April 2007 Flavor of The Month

It is time again for our Flavor of The month newsletter. For April, we will be featuring our variety packs in both our Alfajores and Marshmallows. We are also please to announce that we are holding a drawing for The S'mores Book in which we are listed as one of the resources for Gourmet Marshmallows.

Every customer that places and order between now and April 8th will be entered in a drawing for the book. You may view the cover of the book at our marshmallow page - http://www.splitbeancoffee.com/page5.html . Order early for Easter! We will announce the winner in our next Flavor of The Month email.

All orders received before April 5th will receive a free sample of one of our micro-roasted coffees.

This month, we would like to address something that has been brought up several times in conversations with our customers; the difference between gourmet and artisan. We have written a few paragraphs to explain our stand on Gourmet vs. Artisan. You may read it in our Flavor of The Month Page - http://www.splitbeancoffee.com/page8.html .

We wish you all a very Happy and Safe Passover and Easter Season.

Your Friends at Split Bean Coffee



Here are some of the Holidays and Holydays for April 2007

Alcohol Awareness Month
National Autism Awareness Month
National Occupational Therapy Month
National Parkinson's Awareness Month

1 - April Fool's Day (United States)
1 - Palm Sunday (Protestant, Roman Catholic)
2 - Passover *begins at sundown (Jewish)
5 - Holy Thursday (Christian)
6 - Good Friday (Protestant, Roman Catholic)
6 - National Tartan Day (Scottish-American)
6 - Organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
7 - Hospital Admitting Clerks Day
8 - Easter (Protestant, Roman Catholic)
8 - Vesak - Buddha's Birth (Buddhist)
13 - Blame Someone Else Day
15 - Easter (Orthodox) or Pascha
15 - Yom Hashoah/Holocaust Memorial Day (Jewish)
22 - Earth Day
23 - St. George's Day (English)
26 - Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day (United States)
26 - Hug a Friend Day
27 - Childcare Professionals Day
28 - Arbor Day
30 - Beltane (Celtic)
30 - Hairstyle Appreciation Day

www.SplitBeanCoffee.com

Gourmet vs. Artisan

Some of you have asked us what the difference is between an Artisan and Gourmet. The answer is quite simple. Gourmet is typically used to label products that are manufacture with high-quality raw materials to obtain a high quality end-product. For example gourmet chocolates normally have a high content of cacao liqueur, and gourmet cheeses are made with selected milks from selected farms. However, you don’t always obtain a gourmet product by just using high quality raw materials. You also have to employ a control and tested method to produce a constant high quality finished product. Although gourmet products can be produced in medium or large batches, the implementation of a control method and high quality ingredients results in a less than ordinary product.

Artisan products are normally made with the same meticulous attention to detailed as gourmet products. Although Artisan Products can be Gourmet, not all gourmet products are artisan in nature.

Artisan products are strictly made in small batches typically by one of a kind stores using family guarded recipes and methods. They are normally hand crafted and sold in the artisan’s store or in local farmers market across the nation. These artisan masters and apprentices follow a time honored tradition that can be traced to pre-industrial times when most products were made in small shops across colonial America and the globe.

The interest in artisan gourmet products was re-awaken by the slow food movement. In Europe the Artisan label is more strictly guarded by local and national agencies, and though many wines, cheeses and chocolates can call themselves gourmet, not all of these gourmet products can be labeled of artisan origin.

Split Bean Coffee’s Dulces del Rocío are considered artisan products because we make them using only high-quality ingredients, in small control batches using our family’s treasured and tested recipes. Our products are preservative free, and we pride ourselves in using minimal packaging. Our products are only available through our online store and at a very selected few retail outlets.

www.SplitBeanCoffee.com

Support for Our Troops

Split Bean Coffee is proud to provide small care packages of sweets and coffee to the troops overseas. In cooperation with Members of St. Victor's Church, and Members of The Brotherhood of Our Lady of Rocio (http://www.elrocio.net/), we are donating some care packages to the soldiers overseas.

The Brotherhood will also donate prayer cards for the soldiers, and members of the Church will be including other spiritual items for those soldiers who may need them.

