Coffee Harmony

I try to learn something new about coffee every day, and I usually get my wish because nearly everybody in my life knows this about me. I had missed a very interesting article about another professor in the Boston area whose work has led him to coffee, but fortunately a friend brought the remarkable story to me, and I have already had the chance to share it with some of my students.

In Ugandan Beans Brew Taste, Tolerance, Boston Globe journalist Andrea Pyenson describes how the work of Tufts University rabbi and professor Jeffrey Summit led him from studying the music of the Mbale region to working with them on interfaith community-building through coffee. A Ugandan friend was visiting the rabbi in September 2001, and ended up being in New York City on September 11. Deciding to work toward peace in his own community, he helped to build a coffee cooperative of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish growers. The coffee is available in several variations from Thanksgiving Coffee, and Rabbi Summit has written the liner notes for Delicious Peace -- a CD on which the community tells its story through music. Thanks to the quick work of the US Postal Service, my students and I enjoyed both the coffee and the music just a few days after I read the Globe article. Both were delicious!

Various purchase options for the music and the coffee are on the Delicious Peace Smithsonian page, which also includes detailed liner notes.

Lagniappe
Ordering this delicious coffee supports peace-building while rewarding the buyer and any guests who might get to enjoy it. Ordering from Thanksgiving Coffee also provides an excuse to buy a package of the world-famous maracatura produced by my dear friend Byron Corrales in Nicaragua.