Fair Trade Dinner Gala

Samovar Tea Lounge Hosts San Francisco's premier Fair Trade Dinner Gala

---Fair Trade From the Farmer To You---

In celebration of the 3rd annual Fair Trade month in October, Samovar Tea Lounge is hosting San Francisco’s premier Fair Trade Dinner Gala. This will be a wonderful evening featuring a four course fair trade and sustainable dinner, a panel and multimedia presentation explaining fair trade from the farmer to the consumer, and a traditional Thai bai see kwan string-tying ceremony. This event costs $40 per person.

The evening’s activities will begin at 7pm with a 20 minute multimedia presentation from our panel speakers. During the presentation guests will enjoy fair trade tea and appetizers prepared by Samovar Tea Lounge. The presentation will be followed by a question and answer session where participants can discuss significance of fair trade from the farmer, to the importer, to the consumer. Dinner will be followed by a succulent dessert with a fair trade chocolate tasting. To conclude the evening Ubon Yuwa, a fair trade farmer from Thailand, will invite guests to join in a traditional Thai string-tying ceremony aimed at building relationships between people across borders, embodying the fair trade principles of respect and understanding between producers and consumers.

The panel includes:

• Anna Lappe- Bestselling author and renowned public speaker on food politics and sustainable agriculture, and named among the fourteen forward-thinking Who's Who in Time Magazine's Eco-Guide, Anna has been featured in The New York Times, Gourmet, O Magazine, Organic Style, and Vibe.

• Ubon Yuwa – A rice farmer and leader in the organic movement in Thailand who helped establish the first Fair Trade rice cooperatives in Southeast Asia. Ubon is the Southeast Asian Representative of Via Campesinas, an international farmers organization, and has spoken throughout Southeast Asia and the Americas.

• Tristan Lecomte- is the founder of Alter Eco a leading Fair Trade business that carries a line of one-hundred percent fair trade and sustainable food products sold at retail locations throughout Europe, Australia, and the United States.

• Joshua Kaizer-Joshua Kaiser is one of the leading organic tea importers in the USA working directly with tea growers from China and all over the world. For the past three years, Joshua has been very active in Yunnan, China working to develop Fair Trade tea projects with Yunnan’s ethnic minority groups. He will share his experience of Fair Trade tea in China with our group.

• Maya Spaull- Maya is the tea and rice Account Manager at TransFair USA, the third-party certifier of fair trade products in the US. She has been instrumental in helping connect producers of teas and rice to buyers in the US market.

Fair Trade is a form of global commerce where priority is given to trading with small and marginalized farmer groups, building trade relations based on solidarity and sustainability. This approach ensures farmers fair remuneration that covers the full cost of production and contributes to the continual improvement of working conditions and environmental sustainability. Fair Trade aims to promote solidarity, fair prices, direct contact, transparency, and dignity between producers and consumers.

This event is sponsored by Samovar Tea Lounge, Alter Eco a San Francisco based FairTrade company, TransFair USA the third party certifier of Fair Trade products, ENGAGE an international solidarity organization, RSF | Innovations in Social Finance, Young Women Social Entrepreneurs and the Bay Area Fair Trade Coalition. For more information please visit www.samovartea.com

About Samovar Tea Lounge

Samovar Tea Lounge, with two flagship locations in San Francisco, CA, offers tea culture from around the world. The Lounge is grounded in the values inherent to tea: relaxation, social intimacy, and health. An online tea shop and private catering services are also available. For more information please visit Samovar Tea Lounge online at www.samovartea.com or call 415.626.4700.