johannabanana Senior Member Joined: 13 Jul 2003 Posts: 431 Location: Vienna, Europe Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: La San Marco 1,2,+3group,... Grinder: 2 LSM, 3 Tourmix, 1 demoka... Vac Pot: not yet Drip: Melitta aroma boy,... Roaster: Precision & Mr. Gunter :-D
Posted Sun Aug 10, 2003, 3:03pm Subject: How much does Fair Trade Coffe appreciate in value?
Hi coffeegeeks! I would like to know the observation of coffeeshop owners/employees as well as the opinion of customers: How much does Fair Trade Coffe appreciate in value? Is there a change in behavior noticeable when buying coffee?
Thanks for answers Joey
"Do everything right. You will gratify some people and astonish the rest." (Mark Twain)
Posted Sun Aug 10, 2003, 3:24pm Subject: Re: How much does Fair Trade Coffe appreciate in value?
Joey, from what I understand Fair Trade Certification(FTC) is limited to co-ops & maybe specific mills/processors. It leaves out the farmer/worker who doesn't have the option of the co-op. In terms of adding value(cost) at the retail level IMO it should & I have no problem paying a "premium" for FTC if the coffee meets my personal criteria for quality beans. FTC does not certify a high quality product. An option I have adopted is to donate $1/# of green bean purchased to the CoffeeKids organization. IMO even with this $1/# added cost the coffee greens I purchase are undervalued.
Noel Mano dell 'operatore> Macinadosatore> Miscela> Macchina espresso
johannabanana Senior Member Joined: 13 Jul 2003 Posts: 431 Location: Vienna, Europe Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: La San Marco 1,2,+3group,... Grinder: 2 LSM, 3 Tourmix, 1 demoka... Vac Pot: not yet Drip: Melitta aroma boy,... Roaster: Precision & Mr. Gunter :-D
Posted Sun Aug 10, 2003, 4:38pm Subject: Re: How much does Fair Trade Coffe appreciate in value?
Dear Noel,
I'm not sure if I understand your first sentence right (sorry-not my motherlanguage) I thought the farmer gets more money, because Fair Trade enables cooperatives to bypass a middleman by selling directly to importers. I read it on this page: http://www.transfairusa.org/index.jsp But I'm not here to defend FT, I just wanted to know the consumer aspect. As people try to get more and more into healthy food and drinks, cosmetics without animal testing(bodyshop), special relaxing holidays in wellness hotels, etc...I wonder if this boom has taken over the habit of buying/drinking naturally grown coffee - with the purpose/or side effect of helping the farmers.
Here in Austria you can't get much FTC coffee. Just one Mexican in the Supermarket and the one Starbucks sells. I just tried the Mexican, and you are right, it didn't taste so good. But it was cheap, too.
You said FT does not certify quality beans - does that mean the farmers can't produce quality coffee because they are so small, or they lack the know how?
What is it about the Coffekid Organisation? How does that work? Does it have to do with Marks Coffee Kid site? Sorry for my silly question :-{
Thank you for your reply greetings joey
"Do everything right. You will gratify some people and astonish the rest." (Mark Twain)
Posted Sun Aug 10, 2003, 5:16pm Subject: Re: How much does Fair Trade Coffe appreciate in value?
Hi Joey. The farmers of FT coops are paid the going FT rate. Nonmembers of the coop or farmers without a recognized coop are left to whatever market exists in their region. There are probably a significant number of growers who produce an excellent product that we the end consumers will never get to experience. Their small yields purchased by some coyote for basically nothing getting mixed with inferior grade beans. Coffeekids.org is a nonprofit group independent from Mark, the Coffeekid. Bill Fishbein is the founder. A RhodeIsland coffee shop owner. They assist coffee growing communities establish programs to address problems identified by that community. Check out their webpage @ www.coffeekids.org
Noel Mano dell 'operatore> Macinadosatore> Miscela> Macchina espresso
johannabanana Senior Member Joined: 13 Jul 2003 Posts: 431 Location: Vienna, Europe Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: La San Marco 1,2,+3group,... Grinder: 2 LSM, 3 Tourmix, 1 demoka... Vac Pot: not yet Drip: Melitta aroma boy,... Roaster: Precision & Mr. Gunter :-D
Posted Sun Aug 10, 2003, 5:57pm Subject: Re: How much does Fair Trade Coffe appreciate in value?
Thanks Noel. Just visited the coffeekids site - sounds believeable. It's always good to listen to other opinions, in Austria you only hear good stuff about Fair Trade...because nobody knows coffeekids. I'm surprised. So for the social idea it's nice to be a member of coffeekids. What about organically grown coffee? Do people want that?(question to everyone :-)
regards, joey
"Do everything right. You will gratify some people and astonish the rest." (Mark Twain)
MarkPrince Moderator Joined: 19 Dec 2001 Posts: 5,054 Location: Vancouver Expertise: Professional
Espresso: Frankenstein'ed LM Linea Grinder: Anfim Super Caimano Vac Pot: 1922 Silex Drip: Krups Moka Brew Roaster: Hottop
Posted Sun Aug 10, 2003, 9:29pm Subject: Re: How much does Fair Trade Coffe appreciate in value?
Look for something HUGE involving CoffeeKids and this website around Xmas time. You guys (as in, you coffeegeek members) are gonna be pointed at and asked to participate too :)
When Joey said "I've never heard of them before", yeah, that's how I feel too. They do a great job getting involved on the industry side, showing up at trade shows, getting industry sponsors and donators (the CoffeeGeek site donates cash and ad space to the equiv of about $2,800 a year to them), but they are very weak on consumer recognition and support. I'm hoping to do a little bit to change that... :)
ianb Senior Member Joined: 20 Mar 2003 Posts: 19 Location: Oxford Expertise: Beginner
Posted Wed Aug 20, 2003, 6:49am Subject: Re: How much does Fair Trade Coffe appreciate in value?
Bill, super guy that he is, actually mentioned to me not so long ago that he had steered away from general-public recognition so that he could concentrate on the trade first. What now fascinates me is the number of individuals who are starting their own fair-trade projects - I know of half a dozen people in Yorkshire (north of England, here!) who have banded together to buy just a thousand kilos of coffee from Malawi... they clubbed together to buy it, and a local roaster has come in on the packaging for them. They've already sold 750kilos - I think that's great! And Utz Kapeh's work in Holland is interesting, too - they're questioning prices being charged for fair trade coffee.
We've just interviewed a coffee-shop owner in Devon (south England) who believes he is the first in the UK to go over entirely to fairly-traded coffee for all his espresso. I like that, too.
Posted Wed Aug 20, 2003, 8:47am Subject: Re: How much does Fair Trade Coffe appreciate in value?
In response to the query about a relationship between bean quality and Fair Trade - it has been pointed out that there is no specific relationship. There are Fair Trade beans that may be of average quality and some that will be exceptional - the certification is not a quality grading process, but rather, a way for consumers to know that the grower is receiving at least a nominally fair price for the beans.
There seems to be an interest in some markets for "organic" coffees but in fact, the "organic" certification process is eithe rnont available or too expensive for many small growers to participate in. In many coffee growing countries with relatively undeveloped rural infrastructures (I'm thinking of Ethiopia and Yemen as good examples), most of the coffee is grown by small farmers using traditional methods, which are already organic methods in nature but haven't been officially certified as such.
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