Mother’s Day isn’t too far away, so make sure it’s time to make sure you get her the perfect gift. Struggling for some ideas? We wanted to make things easier for you this year with a gift guide of things to buy mom on her special day to go with that Keurig^® brewer you got her last year.

1. When you were younger, you probably got one of those “#1 MOM” coffee mugs. You can still let your mom know she is #1 with a beautiful mug like, the Guatemalan Teal Mug. A lot of care went into making these hand painted Guatemalan mugs, and she'll know it, too.

2. You can’t always be there for her to help tidy up the house, but the Black and Silver K-Cup® Pack Storage Tower  will help her organizing the kitchen and keep things neat.

3. To make her day extra special, buy her some of her favorite Keurig® brewed beverages, like some Café Escapes® if your mom needs some “me time”, or maybe some Barista Prima® coffee for mothers who want to transport themselves to a European coffee house for the afternoon!

We have a lot more ideas on our website, in case your mom is more of a maple syrup or biscotti lover. No matter what you end up getting mom for Mother’s Day, make sure you give her all of the love and appreciation she deserves.

What is cowboy coffee?

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Cowboy coffee is essentially coffee prepared outdoors, unfiltered, by fire. You don’t have to wear a cowboy hat to prepare cowboy coffee, but why should anyone pass up the opportunity to wear one anyway? Cowboy coffee shouldn’t be considered the finest, cleanest way to prepare coffee, but whether you are camping, or being a real cowboy, it’s hot, it’s coffee and it’s just fine. Plus you are outside drinking coffee, which means you are not working at your desk like I am right now.

How do you make it?  Easy: You put coffee grounds with water, let it boil for a while in the fire, take it out of the fire, try to get the grinds to settle a bit, pour and enjoy.

The photo above from the National Archives is from the 1800s and shows some gentleman enjoying breakfast with a nice cup of coffee, presumable cowboy coffee, though they probably didn’t call it cowboy coffee back then.  The description reads: 1849 - William Whiting, a lieutenant in the United States army, states, “Give a frontiersman coffee and tobacco, and he will endure any privation, suffer any hardship, but let him be without these two necessaries of the woods, and he becomes irresolute and murmuring.”

We're committed to creating a higher quality of life for our coffee communities all over the world, and a better cup of coffee for you. That's why we're excited to announce that one of our best-selling and most loved coffees, Green Mountain Coffee® Nantucket Blend®, is now one hundred percent Fair Trade Certified™!

That’s right. One hundred percent fair trade!

This means approximately five million pounds of our coffee will switch to being fair trade this fiscal year alone!  That's almost $1 million in fair trade social premiums that go back to the farmers each year.  Named the world’s largest purchaser of Fair Trade coffees in 2010 and 2011, this is just another step in toward our commitment to support fair trade - and other opportunity to share the great quality and familiar tastes that a conversion of such a beloved coffee can do for fans!

Take part in our quest to do good and pop in a Fair Trade Nantucket Blend K-Cup® in your Keurig® brewer.  Brew a Better Day™!

While I’m no glue gun goddess, I’ve been known to enjoy a good crafting session.  With Easter just around the corner, I have my DIY Easter list narrowed down to one project: K-Cup^® pack Easter Baskets!  This little beauty came from Karen on our Sustainability team.  Cute and bunny-sized, how could I not give it a try?  Here’s how to do it: 

1. Brew your favorite Keurig Brewed^® coffee – perhaps Green Mountain Coffee^® Island Coconut^® to welcome in spring?  Sip, savor, and enjoy that cup!  (And let the brewed K-Cup^® pack cool down a touch.)

2. Once cooled, carefully remove the foil lid, filter, and coffee grounds.  Your soon-to-be planted garden will appreciate a little coffee ground compost.

3. Gently wash out and towel-dry the empty K-Cup^® pack.*   

4. Poke two small holes on each side of the K-Cup^® pack below the lip and thread each end of your pipe cleaner through to create a handle.

5. Fill with Eater grass and your favorite candies.  Jelly beans and candy coated chocolate eggs are our favorites. 

6. Delight your family with this bunny-sized treat on Easter morning!

*Psst - If you want to add more color, grab some paint, glue, rhinestones, - you name it - , and decorate the pack before putting in the pipe cleaner handle.

