Making Sense of Fair Trade Coffee – Who Calls the Shots?

You wake up in the morning, stumble over to your favorite espresso machine stove top unit, and pull out the bag of coffee that will hopefully get you moving to start the day… but have you ever considered whether that bag of coffee could mean the difference between a family’s poverty or whether they have food to eat at the same moment you’re enjoying your morning cup of java?

It might seem like a depressing thought to start the day, but that’s the reality the world is facing – however, it doesn’t have to be that way! Fair trade coffee is a global initiative that strives to promote better wages and living conditions for marginalized coffee farmers, in order to assist them in moving from a precarious and vulnerable economic position, to becoming self-sufficient and able to play an active, wider role in international trade. In other words – fair trade puts money in the hands of the exploited workers, and helps them to feed their families through a long-term strategy!

The environmental and social benefits of fair trade have been debated in the public sphere for quite some time, and you may have heard about some of the criticisms concerning fair trade coffee in particular. Primarily, critics complain that many organizations who claim their coffee is ‘fair trade’ don’t have an official form of certification, which results in uncertainty over whether or not the coffee truly conforms to fair trade standards – or if the companies are simply banking on consumers’ lack of knowledge about fair trade and acceptable standards.

One company whose efforts at promoting fair trade have not gone unnoticed is TransFair USA, a non-profit organization who functions as the only third-party certifier of fair trade products in the United States. This means that, when you go to the store to purchase coffee and are looking for a fair trade product, the only coffee sold in the United States that is fair trade certified will have the TransFair USA label on the package.

A TransFair USA label means that the coffee has been certified as meeting specific criteria during the entire growing and harvesting process: the coffee is organic and shade grown; the growers are primarily family farms, small businesses, or community co-ops; the farmers are using financial and technical support to avoid loans and debt; the farmers get approximately five cents higher than market price per pound. Also, the shippers’ finances and policies need to be transparent to the public. When coffee meets all these standards and has been inspected by Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International – the group which TransFair USA belongs to – the product receives the TransFair USA certification and label.

When you see the TransFair USA label, you know you’re getting fair trade coffee! And best of all, fair trade coffee tastes just as fantastic when made through your own coffee and espresso machines as the non-fair trade products, so you’re not making any sacrifices on taste. The next time you wake up in the morning and begin to fire up the best super automatic espresso machine you own to get that morning cup of java, take a moment and ask yourself – "is what I’m about to drink making a difference like it could?" If not, make that best espresso machine better – buy fair trade!