If you are a guest at my house, you’ll never have trouble finding the coffee in the morning. Now that Evan is in pre-K and Caroline’s going to preschool 3 days a week, my chances to sleep in are limited. Not that my chances to sleep in over the summer were great – since E works at least 6 days a week I usually get up with the kids all 7 days. At least in the summer I can throw an apple and the iPad at them and put a pillow over my head for half an hour. Now with 5 days of school we only have those two precious weekend days for fun or sports or birthday parties or getaways. It gets even harder now that I’ve thrown all this photography stuff into the mix. I’m not OMG SO BUSY for sure – my couch still has a pretty good butt dent since it’s where I “work” – but I do have to be awake and alert and on-task.

Thank GOD for coffee. Coffee coffee coffee. And especially for my upgraded Keurig® Brewing System, which has a travel mug sized option to make giant cups of coffee with just the press of a button. I’m pretty sure my parents come to visit 50% because they love their grandkids and 50% because they love those little K-cup packs. It’s so, so, so, so easy. And I don’t care that your hipster coffee press thing is easy too – nothing beats tossing those little cups and never spilling a single coffee ground on my floor.

We’ve been Green Mountain Coffee® drinkers from the start, since that’s what my office stocked a million years ago when I worked in an office and a Keurig was still a magical thing you rented because they cost a bucket of money. Now that it’s much more easily accessible, we’re already hooked – E is a huge fan of the Caramel Vanilla Cream and I like anything dark, especially iced with lots of creamer. There’s a Fair Trade Certified™ Three Continent Blend that sounds delicious.

 

It’s part of a campaign Green Mountain Coffee is launching this fall called “Great Coffee, Good Vibes, Choose Fair Trade” to raise awareness of how buying Fair Trade Certified™  coffee is good for you, the environment, and the coffee growers. Green Mountain Coffee® offers one of the largest selections of Fair Trade Certified™ coffees in the U.S. (confirmed by Fair Trade USA). Buying Fair Trade Certified coffee doesn’t mean much as far as my budget goes – I’ve committed to the expense of K-cup packs and they cost about the same no matter what brand I buy – but it is one small way I can be a better global citizen.

It’s nice to know while I’m sipping my coffee that the family who grew the beans was paid a fair price that allows them to keep their farm, send their kids to school and invest in their business. Because they’re being paid a sustainable wage for their coffee, farmers can focus on quality, which means Fair Trade coffee is extra-delicious. It’s not like I’m saving the world by drinking coffee, but buying Fair Trade Certified™ Green Mountain Coffee® is supporting farmers and their families and that’s a good feeling.

Can you smell it? I swear I can smell it just looking at the picture. You can learn more about Green Mountain Coffee, Fair Trade practices, and see exclusive videos of Kelly Clarkson visiting coffee farmers in Peru at ChooseFairTrade.com. You can also check out their Facebook page.

One of you lucky readers has the chance to win a Keurig® Brewing System and a Green Mountain Coffee® gift basket!

 Just leave a comment on this post answering the question: Are you a coffee drinker, and if so, would you consider buying fair trade coffee?

 

Sweepstakes Rules: No duplicate comments. You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods: Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry. This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winner will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected. The Official Rules are available here. This sweepstakes runs from 09/19/13-10/31/13.