Here in our PR team, we love our coffee. Is anyone really surprised? It’s our life’s work! Even though we have so many different varieties of to choose from, each of us has that one blend that brews up something special in our hearts. Take a look at some of our teams' favorite coffees:

Elizabeth- “My go-to coffee is Green Mountain Coffee® Nantucket Blend.  I think it’s well-balanced and combines my favorite flavor notes from each region - berry from Africa, citrusy from Central America, and full-bodiedness from Indonesia.  It’s neither too light nor too dark, so it’s a good go-to in the morning when I’m not awake enough to decide what I want!”

Jessica- “My favorite right now has to be French Vanilla by Green Mountain Coffee®. I love vanilla as a flavor in general and it adds a creamier body to the coffee, which you don’t get with a lot of other blends."

Amy- “My favorite coffee is Green Mountain Coffee® Colombian Fair Trade Select. I’m a little personally biased on this one, because I was lucky enough to visit several coffee farms in Colombia last year, and meet the producers and their families. My experience was incredible, and it makes that cup of coffee all the more delicious.”

What's your go-to blend?

Have a passion for coffee? Crazy for chocolate? Have a minty swish in your step as you imagine yourself on a piazza in Italy?  Then our resident K-Cup® mixologist in has a recipe for you:

Italian Peppermint Mocha

Ingredients

• - One Barista Prima Coffeehouse® Italian Roast K-Cup® or Vue® pack
• - 1/4 teaspoon of peppermint extract
• - 2+ tablespoons of chocolate syrup
• - Half & Half to taste
• - Whipped Cream
•  -Crushed peppermint candies (optional)

Directions

Brew 6-8 ounces (make it Strong brew on your Vue® brewer if you're in for a tres forte mocha) of Barista Prima® Italian Roast into a large mug

Add peppermint extract

Add 2 tablespoons of chocolate syrup

Add Half & Half, gently stir

Top with whipped cream

Drizzle chocolate syrup and sprinkle crushed peppermint candies on top

Enjoy!

Cozy Sunday afternoons by the fire. That's what February means to me. We're hunkered down here in New Jersey, where it was 16°F when I woke up this morning. That's some serious cold, my friends.

When it's that cold, there's just nothing for it - except maybe that cozy fire, a hot cup of Fair Trade Golden French Toast® coffee, and the scent of delicious, buttery shortbread studded with coffee wafting from your oven. 

The recipe is simple - no eggs required. You might want to grab your coffee or spice grinder. While Fair Trade Golden French Toast comes pre-ground, you might want a finer grind for your shortbread. We used as-is from the bag, and the tender shortbread is perfect in my opinion. Just know that it's your call to make a finer grind.

Traditional shortbread also contains oats, did you know? Don't skip them here. They take on buttery notes from the Fair Trade Golden French Toast coffee, and make this shortbread an extra special treat. 

Fair Trade Golden French Toast Shortbread

Makes one 8" x 10" pan

Ingredients

1 cup oats (not quick cooking)

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), cut into smaller chunks

1 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/8 to 1/4 cup ground Green Mountain Coffee® Fair Trade Golden French Toast coffee

Directions

1. Pour oats into the bowl of a food processor and pulse 3 to 5 times, until oats have been somewhat pulverized. 

2. Add chunked butter, sugar, kosher salt, and all purpose flour to the food processor. 

3. Pulse ingredients 3 to 5 times, then add your desired amount of coffee. Remember to separately grind the coffee finer, if you prefer the grounds to be smoother in your shortbread. 

4. Process all the ingredients together for 1-2 minutes, until a smooth dough forms. You will hear a change in the food processor when everything suddenly comes together in one large piece of dough. 

5. Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour, or overnight if you prefer. 

6. When the dough is ready, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8" x 10" baking sheet with parchment paper, or lightly spray a shortbread mold with cooking spray. 

7. Press the dough into the baking sheet or shortbread mold, taking care to make the dough as even as possible across the pan. Sometimes it can help to use a drinking glass like a rolling pin to push the dough where you need it to be. 

8. If using a baking sheet, score the cookies into rectangles using a knife or bench scraper - press all the way through the dough, making rectangles that are about 4 inches long each. (One division of the dough down the long side of the pan, in the center, and then smaller, 1" wide cuts horizontally is what I did.)

9. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the cookies are golden brown. 

10. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then turn the cookies out onto a clean surface and cut through the score marks. It is easier to cut the cookies when they are slightly warm. Allow them to cool on a wire rack after cutting. 

Want to win some Golden French Toast to try in your own shortbead recipe?  Go on over to my blog, Bluebonnets & Brownies, to see how to enter!

Today marks Single Awareness Day. While couples take time to show they care for their other half on Valentine’s Day, singles everywhere should take today to show some love to themselves. And what better way than to brew something just for yourself, one cup at a time?  Here is a list of our teams’ favorite K-Cup® packs that will make your Single Awareness Day the best it can be.

1. 1.  Café Escapes® Chai Latte is a black tea blended with spices and sweet and creamy milk. It’s okay to take a little "me-time" for once and fully enjoy a delicious beverage, just for you.

2. 2.  It’s all about you and your wellness when you brew a cup of Green Mountain Coffee® Focus Blend™. Part of our Wellness Collection, this coffee helps make sure you are primed to get the most out of your day.

3. 3.   Take a sip of Barista Prima® Italian Roast  and close your eyes. Instantly, you will be transported to one of Europe’s finest coffee houses. Who doesn’t love a mini vacation?

4. 4.   Green Mountain Coffee® Special Reserve Colombia Geisha  is the rarest coffee that we offer. Try a cup of this limited edition brew and treat yourself to the finer things in life.  

5. 5.   Celestial Seasonings® Sleepytime® K-Cup® Herbal Tea is the perfect way to help you unwind and get a good night's sleep. Nothing is more important than getting that full seven hours a night, so you can be the best you can be!

Which will you treat yourself to today?

Oh, Valentine’s Day. You can smell the love in the air! Or is it just Green Mountain Coffee® brewing? While a mug of one of our coffees is delicious alone, when put together with the right foods, they are irresistible – much like your special someone, we’re sure. Here is a list of some of the food and coffee pairings we love, and we're sure you’ll love, too.

Green Mountain Coffee® Breakfast Blend and blueberry pancakes are a morning delight.  Breakfast is in the title of this light roasted coffee for a reason! This duo is perfect for starting your morning off right.

Green Mountain Coffee® French Roast  and almond biscotti are a perfect snack to get you through the day. The almonds in this treat play very well with the full-bodied and smoky taste of this coffee.

Green Mountain Coffee® Fair Trade Organic Sumatran Reserve  is at its best when paired with dark chocolate and cherry cupcakes. Is your mouth watering yet?  The rich taste of the Sumatran coffee’s chocolate and dark fruit undertones will only magnify with the help of these cupcakes.

Green Mountain Coffee® Guatemalan Finca Dos Marias™ goes nicely when matched with apples with a caramel dipping sauce. The sweetness of the caramel and the spicy notes of the Guatemalan roast will knock your socks off.

Green Mountain Coffee® Tanzanian Gombe Reserve is a great with a slice of cheesecake. Only a deep and rich cup like this could match the thick and creamy goodness of this dessert.

Take our advice and surprise your Valentine this year with one of our perfect pairings. What’s not to love?

Do you have a food that you love to drink with your Green Mountain Coffee®?

In Waterbury, Vermont, the Green Mountain Coffee® Visitor Center & Café located at the historic train station is bustling with activity. The café is nestled in between five ski resorts and the energy is high this time of year. The holidays have passed and many are working off those extra calories on their skis or snowboards. In the morning, we see many energetic faces gearing up for a day at the mountain by starting it off with a hot Golden French Toast® Maple Supreme. We start off with hot Golden French Toast coffee, steamed light cream, and a shot of pure Vermont maple syrup. Of course, a dollop of whip cream can be added for those planning to hit the slopes hard. Although ,if you prefer a good ol’ cup-o-joe over a specialty drink, we have seven daily brews of the day to choose.  A mug for every mogul you tackle that day?

