“The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.”
Genesis 1:12 NIV
Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a (mustard) seed ...
Mark 4:31 NIV
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The land yields its harvest; God, our God, blesses us.
– Psalm 67:6 NIV
Just who were those irst curious souls who dared to think beyond the bean? Who watched the lower bloom and fade and inally bear its fruit — irst green clusters that slowly turned to crimson cherries? And when they picked the irst fruits, how did they know the real harvest resided deep within — not the pulp but in the seed? What made them wonder and probe the possibilities? Soak it. Rinse it. Dry it. Hull it. Then, take that seed, that green bean, and put it under ire. Finally, then there is reward in the aroma released ... warm, inviting, delicious. A treasure discovered and transformed — ground and steeped and poured for all the world to savor and enjoy. This is the story of cofee. And this is our story of 41 & Change.
Change is good.
History places the discovery of cofee in 11th century Ethiopia. In Young Life, cofee has its own unique discovery story. In the 1990s, early Young Life pioneers in Central America were looking for land to develop a camp near mountainous Jinotega, Nicaragua. This location, with its warm days and cool nights, usable land, and accessibility, proved a winner and a discovery greater than we ever imagined. Cofee plants grew wild on the hillsides of the land. At the advise of local farmers, we harvested some beans, cupped it, and realized that an extraordinary resource was on our land and in our hands.
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Surrounding this beautiful place, we also discovered a lovely community of people. Generations of local families welcomed us into their very familiar world of cofee – the staple agricultural product that has supported their economy for decades. Cofee remains Nicaragua’s primary product and its economy’s top export. Staying true to our relational approach to ministry, Young Life (Vida Joven) hires these local harvesters and honors their workmanship by paying 25 percent higher wages than average local cofee farms. We delight in building relationships with them — fellow image-bearers of God — and value them as integral partners serving to advance the mission of Young Life and the story of 41 & Change Cofee Co.
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La Finca “The Farm”
One of only a handful of international Young Life camp properties, La Finca is situated near Jinotega, Nicaragua, where 80 percent of the nation’s cofee is grown. The camp covers 160 acres, and when completed, it will accommodate 350 kids and leaders at a time.
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41 & Change cofee is Arabica high-grown cofee, cultivated on ideal hillside terrain with an elevation of 4,500 feet, mild temperatures, and plenty of rainfall. From lower to ripe cherry takes nearly a year; new plants require about three years of growth before full fruit production begins. An average cofee tree produces 10 pounds of cofee cherries, which yields about one to two pounds of green beans. Our farmers selectively handpick the cherries and are paid according to daily harvest weight.
Here at La Finca, in the stunning mountains of Jinotega, young people experience the beauty of God’s creation and a welcome retreat from everyday life. For many, camp may be the irst time they have used a lush toilet or had three nutritious meals. It may also be their irst opportunity to seriously consider life’s biggest, most important questions.
We refer to the building on the left as the beneicio, the term also used for the postharvest process of depulping, fermentation, washing and drying the cofee bean. The majority of 41 & Change beans are “wet processed” in which cherries are passed through a depulping machine and then through water channels into rotating drums that separate the beans by size. Next, the beans are soaked and fermented — a deinitive factor in the quality of any cofee. It is both an art and science determining the optimal point to initiate the inal washing process. Fermentation lasts between 24-36 hours and is assessed by feel when the beans lose their slimy texture and acquire a rougher pebbly feel.
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For many, La Finca is holy ground … a place where they experience life from a new vantage point … a place where they reckon with truth and grace and consider the magniicence of God, the sacriice of Jesus, and the immeasurable gift ofered to those who are called to follow Him.
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After fermentation, the beans are thoroughly rinsed in running water channels and prepared for drying. 41 & Change beans are dried in the sun, raked and turned regularly for six to seven days or until the moisture content is reduced to 11-12 percent. Dried beans are referred to as parchment cofee because of the very thin parchment covering that must be removed before roasting.
