-trade' rate or the 'world price', whichever is the higher and roasts, packs and distributes the coffee around Europe. The money that 'Mut Vitz' receives is used in two main ways to benefit the self-run Zapatista communities:

- Firstly, the money is used to develop the local infrastructure to ensure the basic needs of the Zapatista communities are met. This includes establishing and maintaining water facilities, clinics, schools and other services. The provision of this infrastructure is determined by the communities themselves through their own direct democracy, or 'Councils of Good Government'.

- Secondly, it is used to improve the cooperative's infrastructure by providing advice, training, interest-free loans and emergency funds in addition to covering the expenses for the recognition of Organic status (inspections and certificates).

All this is a clear example of the initiatives and commitments undertaken by these communities to promote the recognition of the indigenous people's rights and to ensure human rights dignity in Chiapas. The purchase of 'Mut Vitz' coffee is therefore an important way of giving direct economic support to the self-run Zapatista communities and enabling them to fulfill their basic human needs based on their own experiences, direct democracy, personal responsibility and autonomy.

(1) - Certified in Mexico by Certimex and in inspected in Germany by Gesellschaft fuer Ressourcenschutz mbH (GfRS) (DE-039-Oko-Kontrollstelle)

Shops in Edinburgh currently selling Zapatista coffee:

Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh

17 West Montgomery Place

Edinburgh

EH7 5HA

Tel: 0131 557 6242

Opening hours: Tuesdays 12.00-15.00 / Thursdays 18.00 - 20.00 / Saturdays 11.00-18.00 (best to phone first if travelling far on a Thursday or Saturday as opening subject to availability of volunteers)

New Leaf
20 Argyle Place
Edinburgh
EH9 1JJ
Tel: 0131 2288840
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 9.30-18.30, Sun 12.00-18.00

Cafes in Edinburgh currently serving Zapatista coffee:

Out of the Blue Cafe
The Drill Hall
36 Dalmeny Street
Edinburgh
EH6 8RG
www.outoftheblue.org.uk