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We don't solely use Fairtrade beans because the quality is not good enough and the traders we use pay more than Fairtrade prices. We need to use the top 2-3% of beans on the planet to get the flavours we get out of our coffee. They cost more. Simple. I always have had an issue with Fairtrade coffee. The quality and therefore the taste were generally not up to my standards. However, as some speciality coffees became Fairtrade, I considered becoming a Fairtrade coffee shop. But then I went out and had a look for myself. I met with farmers who ran great operations, who made a great contribution to their communities and whom, I decided, I couldn't forsake for the marketing leverage of Fairtrade. I am glad I didn't, because we would have lost some integrity in doing so. Speciality coffee growers get far more money for their crop than growers for the commercial market or the Fairtrade minimum of $1.26/lb of coffee. But the ethics go much further than money: Taste In Australia and New Zealand Fairtrade is often considered the Trabant of coffees. The reason is simple: if I am guaranteed a price based that is not based on the quality of my product I am unlikely to put in the extra effort to improve the quality. It takes a lot more work to produce speciality coffee, but the rewards are also greater; for the grower and the consumer. The Markets Commercial The vast majority of coffee traded in the world is poor quality 'commercial' coffee. It is controlled by Sarah Lee, Maxwell Coffee House, the ubiquitous Nestlé (a producer of 'Fairtrade' coffee) and Proctor & Gamble. They supply the coffee that people drink throughout the West oblivious to the suffering they indirectly support. Since the great depression forced the price of coffee down, the consumer has gotten used to drinking poor quality cheap coffee. The four large companies dominate the world coffee trade competing with each other to buy cheaper coffee from the growers to sell. The much maligned Starbucks isn’t one of them and is tiny in comparison with only 2% of world coffee trade. Fairtrade The Fairtrade myth People are being told that it’s either Fairtrade or it’s bad. Fairtrade is a great movement with the best of intentions, however, because of their marketing success, consumers are buying into a myth that all else is bad. FLO Cert (the single company that certifies all Fairtrade produce) doesn’t say this but they don’t contradict the media who do. The fact is that some people have been helped out by Fairtrade, but many others who are arguably more deserving are being hurt by rampant Fairtrade mania. Many farmers who grow great beans are being sidelined for poorer produce because of the marketing behind Fairtrade. Moreover, some farmers would be growing speciality coffee and therefore doing much better in the longer term if consumers focussed on quality rather than a label. Quality None of the inspectors should have connections with the coffee industry as they are screened for conflict of interest. The problem with this is that quality is not assessed at all. They wouldn't have the time even if they knew the difference between poor and good quality beans. Moreover, the incentive for Fairtrade producers is to produce more rather than better quality. They are better off producing a lot of low grade coffee, than less good coffee as they get the same money for both. FLO-CERT is a guarantee of: -Minimum price -Fairtrade premium - Fair payment to workers - Freedom of association and collective bargaining - No child labour, no forced labour - Democratic structure within a cooperative - Sustainable production Fairtrade does not certify quality. Agenda Only certain sized coops are even able to apply to become Fairtrade. See sections 0.5 and 1.2 of the Fairtrade Generic Standard for small-holder production located here for definitions. Estates, with inherently better quality coffee and larger cooperatives with collective experience and resources are barred regardless of conditions and practice. This would be fine if it weren't for the implied demonisation of anyone who's not Fairtrade. Fairtrade will not certify small family run estates that have been the lifeblood of a region with great working conditions and better rates of pay than Fairtrade certified groups. Tracebility If you can’t trace it, it’s not fair to claim that it’s fair. If your packet of Fairtrade Brazilian coffee cannot be traced back to anywhere closer than Brazil (ranked 80 in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index), then there is no guarantee at all that it has been fairly traded. The very least they could do is put up photos and locations of all of the producers. However, they merely list them. Estates and Coops producing speciality coffee want to ensure that their coffee is not mixed in with all the other coffees because they will get more money for their crop. If the coffee lost its taste signature by being mixed with poorer quality coffee, speciality roasters would stop buying it. Corruption  I was talking to a farmer called Basrizal in Sumatra at a collective mill in October 2009. The people who worked there were happy and getting paid the same as the Fairtrade place, but the growers got nearly double that paid at Mandheling Gayo Internasional. I asked Basrizal why he and the rest didn't get Fairtrade certified. "I don't know the right people" was his answer. When we are talking about Indonesia, Colombia, Brazil, Nicaragua et al., we can't ignore corruption. Unsustainablity Fairtrade creates an artificially high value on a low value commodity - that is poor quality coffee. The producer who buys in to Fairtrade falls without it. This smacks of colonial paternalism. The poor black man does not need the white man to come and save him. It doesn’t work. He just needs to work hard and a real market to sell to. Just like we all do. Artificial tariffs will lead to short-term gain, but all that is needed is a global economic recession and the consumers to cease feeling guilt and poor quality farmers will be left with nothing. Speciality coffee, however, has grown steadily throughout previous recessions because it is not based on an artificial price.  Price
The Fairtrade price is the price paid once the coffee is on board the ship, not how much the grower gets. Going back from the ship 121 cents is typically reduced by the transportation, the mill and the collector before it gets back to the grower. The graph to the right takes the average prices for speciality coffee and an average Cup of Excellence coffee. Coffee in the Cup of Excellence program can sell for six times that shown here. A Fairtrade certified producer will earn 5c/lb extra. However, it's obvious that the producers that the Fairtrade programme encourages are the low quality ones. Speciality This third market is based on quality and is analogous with the speciality whisky and wine markets. Speciality roasters spend a lot of time seeking out the best coffees being produced that season. And we will pay good money for good coffee. Prices are based mostly on demand and if an estate has produced an excellent crop, roasters will out-bid one another to get their noses into it. Some auctions now take place on the internet. Kona and Skybury are excellent coffees whose workers are paid decent wages and the green coffee is very expensive. Kona is from Hawaii and Skybury from Australia. Neither need subsidy of Fairtrade because they produce excellent coffee that is sold on the speciality coffee market. Caveat venditor: if they produce rubbish coffee, they would get rubbish prices. Producers from third-world countries get the same high prices for their coffee as those in Australia by producing great coffee and selling it on the speciality market. Walking in to a speciality coffee shop and demanding Fairtrade is like walking into a speciality whisky store and demanding the same. We can point to the farmers who produced our coffee. We don't always have email contact, but do with several. Over the years we intend to visit as many of our producers as possible. In this manner we hope to be a tax efficient as possible. Organic coffee Some producers are clearing virgin rainforest to plant coffee that will automatically be organic. At Artisan Roast we like both rainforest and organic coffees. We do our best to ensure that our organic coffees have not displaced rainforest. Kopi Luwak The celebrated cat-poo coffee is usually produced using cats kept in cages and force fed. Animal rights issues aside, it doesn't taste that good. Therefore we don't stock Kopi Luwak. |
