Better than Fair Trade

Knitting last night, I happened to flip channels to Link TV. They’re doing some sort of pledge drive, but despite the pledge drive bits they were managing to air a good piece on Fair Trade Coffee, and also a group called the Community Agroecology Network. They’re a nonprofit corporation which will arrange for you to buy coffee directly from the farmers. No middle-men … well, actually, there is one middleman: the cooperative. The cooperative blends, roasts, and ships the coffee directly to the consumer, while retaining a portion to provide scholarships to the farmers’ kids. Not much of a middle-man, in my book.

Now, If you know me, you know that I’m … well, into coffee. I’ve gone through dozens if not hundreds of varieties in search of that perfect cup: one which is equally tasty with milk or soy, or with no creamer, sweetened or unsweetened, hot or cold … and straight out of the French press, day-old, for those mornings when I just can’t stop to make up a fresh pot and must get out the door in a hurry. Much to my chagrin, I’m probably going to have to investigate a new coffee. After my long trials, I’d settled on Ravensbrew’s Espresso Chocolón, which is a sustainably grown, shade grown, “relationship” coffee. However, in keeping with the idea that middlemen basically do what the postal service does, but at a much higher price … I’m going to have to at least taste this other coffee.

I also told my CSA about it, so that maybe the CSA could distribute coffee in their weekly produce boxes, and we’d get a broader audience for this type of coffee purchasing. Because, even if I don’t end up liking the coffee as well, it’s something worth of pursuing.

When you really look at the coffee market (second largest in the world, only behind Petroleum), you find that Nestle, Kraft, Proctor and Gamble, and Sara Lee are the current Big Four of coffee importers, providing about 80% of the United States’ coffee. Kraft … which would be a piece of a company named Altria, which used to be named Phillip Morris. Yup, your coffee’s brought to you by the guys who really didn’t believe you could get cancer from smoking … and still don’t, probably. Here’re the brands which I’m familiar with, and who owns them:

• Gevalia, Maxwell House, Sanka, Yuban (Altria aka. Phillip Morris (via Kraft Foods))
• Folgers and Millstone (Procter & Gamble)
• Nescafé, Nespresso, Taster’s Choice (Nestle)
• Senseo (Sara Lee)

You can check out The Coffee Geek to learn more about how the story of the coffee markets, or you can check out Wikipedia to take a look at who owns your morning cuppa. More than that, though, as interesting as it is … you could get on over to the Community Agroecology Network to learn about the folks who actually produce your coffee.

Tomorrow, you can think about where your chocolate comes from.

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