Bean "UBC" located beside the Old Barn Community Centre on campus (6308 Thunderbird Blvd) opened the last weekend in February.

Bean "Victory" @ the corner of Cambie and Hastings (175 West Hastings) opened its doors just days before the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

We look forward to seeing you in our new stores!

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS CONTRIBUTED TO THE SCHOOL PROJECT BY BUYING OUR SANTA CLARA ESTATE COFFEE. THE SCHOOL IS NOW WELL UNDERWAY; WE HOPE TO HAVE IT OCCUPIED BY MARCH. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK AS WE HOPE TO SUPPORT THIS SCHOOL FOR MANY YEARS.

The Santa Clara School Project is well on its way.

Hurray, we’ve broken ground and here are some of the first shots of Bean Around the World’s school in Guatemala!

	NEWS photo Mike Wakefield BEAN Around The World Coffees' Jeff Boeda (left) Nicole Topic, Eron Calderbank, Barney McKenzie and Steve Fraser roast up some Santa Clara Estate coffee. Two children from the Antigua estate are pictured in the submitted photo at left.

Bean Around The World Coffees' Barney McKenzie and his partner Pate Boeda have been roasting coffee on the North Shore for the last 17 years.

"As we've slowly grown, we've been down to some of the plantations and met some of the producers," says McKenzie. "We thought that the way we could help was by buying producer-direct coffee."

This method cuts out the middleman, meaning the money goes directly to the producer.

Through their work, they were introduced to Guatemalan farmer Ricardo Zelaya, a fourth-generation coffee producer, and made the decision to buy directly from his Antigua plantation, Santa Clara Estate.

"He's a great guy and he really looks after his people," says McKenzie. In addition, the estate-grown coffee is excellent, having an "elegant fruity taste with a smooth round finish."

Recently, McKenzie and Boeda were chatting with Zelaya and asked if there was something more they could do to help better the lifestyle of his workers.

"He got back to us and said he'd love to put a school in for the kids," says McKenzie.

Coffee plantations can get up to 2,000 people working on them during the picking season. Workers are housed and fed onsite along with their families. While teenagers are able to work, young children are left with nothing to do, meaning a school would be of great assistance.

McKenzie and Boeda agreed to partner with Zelaya and put up half of the funds required to build and maintain a three-room schoolhouse on the plantation. The schoolhouse will serve the children of the coffee workers, ages kindergarten to about Grade 7.

Construction on the school is currently underway and it will be opened in January.

"Basically, by buying this coffee, you're directly supporting the project," says McKenzie.

He and his partner plan to continue buying from Zelaya, as well as continue to support the school, by providing funds for books, teachers' salaries, maintenance costs and sports equipment.

When asked why they feel compelled to act in such an ethical manner, McKenzie says that when you actually visit the plantations and see the kids and see how many people work so hard to put the product together; and then you see the other end of it, in North America where you can go and buy a $3 cup of coffee, things quickly get put into perspective.

"We like to put back into the industry," he says. "It's been good to us for 17 years and we've always talked about wanting to do a project and this is something that we could actually do to help out people less fortunate," he says.

McKenzie says they plan to travel to the plantation once the school is open to see things in action.

Producer-direct Santa Clara Estate coffee beans are now available at 16 Bean Around The World locations in the Lower Mainland. This Friday, Nov. 30, McKenzie says all the stores will offer it as a fresh brewed coffee, in order to introduce it to patrons.

Why Santa Clara Estate?
Santa Clara is located in Antigua, this is the most sought after region in Guatemala for coffee growing due to its rich volcanic soils and an abundant source of fresh water.

We are pleased to announce that together with the owner of Santa Clara, we are committed to building, maintaining & providing ongoing support of a three room school house for the children of the workers.

How does it taste?
We have roasted this Arabica coffee to offer an elegant fruity taste with a smooth round finish. We trust that you will enjoy it, no matter the occasion.

With a guy like Andrew Shandro, who has kept his pulse on the shore scene since its early days, as your sponsored athlete you know you are going to get some good value for your dollar, bike part or espresso bean. How many free Americano’s he has enjoyed from Bean Around The World, I dont know, but he has been happily involved with the local ’shore’ company for many years and came up with the idea of a ride contest to give a little somethin’ back.

The original West Van Bean was opened in 1990 by Pete and Sherry Boeda. After the expected expansion of the empire, it is Vancouver and we are talking Coffee, Barney of S.Granville’s “Barney’s” fame sold his gem of a breakfast spot to focus his attention on “Cowboy Coffee Roasting”, that he and the Boeda’s formed in ‘94, to distribute their propriatory roast to the masses. They roast 3000 lbs of the little green beans per week to help satisfy mine and yours need of the juice.

The event, if I can call it that, included a ride on Sat that was won by the North Van father and son team of Mike and Andrew Stulken. How cool is that! It will be some years before I can be rippin down Seymour with my little guy.

Chappy’s Entry Form

His passion for the sport shine’s through as does his appreciation of the friends that mountain biking has brought him. The “Champ’s” posse included Brad Chupa, Curt Davis and Dave Godwin.