Being a stop before and after skiing has its perks for us. Skiers and riders are happy to tell us what the conditions were on the mountain that day, and we make sure to pass that information on to our other guests. Most recently, we had a skier coming back from one mountain report that as he was just getting off of the lift and about to rip down the mountain and he saw a moose chasing a fellow skier. Yes, a moose! Fortunately, the skier was able to get good speed quickly and the moose gave up the chase and retreated to the woods.  Wonder if the mountain will now put up a moose crossing sign at the top of the lift…

The Visitor Center & Café also serves as a stop on the Amtrak Vermonter line. If it’s not the skier and riders stories that keep us entertained daily, it is the periodic visits we receive from major news outlets. Just last week, CNN visited the train station with the Vermont Department of Tourism for an interview to discuss the improvements on the high speed rail and Vermont being the first state to complete the improvements. Vermont certainly has a lot of firsts and this is just an example of the progressive nature of our state.

There are still many powder days ahead of us in Vermont which powers our local economy and helps make us a great retreat from the hustle and bustle of cities like Boston and Montreal. Won’t you come and see us soon?

Who's the top cupper in the Coffee Lab?

We tallied up the number of cuppings we did in Waterbury, Vermont for 2012 and the big number is 7,142 cuppings! That number represents the samples that we cupped in Waterbury alone, with a sample representing a contract for green coffee which is normally in the size of 42,000 pounds.  You can see that these cuppings represent a lot of coffee.  One sample has six cups put out on the table; multiply that by the number of cuppings and that’s 42,852 cups of coffee.  Since every sample should have three people cup each cup, we’re now looking at 128,556 cups cupped, or “spoon dips” for lack of a better phrase.

But now...for our top cuppers!  Brent, Coffee Generalist, cupped the most cups this past year clocking in at 5,610, or 33,660 different cups he dipped a spoon into.  Getting the “silver” medal was Penny at 5,088 samples and your humble correspondent who won a “bronze” at 4,966.  If you see any of us vacuuming the drapes at 11:30 at night, now you’ll know why.

During this time of year I often find myself sleeping in as late as possible on those Saturday mornings when I clearly have an agenda filled with errands to run and tasks to complete. In fact just the other weekend, I was awoken by the aroma of French Toast wafting up the stairs and down the hallway. I immediately knew it was going to be the start of a good day. However, for those of us who do not have a personal chef (or significant other), we have good news. Golden French Toast® coffee is back in K-Cup® packs and bags! Featuring a maple aroma, and buttery, golden toasty flavors, there is more than one reason to start off a busy weekend morning with this cold weather classic from Green Mountain Coffee®. Stock up on this sensational flavored coffee before its too late!

New Year, new you.  Or me.  Or us.  You get the idea.  It’s 2013 and it’s a new start.  Clean slate.  Blank sheet of paper.  An open road.   But we don’t want that slate/paper/road to be empty for long: we want adventure.  We want stories.  We want triumph.  That’s why we make resolutions – to be able to look back at the past year and have exciting tales to tell in the next.  In preparation for those stories, here are a few of our goals for 2013 (with a little Keurig Brewed® twist):

1. Take one small step toward a more balanced life.  Make a small change that helps our wellness – like choosing Wellness Brewed™ beverages like Green Mountain Coffee® Antioxidant Blend.

2. Embrace “me” time.  Stress is so last year – now is the moment to savor the moment.  Even if that’s just enjoying an indulgent cup of Café Escapes® Café Caramel (and it’s only 70 calories).

3. But don’t overlook the family.  Make time to be together – craft, hike, bake, and watch a family movie with some Green Mountain Naturals® Hot Apple Cider for the kids.

4. Appreciate the beauty around us.  Stop, look, and listen to the artistry that surrounds the everyday, may it be the beauty in a hand built gazebo, the tang of handcrafted cheddar, or the brightness of a mug of Tully’s® House Blend.

5. Learn a new language.  Bonjour, ciao, hola – expand your vocabulary so travel to your new favorite destination isn’t as intimidating.  And do it all with a mug of Barista Prima® Italian Roast by your side – bellissimo!   

What stories do you want to tell about 2013 next year?

With only a few days until Christmas, how’s the last minute planning and gift shopping going?  Are all the gifts wrapped and under the tree, or are you a bit frazzled and still trying to pull together menus, not to mention still struggling to figure out what to get that mother-in-law of yours? (Trust me: We're all there!)

