Nicaragua -Ecotourism allies with fair trade in Central America by Matthew Kadey
With light coming only from the gleam of a well-worn lantern and a sky set ablaze by a preternatural canopy of stars, I find myself answering questions about the particularities of my life in Canada and learning about the ins and outs of coffee farming with my host, Juan Acuña. As we talk into the wee hours in his modest adobe house while a hard rain turns its outer edges to mud, it's clear that the sweat and blood of this slight, congenial, 58-year-old man has been poured into a 17-acre farm nestled in Nicaragua's northern hills. With his red cap casting a half-moon shadow on his life-hardened face, he assures me that the only things keeping him busier than producing specialty coffee are his nine children and "lots of grandkids." 

However if you ask any discerning coffee drinker what the perceived health benefits of drinking coffee are, and most will ask in return, "What health benefits ?". Understandable, as during the past 20 years we have seen and heard many negative messages concerning coffee and caffeine intake. However, new research from the Institute for Coffee Studies at Vanderbilt University Medical Centre in Nashville, USA, is giving us another perspective....