Meet The Team / Kristine Hansen

Sustainable-minded eaters already know where to score the best and freshest produce: from a farm's Consumer Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Subscribers receive a weekly or twice-monthly "share" of just-picked greens, squash, berries -- you name it. Recently, similar models have sprung up for seafood, honey, dairy and flowers.

Coffee, however, is the antithesis of this feel-good model. Several middlemen work the long, arduous route between the coffee farm to your personal coffee brewer, which is several thousand miles and usually across continents. Typically, buyers import beans in their non-roasted form from a cooperative of coffee farmers, and then sell them to you -- roasted -- via a cafe or a grocer. By the time those beans are roasted and retailed, a lot of time has passed. And it's rare you know anything about the farm on which they were harvested.

Today, a new coffee CSA (it's actually called Coffee CSA) debuts as a project from Pachamama, a global cooperative of coffee farms. Though there are some small coffee CSAs around the U.S., the scale of this project is much larger. Each month, Coffee CSA subscribers receive a delivery of just-roasted coffee beans sourced from independent family-owned farms around the world. Not only do you know the farm's name, you have access to photos, videos and stories from the farmers, putting serious street cred into your morning cup of joe.

You can also request to receive email updates from the farm family, allowing you to get to know more about their lifestyle and livelihood. About 140,000 small-scale farmers in Peru, Nicaragua, Mexico, Ethiopia and Guatemala are linked with the project, and they work on farms ranging from one to 10 acres. All are certified-organic and Fair Trade certified too.

And since the beans arrive on your doorstep, you'll always have an early morning cup of joe at your fingertips.

Italian wines are so diverse -- incorporating many grapes not grown elsewhere in the world -- that you can have a serious Wine 101 lesson simply by uncorking a few. Invite a couple of friends over, order some Chinese food (What? You've never paired Italian wines with Chinese noodles and seafood dishes? You are missing out!) and start sampling.

In anticipation of spring, and warmer temperatures, I recently sipped an array of Italian whites. Here were my four favorites, perfect for drinking on the patio or pairing with fresh salads of mixed greens -- or that Chinese takeout.

If you're a savvy diner who likes to cozy up to chefs, then you probably already know one of their after-hour secrets: When the last plate is fired, many of them head to the tattoo shop.

Check any restaurant kitchen -- underneath those white coats lies a rainbow of culinary-themed tattoos, everything from knives to pot-bellied pigs. Don't feel like asking a stranger to show off their tats? Now you can just fire up your computer to see what chefs are sporting. Members of the National Restaurant Association have put together Kitchen Ink!, an online photo gallery to of the best chef body art.

When wineries first began to ditch cork as an enclosure, people got nervous. Turns out this panic over the usage of screw caps was a false alarm. In a blind tasting, it's impossible to determine which enclosure was used.

Perhaps fueled by this brilliant concept, in 2004, Francis Ford Coppola Winery in Geyserville, California -- founded and owned by the film director of the same name -- debuted the first U.S. wine brand in a can. The hot-pink cans of 187ml can of "Sofia" Blanc de Blancs "Mini" are sold in four pack, and they've been a huge hit with consumers.

And now another U.S. winery joins the trend. Flasq wines -- from St. Helena, California-based JT Wines -- are packaged in 375ml aluminum flask-shaped bottles. Currently available as 2009 Chardonnay (Monterey County) and 2009 Merlot (Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo County; and San Antonio Valley in Monterey County) they launched in January and cost $6 each. There is enough vino in each can to equal about two (6-ounce) glasses of wine.

These canned wines are a godsend for the summer season. Much lighter than glass, they are unlikely to be banned from places like public parks or swimming pools. (If you've ever toted wine in a backpack or shoulder bag you can vouch for how back-breaking this can be.) Also, with a wide mouth opening, you can sip straight from the bottle. It may not be classy, but who said drinking wine has to be a five-star experience anyway?

Normally I'm not a big fan of supporting big-box stores for wine purchases, but Whole Foods Market is an exception. Their selection is well-edited and personally sourced, with some of the wines purchased from boutique wineries that lack the marketing budgets to reach major American importers.

Did you know that the Austin, Texas-based chain employs two wine buyers -- Doug Bell and Geof Ryan -- who are out in the vineyards more than they are at their desks? Their entire job is to source wines that are a.) inexpensive and b.) high quality. What's not to like?

I recently had a chance to sip a selection of wines from Bordeaux, France, that this duo sourced. All cost under $20 a bottle, which is a steal given that many people find Bordeaux wines to be priced out of their range.

Here are my five bargain favorites -- available only at Whole Foods Market -- from this storied wine region.