It may not seem like there’s much any of us can do to bring peace to even a relatively small corner of the world, but supporting world peace is as easy and concrete as drinking coffee or playing basketball. Here are four groups that not only work for peace, they also grow coffee, make yummy food, teach kids to play basketball, and bring young people together for a camp experience that includes conflict resolution exercises.

	Mirembe Kawomera A coffee cooperative in Uganda that grows organic, kosher, fair trade coffee. The best part: The co-op is made up of Jewish, Muslim and Christian coffee farmers all working together. In Luganda, Mirembe Kawomera means Delicious Peace.
	Peaceworks is a "not only for profit" company that makes healthy foods products produced by neighbors on opposing sides of political or armed conflicts. Plus, they donate 5% of all profits to groups working to empower the moderates in the Middle East who want a peaceful end to the war through a two-state solution.
	PeacePlayers International Founded on the premise that “children who play together can learn to live together” PPI brings kids together to play basketball, which unites and educates young people in divided communities. Currently operating in Northern Ireland, South Africa, New Orleans, Cyprus, and the Middle East, they foster positive relationships for thousands of children, helping form positive relationships, develop leadership skills, and improve their futures.
	Seeds of Peace Bringing kids together at a summer camp in Maine, and doing follow up programming in their home communities in the Middle East and South Asia, this program includes daily dialogue sessions, regular camp activities like arts, sports, and music, a ropes course, religious services for both Jews and Muslims, and a peer support program. When participants (called ‘Seeds’) go home, they attend more coexistence programs, and a conflict resolution and mediation training program.

Would You Like Fries with That Venti Mocha? In a move that's sure to make the heads of anti-Starbucks and anti-McDonald's types alike explode, Mickey D's is adding Starbucks-inspired, specialty coffee bars to their American shops--all 14,000 of them. They're calling them "McCafés" and training "baristas" to whip up cappuccinos, lattes, mochas, and Frappes right before their customers' eyes. It's McDonald's biggest menu addition since the fast food giant added breakfast 30 years ago.

The confrontation between Starbucks Corp. and McDonald's Corp. once seemed improbable. Hailing from very different corners of the restaurant world, the two chains have gradually encroached on each other's turf. McDonald's upgraded its drip coffee and its interiors, while Starbucks added drive-through windows and hot breakfast sandwiches.

The growing overlap between the chains shows how convenience has become the dominant force shaping the food-service industry. Consumers who are unwilling to cross the street to get coffee or make a left turn to grab lunch have pushed all food purveyors to adapt the strategies of fast-food chains.

So it comes to this? Crossing the street and making a left turn is so strenuous for the average McAmerican, that they choose their nourishment according to what's on the same side of the street? Pity.

Interestingly, the McCafé concept started in Australia about fifteen years ago.

McDonald's move into upscale coffees dates back to a concept that is unfamiliar to most of its customers: the McCafé. It started in Australia in 1993. McDonald's brought the cafes to the U.S. in 2001 by carving out a corner of the restaurant, decorating it with leather couches and adding a counter that sold cappuccinos and sweets. But the cafes never took off here because they didn't feed into McDonald's drive-through business, where two-thirds of sales take place, says Don Thompson, president of the chain's U.S. business.

In 2003, McDonald's initiated a turnaround strategy called Plan to Win. Among other things, it included a total remodeling at thousands of U.S. locations. Molded plastic booths were replaced with oversized chairs, lighting was softened and muted tones took the place of bright colors. Wireless Internet access was also added.

"We began to realize...we could definitely sell coffee in this environment," Mr. Thompson said. In 2006, McDonald's changed its drip coffee to a stronger blend and began marketing it as a "premium" roast.

Despite all that, some analysts are saying that McDonald's may pose more of a threat to Dunkin' Donuts, which has a much more similar customer base, than to Starbucks. McCafé drinks, which come in three sizes (small, medium, large) and three flavors (vanilla, caramel, mocha) will sell for about 60 cents to 80 cents less than competitors' prices.