Once the beans have been milled or hulled, the green cofee seeds are meticulously hand-sorted and graded for size, weight, color, physical appearance and defects. 41 & Change consistently scores as a Specialty Grade or category 1 cofee, placing it in the highest quality category in the world
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Campers at La Finca, like at any of Young Life’s 35-plus camps, enjoy healthy meals served family style, high-adventure recreation, time to relax and play, and opportunities to hear and experience the message of God’s love in terms they can understand. Everything about Young Life camp is designed with the hope that kids will remember camp and eventually respond to God’s relentless pursuit to be in relationship with them.
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Most 41 & Change cofee is exported as green beans, but our La Finca beneicio houses a roaster suitable for smaller batches. Roasting transforms the naturally occurring acid, sugar, protein and cafeine of green beans into the familiar and lavorful product we call cofee. Flavor components are intentionally controlled – created, balanced, or altered in ways to afect the cofee’s aromatics, acidity, body, and aftertaste. Our roastmasters craft a “roast proile” through a delicate balance of heat, rate and time to highlight the best inherent lavor characteristics of the bean. From the soil and amount of sunshine to every sequential step in the process, the inal product is both simple yet complex – a picture of God’s mysterious and wondrous transformative power changing the ordinary into extraordinary. From the ield to lourishing – in human hearts and in all of creation – God changes everything. Change is good.
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By this my Father is gloriied, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.
– John 15:8 RSV
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Young Life began with a few simple ideas about sharing the truth of God’s love with adolescents. Many decades later, we’re still reaching out to middle school, high school and college students in friendship and hope and the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Young Life Camping
Each year, more than 100,000 kids around the world spend a week or a weekend at Young Life camp that many describe as one of the best weeks of their lives. Young Life camping involves high adventure, lots of fun, great food and excellent speakers who understand and respect high school and middle school kids. As Young Life’s worldwide outreach continues to grow, our camping program is expanding as well, with Young Life-owned properties like La Finca in Nicaragua or leased camps in a variety of other international locations. Regardless of the facility, the experience is the same — kids getting away from the pressures of everyday life, having fun with friends and their Young Life leaders, and hearing the message of God’s love in terms they can understand. Young Life camping is open to every kind of kid, privileged or not, popular or overlooked, introverts and extraverts, kids with disabilities, teenage mothers and every kid in between.
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Dear Friends,
Innovation and the Gospel have always gone hand in hand.
An innovator of His own time, Jesus brought a whole new relational approach to the proclamation of the Good News. Jim Rayburn brought innovation to the proclamation of the Gospel in 1941 with the idea of adults entering the world of teenagers with friendship, no-strings attached and chock full of adventure, hospitality and humor. To this day, the mission of Young Life continues to bring the unchanging Gospel message – the love of our Heavenly Father expressed in full through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ – to kids in innovative ways. Yes, innovation and the Gospel are good partners.
Enter 41 & Change Coffee Co. Forty-one is the year Young Life began and (&) change – well, that’s what we’re all about. Changed lives, changed families, changed communities ... and perhaps a little spare change to buy your next cup of coffee.
41 & Change is an inspiring story of how innovation continues to be blended into the mission of Young Life. Our Young Life camp, La Finca (The Farm), high in the mountains of central Nicaragua, just happens to be located on some of the most productive coffee growing soil in the world with a harvest worth considering, not for coffee alone, but for our greater global mission.
You see, 41 & Change is the innovative synthesis of our international mission impacting our domestic mission as 100% of the proceeds of 41 & Change sales goes directly to getting kids to Young Life camp. Not only that, but the workers who plant and harvest 41 & Change are considered valued partners in ministry and are paid generously for their work. With this valuable resource grown in Nicaragua, Young Life staff, volunteers and committee members in any corner of the world can raise money to send their local kids to Young Life camp. It’s a beautiful triple bottom line – local communities are blessed, kids get to camp internationally and domestically, and the Kingdom of God grows with each cup of 41 & Change coffee.
I hope you love coffee. If you do, you may have well found your new best friend! I encourage you to savor the excellence of this award-winning, world changing coffee. I challenge you to consider how you can use this innovative product to send kids to camp in your community. I invite you to continue dreaming with us about how to reach the next million kids with the love of Jesus Christ.
From all of us in the mission of Young Life and the team of 41 & Change, let’s continue the story of innovation entwined with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Change never tasted so good.
Dan Jessup Senior Vice President Young Life Latin America/Caribbean
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www.41change.com Change how you look at coffee.