To help out, we tapped into some of our K-Cup® Ambassadors to provide a few tips to help you check off some of those final tasks. 

• Take a break.  Kelby of Type-A Parent says, “It is so easy to get caught up in your endless to-do list for the holidays (and unfortunately, holidays are on the calendar and come with a definite deadline). Take a break to do something holiday-related just for the sheer fun of it. Almost every town or city has some sort of holiday displays, events, festivals or even just holiday lights driving through neighborhoods. Take one day to just enjoy the holidays. Believe me, all the other stuff can wait one day (unless, perhaps, you are reading this on Christmas Eve). 

• Do-ahead appetizers.  When planning appetizers, Amber of Bluebonnets & Brownies says to always include a few dips that can be made ahead of time, and quickly too, like this homemade salsa recipe. Throw some tortilla chips in a bowl, and you're ready to go. It's my mother's recipe, and I serve it at every party we host, no matter the time of year. It's always a hit, and it comes together in the food processor in about 3 minutes flat. Add to that, it can be made up to 3 days ahead of time, and the flavors only get better the longer it sits."
• Hostess Gifts.  Julie from The Little Kitchen loves to give little gift baskets with coffee and cookies in them - or even a cute coffee mug with a little baggie with a sampling of your favorite K-Cup® packs and some homemade biscotti or cookies.

• Take a “Me Moment”.  Kristen of Dine & Dish carves out a bit of “me” time each day. “I do that by sitting down to a cup of coffee. There is a reason coffee is hot… it’s meant to be sipped and savored, not rushed.  I use that 15 minutes in my day to get a grip on the day and it truly does work.”

Happiness comes from lots of things in life; a smile from a stranger, an email from a friend, or your favorite seasonal Green Mountain Coffee® flavors - like Fair Trade Gingerbread and Fair Trade Spicy Eggnog - coming back into rotation.

I'd never made whoopie pies before, but I had my heart set on creating them using Fair Trade Gingerbread coffee since the moment we decided that would be this month's flavor. Can I tell you a secret? Whoopie Pies are now a full on obsession!

They're way easier than I ever imagined. You'll be able to bake up a dozen saucer-sized whoopie pies with tangy, creamy filling in no time at all. They'll make a fabulous impression beside all the sugar cookies and shortbread that make an appearance this time of year.

Imagine the oohs and ahs you'll garner when you present a tray of these festive Gingerbread Coffee Whoopie pies with Gingerbread Cream Cheese filling decorated with red, white, and green sprinkles!

Fair Trade Gingerbread Coffee Whoopie Pies with Gingerbread Cream Cheese Filling

Makes 12 saucer-sized pies

Ingredients

For the Pies

• 1/4 cup Green Mountain Coffee Fair Trade Gingerbread Coffee
• 1/4 cup butter flavored shortening
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 4 cups whole wheat pastry flour (also known as graham flour)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 cup full flavor molasses
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

For the Filling

• 1 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
• 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons Fair Trade Gingerbread Coffee
• Holiday Sprinkles (optional)

Directions

For the Pies

Brew one 4 oz cup of Green Mountain Coffee Fair Trade Gingerbread Coffee and set aside to cool. Preheat the oven to 375°F.

In a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, add vegetable shortening and softened butter, and mix on medium speed until well combined, scraping the sides of the bowl a few times. Add brown sugar and beat again until well mixed, then do the same with the egg.

In a separate medium mixing bowl, combine whole wheat pastry flour, kosher salt, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Stir with a whisk for one minute (this aerates the flour so there is no need to sift), then set aside.

Add half the flour mixture to the butter mixture in the large mixing bowl and mix on low speed to combine. Scrape the sides of the bowl often. When fully incorporated, add molasses to the mixture and mix on low speed again until fully combined.

Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix on low again. Scrape the sides of the bowl and make sure all the flour is mixed in. When this is done, add the buttermilk and cooled coffee and mix on low speed until these last two ingredients are well mixed-in.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, then, using a large cookie scoop or an ice cream scoop, spoon 6 portions of batter onto the sheet, well spaced apart as they will spread.

Remove cream cheese for the filling from the refrigerator at this time and leave it on the counter. It will soften while you bake off the pies. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove immediately.