There’s a really funny and interesting piece up over at SOMA about how
important coffee is to Christian church-goers. The piece is called Praise the Lord and Pass the Caffeine. Here’s a nice little excerpt:
Coffee: is pretty Holy

My surreptitious life “in the closet” as a non-coffee
drinker became more difficult to maintain in adulthood, however, when I
discovered that my aversion to the holy bean was putting my spiritual
life in jeopardy. The big question was not so much how can one live the
Christian life as how can one live the Christian life without a cup of
Joe each morning during devotions?

Yes, coffee hour is that sacred time when believers come
together in fellowship and Folgers. More than once I was forced to
drink a cup of non-dairy creamer so I would be accepted by my Christian
friends. When it came to the integration of faith and caffeine, I was
failing miserably.

Things got worse about five years ago when my family and I
began attending the local mega-church, which has become our present
church home. Each week as we move through the lobby and head for the
sanctuary, I notice a crowd of people milling, cups in hand, under a
large sign that says “Coffee Central.” As they sip their gourmet
delights, my old feeling of social inadequacy returns. These are the
cool people in the church. They are the members who control the house
groups and the adult Sunday school classes.

The SOMA article links to a fascinating and bizarre Beliefnet piece also about the role of coffee in Churches.

It's hard to exaggerate the importance of coffee to
American church life. Pulled apart by their views about salvation,
biblical interpretation and social issues, nearly all Christians share
a common dedication to the beany brew. In most mainline Protestant and
Catholic churches, parishioners gather immediately after services in
the parish hall or church basement for kaffeeklatsches that often bear
modest names like "fellowship hour" or "community hour," (though an old
Lutheran joke calls coffee hour the "third sacrament," after baptism
and communion). Young evangelical Christians have taken coffee
spirituality offsite. In the past decade, hundreds of coffeehouses have
popped up across the country with names like "The Jesus Shack," "Holy
Grounds," One Way Café," "Cup O' Joy," and "The Revelation Room."

So essential is coffee to churchgoing that when someone
added arsenic to the coffee urn at Gustaf Adolph Lutheran Church in New
Sweden, Maine this spring, killing the 78-year-old head usher and
hospitalizing 15 others, parishioners drank coffee for the TV cameras
the following Sunday to demonstrate that the hallowed tradition would
persevere. Bishop Margaret Payne even showed up to take the symbolic
first sip. "I just wanted to make it clear that this isn't a place
where you have to be afraid of drinking coffee," she said on CBS News.

Full story
The Kiddush At My Shul: looks nothing like this.
As far as I can tell, in synagogues and temples it’s not so much coffee
as it is Kiddush, where all the action takes place. If you don’t want
to stay for kichel and shnapps, you don’t get to make friends, discuss
the rabbi’s sermon, or chat up the cute new guy. I’m not usually a big
fan of Kiddush food (institutional tuna creeps me out) but I’ve noticed
that if I leave, I won’t ever get dinner or lunch invites, so I stay
and pick at a brownie.

I’ve never thought of Kiddush as spiritual, but both articles point out
that community bonding is a big and important part of spiritual life.
Cool, and kind of weird.

The Way To Peace Is NOT Thru Graffiti.A better morning really does start with a cup O' Jo, so why not a better world? That's the logic behind the Ugandan interfaith coffee cooperative Mirembe Kawomera ("Delicious Peace") that boasts a collective contingency of Muslim, Jewish, and Christian partners. We'll leave out the part about it being located on a dormant volcano, for now.

Mirembe Kawomera Cooperative was created by JJ Keki, an Abayudaya Jew and the current co-op leader. To create the cooperative, Mr. Keki traveled on foot, knocking on each of his neighbor's doors, asking Jews, Muslims, and Christians to put aside their differences and join him to create an extraordinary partnership. Keki was assisted by Kulanu, a U.S.-based NGO and long-time supporter of the Abayudaya ("Jewish people" in Luganda.

Personally, I think the Jewcy office should opt for the Espresso Roast (it's the proper journalist brew) but stock up a bit on the nutmeg, pecan-flavored Light Roast in case I ever breeze into town. It's for a good cause, I think.

News tip courtesy Jewschool.