Fueling Up

Regardless that it rained the night before everyone felt fine with dropping into some steep Squamish loaminess. Super greasy and super fun!

Slick, Rocky Roller

Chappy

Having racer blood Andrew took the line at speed, clipped the tree at the turn, but with some body language worthy of Leech managed to stay off the terra firma.

Shandro

With all decked out in their new camo HH jersey’s the boys where a little more subdued prior to the start of our second hot lap.

Here’s what Paul had to say about the day: “The reason that I entered was to get my mates out for a great ride with Andrew and to show them what Squamish has to offer.

Ready for Lap #2

Unless you have been riding solo out in the boonies for years you would be aware of the involvemnt of Bean Around the World in the biking scene. They have sponsored and Bean involved with oodles of events: The North Shore Rippers, Trail Days, Sprockids, The Test Of Metal, The Flowshow, The Collective and early Digger movies to name a few.

Good corporate citizens! Good to have them involved with our sport!

We are pleased to announce the winners for our ‘Ride with Shandro’ contest that has been running the past month and a half in the Seymour and Brackendale locations.

This Saturday on Mt. Seymour, Mike Stulken and his son Andrew will be inviting 2 friends to join them in there ride with Shandro. And on Sunday, Paul Chapman will be inviting 3 buddies for his ride with Shandro.

A special thanks to Andrew Shandro for all of his time and effort involved in this event.

Congratulations to all the winners. We hope that you have a great day and enjoy the massive swag bags that we are putting together for you.

February 20th – April 9th 2007

Bean Around the World on Mount Seymour and in Brackendale are pleased to present our mountain bike ride contest. Please feel free to visit either of these locations to pick up an entry form for your chance to win a ride for you and 3 friends with international free ride champion ANDREW SHANDRO. No purchase is necessary but we do ask that only people who are confident mountain bike riders enter. You will be asked to complete 3 reasons why you should be chosen for this contest, please get as creative and unique as possible.

Please view the list of Question & Answers.

Congratulations to the Bean Around the World (Brackendale) location for being named the "Best Cafe" for the second year in a row in the Squamish Chief. Compliments to Steve Klassen (the owner) and all the staff, for a job well done.

View The Chief Reader's Choice Award (PDF)

The Kamloops Chamber of Commerce recently nominated Cowboy Coffee North Shore for the 2006 Business Excellence Awards.

We would like to offer owners Dan Roberts and Mark Hopkins a big congratulations for the nomination. Good work guys!

For more information, check out this link http://www.kamloopschamber.bc.ca/

Help a bike team: Buy superb coffee and help farming families in Peru. Lets all cheer them on... Good luck Grady and Tyler!

View the entire article, click here.

Check Out Dustin's Website www.sonicbids.com/dustinbentall

Second Kamloops Store...

On November 28th, Cowboy Coffee opened it’s second location in Kamloops, B.C.. We are proud to introduce new owners, Mark Hopkins and Dan Roberts to the team. Located on the North Shore of Kamloops, this location has plenty to offer. Please stop by next time you’re in the area.

At long last on November 2nd another Bean Around The World was finally complete and able to open it’s doors to the public. Please welcome aboard Stuart Maxwell, the proud owner of the Bean Powell (255 Powell Street). This location is easily accessible from downtown Vancouver and within walking distance from scenic Gastown. Congratulations Stuart, the months of patience finally paid off.

In our September update we had mentioned that our long standing account Eagle Run in Brackendale became the 11th Bean Around the World (#3-41340 Government Rd.). It appears to have been left unsaid that the new owner of that location is Steve Klassen, a long-time employee of Cowboy Coffee. Steve took over in August of 2005 and has since moved to Squamish from North Vancouver to complete the transition. When we asked him how he felt about his new venture he replied “It’s a fun life, it’s what I have always wanted to do!” So a very special congratulations goes out to Steve, the team at Cowboy Coffee will miss you and we wish you the best of luck in all of your new adventures.

Cowboy Coffee would like to thank you all for your support over the year and we hope that you will continue to enjoy our coffee in 2006.

It has been a busy 6 months for the team at Cowboy Coffee Roasting Ltd. The most exciting news to report is the 4 new stores we have acquired in the past 3 months. They are as follows:

Final Tally: 11 out of 12 finished the complete ride, 1 broken brake lever, 2 people stung, 1 chainless rider (not by choice), and a full house of perma-smiles all around.

We would like to welcome our new Bean Around the World store located at the entrance to Lonsdale Quay, North Vancouver. Opened in the first week of July, it boasts large glass windows and a spacious patio area. A definite "must see" in our family of stores. Visit our locations page to find other Bean Around the World stores near you.

DVD NOW AVAILABLE - www.thecollectivefilm.com

Bean Around The World is proud to announce our participation in the highly anticipated mountain bike film, The Collective. The Collective is slated for release in June of 2004, and has recently launched their website. The site, at www.thecollectivefilm.com provides information about the vision for the film, as well as biographies on the riders and production crew.