Allow to cool on the baking sheet for a moment, then carefully peel the parchment paper away from each pie half. Place the cookie on a cooling rack to continue cooling, and continue baking the rest of the pies.

For the Filling

Once all the pies are baked and are cooling, begin to make the filling. In a medium bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, whip cream cheese on high for about a minute.

One cup at a time, sift the powdered sugar and add it to the cream cheese, mixing on low at first, then on high to fully incorporate and whip.

When all the powdered sugar is mixed in, add vanilla extract and Fair Trade Gingerbread Coffee to the mixture. Whip on medium speed until the filling reaches the consistency you'd like.

If you find the filling too thick for your liking, add half and half or whipping cream one tablespoon at a time, mixing after each tablespoon, until you reach your desired consistency.

Spoon filling onto one half of a whoopie pie and spread with the back of the spoon in a circular motion towards the outside of the cookie. Top with a second cookie and press slightly so that the filling is visible from the edges.

If you would like, hold the pie over a baking tray and lightly coat the filling with holiday sprinkles. The tray will catch any sprinkles that don't stick to the filling and make for easy clean up.

Refrigerate the pies until ready to serve, up to two days.

[Psst - if you go over to Bluebonnets & Brownies, there's a Gingerbread coffee giveaway going on, too!  Go on over and check-it out!]

You might think of Honduras as the country next to Nicaragua in Central America or where the great diving on Roatan Island is. But it is also the 8th largest grower of coffee in the world and grows more coffee than Guatemala. 

Honduras is one of our larger suppliers of Fair Trade Organic coffee and we were long overdue for a visit to see some of our suppliers down there. Last week we hosted 6 different coops for 2 days of cupping, meetings, plant tours, some tourism, and plenty of good food. 

One of the guests named Jose Danilo Mejia is the president of CARSBIL. His coop is based in the department of Intibuca, and the offices are in “The City of Hope” (Ciudad de la Esperanza). When I picked them up at the hotel, he and I hit it right off as he heard that I raise animals and do a lot of gardening. He was impressed, though he might be less impressed if he saw how non-profit my small farm in Vermont is. 

It turns out Jose Danilo is Lenca, a sub category of the Mayan races that populated (and still do) Mesoamerica. It’s amazing how many different indigenous groups there are who grow coffee that ends up in my cup of coffee. He shared a bunch of pictures from his community that I thought were very interesting:

He said that this school bus is actually run by the community for local transportation, where it’s mostly used by coffee farmers to get around. It was stuck in the mud… And in the second picture you can see why!

Last year they used their Fair Trade social premiums to build 14 kilometers of road to one of their remote communities. Here’s an example of an improved road in the third picture. 

It's the most wonderful time of the year!  And yes, I am singing that line - because right now is Fair Trade Pumpkin Spice time. My favorite of all Green Mountain Coffee® blends, made even better because it is Fair Trade Certified™. I big puffy heart developing recipes around all the Green Mountain Coffees that I do, but anyone who's known me for a while knows that Fair Trade Pumpkin Spice is the end-all, be-all in my coffee world. Developing a recipe with this scrumptious coffee is a highlight for me every Fall.

Let's talk about classic combinations for a second. Peanut butter and jelly. Cookies and milk. Doughnuts and coffee. Just a few simple ingredients: pumpkin doughnuts from your favorite bakery, vanilla pudding with a Fair Trade Pumpkin Spice kick, and fresh, decadent whipped cream. Put them together and what have you got? Fair Trade Pumpkin Spice Coffee & Doughnuts Trifle! Fair Trade Pumpkin Spice coffee provides the perfect flavor profile for a decadent Autumnal dessert fancy enough for Thanksgiving, but also at home on a Tuesday. These trifles are make-ahead, and look adorable in mini trifle cups or Mason jars, which also means they'd be easy to transport to the next football tailgate too. Just a couple of Fair Trade Pumpkin Spice K-Cup® packs and you'll be on your way. Just make sure you get your K-Cup® packs ordered soon. They're known to sell out quickly!