If you live in the Los Angeles Area and wish to donate to the efforts, please visit St. Victor's website at http://www.saintvictor.org/ . Donations of toiletries, non-parishable snacks, calling cards, and letters of encouragement are greatly appreciated. Ask for Sean or you may email The Brotherhood directly at elrocio@elrocio.net

Please note that this is not a statement of support of the War, but a humanitarian efforts for Our Troops.

You may also visit any of the following sites to donate directly to the troops:

Links to Support Our Troops

www.aafes.com/docs/homefront.htm - AAFES Gift Certificates

The Army and Air Force Exchange Services is where most service men and women do their shopping.
You can purchase gift certificates for those in Iraq and those hospitalized.

www.adoptaplatoon.org/ - Adopt a Platoon

Adopt a Platoon has several ongoing projects to ensure that every soldier overseas does not walk away from mail call empty-handed.

www.AnySoldier.com/index.cfm - AnySoldier

Any Soldier is a non-profit organization that helps people send care packages to members of the armed services in Iraq.

http://www.appreciateourtroops.org/index.php - Appreciate Our Troops

Purchase a Support Our Troops mug and a free personalized mug will be given to a current or former service member.

http://www.operationshoebox.com/ - Operation Shoe Box

Send packages to troops.

www.usocares.org/ - USO Care Packages

Send packages to troops. You can sponsor care packages provided by the USO with a $25 donation.

http://www.bluestarmothers.org/ - Blue Star Mothers

The Blue Star Mothers was founded by service members' moms during World War II. Any mother with a son or daughter in the military can join.

www.booksforsoldiers.com/ - Books For Soldiers

Help the troops escape boredom by donating some books. You can also donate DVDs and CDs requested by soldiers.

http://operationpaperback.usmilitarysupport.org/ - Operation Paperback

Recycled reading for our troops.

http://www.campdoha.org/ - Camp Doha

Camp Doha provides valuable information for those about to deploy, their friends and families, and anyone who wants to support the troops.

www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com/pages/1/index.htm - Cell phones for Soldiers

Donated cell phones are recycled and turned into cash. The cash is used to purchase calling cards for soldiers in Iraq.

www.defendamerica.mil/nmam.html - Defend America

Thank any service member stationed throughout the U.S. and the world with an e-mail.

http://www.give2thetroops.org/ - Give 2 The Troops

Send letters and messages to troops.

www.lettersfromhomeprogram.org/ - Letters From Home

Support the troops by sending letters so that they receive mail.

anyservicemember.org - Operation Dear Abby

Send a greeting to a service member via e-mail. This site allows you to send e-mail messages of support to service members.

www.fisherhouse.org/ - Fisher House

The Fisher House Foundation donates "comfort homes," built on the grounds of major military and VA medical centers. These homes enable family members to be close to a loved one during hospitalization for an unexpected illness, disease, or injury.

www.freedomcalls.org/ - Freedom Calls

The Freedom Calls Foundation is helping families videoconference with their loved ones in Iraq. You can donate money to help keep this project going.

www.platoonphone.com/ - Operation Call Home

Operation Call Home's mission is to provide each platoon with its own satellite phone.

www.operationac.com/

Operation Air Conditioner provides not only air conditioners but space heaters (the desert is cold in the winter) for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

www.heromiles.org/ - Operation Hero Miles

You can donate your unused frequent flier miles to help soldiers travel on emergency leave. They are also used to help families fly to hospitalized soldiers.

www.operationiraqichildren.org/ - Operation Iraqi Children

Many soldiers are rebuilding schools in Iraq and scrounging around for school supplies. Help by donating a school supplies kit.

operationmilitarypride.org - Operation Military Pride

Operation Military Pride is a volunteer organization that sends cards, letters, and care packages to troops.

http://www.operationuplink.org/- Operation Uplink

Donate money to Operation Uplink. The money is used to purchase phone cards so service men and women can call home.

www.soldiersangels.org/heroes/index.php - Soldiers' Angels

Become some soldier's angel by adopting a service member. This site also provides links to other informative sites.

www.treatsfortroops.com/ - Treats for Troops

Treats for Troops helps you provide packages to your loved ones overseas. If you don't know anyone, the Foster-A-Soldier Program matches you with a registered soldier by branch of service, home state, gender, or birthday - or you can choose to sponsor a group of soldiers.

voicesfromhome.org/home.html - Voices from Home

Voices From Home allows military members and their families and friends to send and receive immediate voice e-mail messages to and from remote locations around the world.