Fair Trade Pumpkin Spice Coffee & Doughnuts Trifle

serves 8

Ingredients

4 Pumpkin doughnuts from your favorite bakery (Cake doughnuts with a sugar glaze work best.)
1 3 oz package Vanilla Cook & Serve Pudding
3 8 fl oz cups Green Mountain Coffee Fair Trade Pumpkin Spice coffee, divided
2 pints heavy whipping cream, divided
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
4 tablespoons granulated sugar Pumpkin Pie Spice for garnish

Directions

Prepare the vanilla pudding mix. The cook and serve style calls for 2 cups of milk on the package. Instead, use 1 cup of heavy whipping cream (You will have 3 cups of heavy whipping cream left over) and brew one cup of Fair Trade Pumpkin Spice coffee. Add both to a small saucepan, and then add the pudding mix.

Stir constantly over medium heat until just reaching a bubbling boil. Remove from heat, place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place the pudding in the refrigerator - it will thicken as it cools.

After about an hour, the pudding should be the perfect consistency, and nicely chilled.

Slice each of the doughnuts in half, and then chop each halve into smaller pieces. Fit 1/2 a donut into each vessel, whether it be a mini trifle cup or an 8 oz mason jar.

Brew two 8 oz cups of Fair Trade Pumpkin Spice Coffee. Pour 2 oz (the size of a shot glass) over the pumpkin doughnut pieces in each vessel and set aside.

Spoon about 3-4 tablespoonfuls of pudding over the donuts in each serving glass. Distribute evenly among the glasses until all the pudding is used.

Add the remaining cream to a large bowl, along with the pure vanilla extract and granulated sugar. Whip on high speed in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer until the cream has stiff peaks.

Spoon whipped cream over the pudding layer in each trifle, making sure each cup gets an equal amount until the cream is all gone.

Cover each trifle with plastic wrap (or screw on lids if you're using mason jars) and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Just before serving, sprinkle each trifle lightly with pumpkin pie spice for garnish.

Trifles can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.

[Psst - if you go over to Bluebonnets & Brownies, there's a Pumpkin Spice giveaway going on, too!  Go on over and check-it out!]

October is Fair Trade Month!  For more than a decade, Green Mountain Coffee® has been a leader in the fair trade movement, providing a better cup of coffee to you and a better quality of life for coffee farmers.

This year, we’re celebrating with our “Great Coffee, Good Vibes, Pass It On” campaign – bringing Fair Trade Month to life with good vibes you can taste, hear, and feel!  Here are some ways you can take part in the fun:

To celebrate Fair Trade Month, both Grace Potter and Michael Franti will give exclusive performances streamed live on the Green Mountain Coffee Facebook page. You’re invited to RSVP for the events on our Facebook page and experience the good vibes firsthand:

• - Oct. 9 at 9 p.m. EST/6 p.m. PST — Grace Potter will perform live from famed music venue Joe’s Pub in New York City. Potter’s set will feature unique acoustic versions of songs from her new album, The Lion The Beast The Beat. You can RSVP here!
• - Oct. 24 at 11 p.m. EST/8 p.m. PST — Michael Franti will rev up Los Angeles from the first-ever Great Coffee, Good Vibes Lounge, brought to you by Green Mountain Coffee. Fans will be able to visit 7111 Melrose Avenue on October 24 and enjoy a free cup of Green Mountain Coffee Fair Trade. Be sure to RSVP here so you don’t miss out!

Join us on the Green Mountain Coffee Facebook page to view photos and videos from Grace Potter and Michael Franti’s trips to fair trade coffee cooperatives in Colombia and Sumatra.  After watching these videos, you’ll have the chance to receive free fair trade coffee samples or coupons and enter for a chance to win a trip to one of our source countries: Costa Rica!

We're jamming a lot into 31 days so you can enjoy great coffee, listen to good tunes, and pass on the fair trade vibes!

It’s National Coffee Day!  While you know we’d use any excuse – finished breakfast, found a lost sock, waiting for a haircut, you get the idea – to enjoy a good cup of coffee, today is the day that no excuses are necessary!  To celebrate, we’re all brewing up our favorite coffees, just the way we like them.  But how does our blogger team like to take their coffee?  We weren’t so, so we asked!

Roger - "I like very strong, dark roasted coffee and I drink it black as night."

Missy -  "I like iced coffee year-round and take it as follows… strict guidelines, you know."