http://www.nmfa.org/site/PageServer - National Military Family Association

Provides information for families of those who serve.

http://www.taps.org/ - Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS)

TAPS offers peer support and assists survivors through a wide variety of programs.

www.intrepidmuseum.org/foundation_heroesfund.html

The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund provides grants to the families of service men and women who died in Iraq. You can donate online, through mail or by calling a toll-free number.

http://www.specialops.org/ - Special Operations Warrior Foundation

Helping the Children of Fallen Special Operations Warriors

http://www.hugs4smilesusa.org/ - Hugs4SmilesUSA

Hugs4SmilesUSA will assign you a deployed soldier and/or family to send care packages and correspondence.

http://www.americasupportsyou.mil/ - America Supports You

Provides contact information for organizations that support and communicate with our troops.

Split Bean Coffee - March 2007 Flavor of The Month - Orange

Split Bean Coffee - March 2007 Flavor of The Month - Orange

Split Bean Coffee Presents it's March 2007 Flavor of The Month Orange. We are offering an orange preserve filled Alfajor made with a natural orange preserve made locally in Southern California; as well as a Orange Flavored Marshmallow, made with organic orange essence using our 3 day process.

The sweet delicious juicy orange eaten all around the world was born a sour fruit, growing wild in China. Oranges were probably being cultivated by the Chinese as early as 2500 BC, although there are records that oranges may also have found roots in the Assam area of India and South East Asia.

Mysteriously, for thousands of years oranges seem to have remained an Oriental treat, not written up in the Middle East, not mentioned by the Greeks. Those which reached the west in the earliest days were of the sour variety. Eventually the Romans, who were always in the market for exotic produce, obtained oranges the hard way---after long sea voyages from India which finally brought young trees into the Roman port of Ostia, probably in the first century AD.

After the fall of Rome in the 5th c. AD, orange raising and importing both died out for centuries in the regions previously controlled by Roman Emperors, with the exception of some remote areas of Northern Africa.

Orange trees most likely were planted across North Africa by the first century AD. The Moors, the Muslim natives of the region, brought oranges with them to southern Spain in the 8th or 9th century, in their conquest. By the 1200’s orange groves were a feature of an area extending from Seville to Granada, as well as regions of Portugal. Another Muslim group, the Saracens, brought orange growing to Sicily, the island off the tip of Italy’s boot, at around the same time.

The orange first ventured across the Atlantic Ocean in 1493 with Christopher Columbus. Columbus carried seeds of the orange, lemon and citron, or possibly young trees, from Spain’s Canary Islands to the island of Hispaniola, today shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Soon several of the Caribbean islands were raising oranges, whether sweet or sour or both, we have no record. Seedlings reached Panama with the Spanish in 1516 and Mexico two years later. The native Americans living there supposedly were intrigued with the orange trees and tended them with care. At about the same time the Portuguese were planting sweet oranges in their enormous South American colony of Brazil.

The Spanish brought oranges to their settlement at St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and by 1579 the groves were flourishing. Again the native people of the area became enthusiastic about oranges, planting them in their own groves and also carrying them as food on hunting trips. Today 9 out of 10 oranges grown in Florida is processed into juice. California produces the most eating oranges in the U.S.

Brazil is the world’s leading producer of oranges. One half of all the world’s orange juice comes from Brazil, and it provides 80% of the world’s trade in concentrated orange juice. About 90% of the country’s production is based in the Sao Paolo region, on Brazil’s southwestern coast. 20,000 farms employing 400,000 workers grow China, Valencia, Natal, and Navel oranges, contributing to a $1 billion juice industry. Brazil’s biggest customer is the Netherlands, number three, the United States.

The first appearance in English dates from the 14th century. The forms starting with n- are older; this initial n- may have been mistaken as part of the indefinite article, in languages with articles ending with an -n sound (eg. in French une norenge may have been taken as une orenge). The name of the colour is derived from the fruit, first appearing in this sense in 1542.

The Spanish word for 'orange' is 'naranja'. It is difficult to see that 'orange' comes from that word, BUT, originally it was called 'a norange' in English compare 'naranja' with 'norange'. The 'n' was transfered at some point in English developement.

www.SplitBeancoffee.com