• - Full cup of ice
• - One shot of Dark Magic® Espresso Blend
• - Smidgen of Wild Mountain Blueberry™, double brewed
• - Fill to the brim with Nantucket Blend® coffee
• - Top with a little cream and simple syrup

Winston - "My wife says I am an old man and stuck in my ways. I'm only 47 and I disagree, I just like what I like. At night before bed, I put out my French press, my whipped honey, the blue mug that my aunt made, and I fill the kettle with enough water for the pot. When I get up (and I get up pretty early) it's all ready for me. I like Ethiopian Yirgacheffe in a French press, served with honey and half and half. I know, it's heresy to use condiments in such a nice clean coffee like that. But I'm 47 and I can have my coffee any way I like it."

Amanda - “I love the unaltered taste and aroma of black coffee. No sugar, no cream masking the flavors of a great Sumatran or Kenyan. Every now and then though, I enjoy a splash of almond milk (lactose and I don’t mix), whose nutty flavor brings out the earthy notes in my coffee.”

Kristen - "I don’t drink coffee, but I’ll happily say that I take ice cream with my coffee – who doesn’t love an affogato?  Coffee and ice cream? The perfect combination."

“When you at Green Mountain buy coffee to roast, how do you know it’s going to taste good?”

We drink a lot of coffee here as part of our jobs. And even better, we get paid to drink and then evaluate it. Even though a lot of evaluating any beverage you drink for pleasure is subjective, there are still some objective ways to judge coffee for purchase. By the way, I should explain: I'm talking about the Coffee Department in Waterbury, Vermont, where we shop for and buy the millions of pounds of green coffee that we then roast and package and ship all around the United States and Canada.

We can't taste every single pound of coffee we buy (though that would be fun), but we do taste a lot. And when I say taste, I'm really talking about cupping, which is the professional version of tasting. (Want to know more about cupping and slurping, go here: “Why slurp?”).

We buy coffee by the container, which is the big metal box you see on large shipping vessels. Generally speaking, you can put about 42,000 pounds of green coffee in one container. When we evaluate that lot of coffee, the seller sends us a composite sample from that huge pile of green coffee. A few beans from this bag, a few from that bag, a few from that bag over there, until we have one pound of green coffee ready for us to roast and cup.

Before we roast it, however, we measure how wet or dry the coffee is in terms of moisture level. If it comes in too wet, it might not have been properly dried at origin, or maybe it got wet on the boat ride over the ocean. If it's too dry, it might be old coffee. We still cup it, but that's an example of an objective way to evaluate coffee.

We do a visual inspection of each sample as well. It should generally be a uniform color and size, without foreign material, bits of stone, twigs, and beans with insect damage (among other issues.) Even if a sample looks sub optimal, we still cup it, but note the state of the sample. Some coffees look beautiful, but don't taste that great while some coffees don't look so great but taste amazing.

We roast the samples ourselves so that we can control that important stage. And then the real proof is in the cup. We use the Specialty Coffee Assosication of America cupping sheet to tally our scores, average up the scores and then decide if the coffee passed the grade or not. The cupping sheet lets you score based on fragrance/aroma, flavor, acidity, body, aftertaste, balance, uniformity, clean cup, sweetness, and then there are ways to score defects and taints in the coffee as well. If it seems like a lot to keep track of, after the first 1-2,000 samples, it gets easier. Our supply chain uses the same scoring system so that we can all communicate in the same language, in spite of everyone speaking so many different languages.

We like metrics here and so we keep track of a lot of our activities:

• I can tell you that I have cupped 3,779 samples of coffee this year.
• For every sample (1 sample represents a container), we put out 6 cups of brewed coffee to evaluate. So in the past 12 months, I have "put a spoon" in 45,348 different cups of coffee.
• Two of my coworkers, Brent and Penny, cup more than I do (4,613 and 3,756 respectively).

So, if you ask how we know if the coffee will taste good, it's because we drink so much of it. We drink the bad stuff so that you won't have to. On top of that, every sample that we cup was also cupped by the importer, by the exporter, and even by the co-op or farm. There are many, many ways for a coffee to shine or receal itseld as an imposter of great coffee.

Next time you have a nice cup of our coffee, don't forget how much work went into making it a nice cup of coffee, and also don't forget all the work that went into making sure it's not a bad cup of coffee.