In my post about the Coffee Conference, I noted that one of the most interesting things I came away with was the general displeasure many participants had with coffee certifications. Both Rainforest Alliance and TransFair USA (the Fair Trade certifiying…
Kenneth Davids’ excellent Coffee Review takes on Rainforest Alliance coffees for its September reviews. Please go read his concise and insightful introduction to the reviews. He provides a good overview of the RA program and how it differs from Fair…
Green coffee and home roasting supplier Sweet Maria’s has formalized their direct trade buying program, calling it Farm Gate Coffee. Farm Gate prices are at least 50% (but often 100% or more) over Fair Trade prices. Their latest newsletter (PDF…
Rainforest Alliance will be adding a carbon module to their certification for coffee farms (presumably other crops they certify). They are also looking for further incentives to encourage farmers to plant more trees, including developing a system that would allow coffee companies to buy carbon from farmers along with their coffee beans.
Certified coffees (organic, Fair Trade, Bird-Friendly, Rainforest Alliance, Utz, and Starbucks C.A.F.E. Practices) make up only about 4% of world green coffee exports, or about 220,000 metric tons. The U.S. is a major importer of various types of certified coffee, which make up nearly 8% of green bean imports. Let’s take a quick look at the market share and growth of the three certification labels that focus largely on ecological standards: organic, Rainforest Alliance, and Bird-Friendly.
Counter Culture Coffee recently launched its Direct Trade program. It is a natural progression from their Source project, and is a robust example of similar models employed by other roasters, most notably Intelligentsia. Counter Culture is a pioneer, however, in…
A Problem Judging by the enormous market shares of the Big Four corporate coffee multinationals, a lot of people don’t mind drinking lousy tasting coffee. However, plenty of people won’t do it. But more imporantly, if it doesn’t taste better,…
Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center (SMBC) recently certified its first Bird-Friendly coffee outside of Latin America: Anfilo Specialty Coffee Enterprise in Ethiopia.
After visiting some coffee farms in Panama’s western highlands, I have some thoughts regarding shade certification programs.
One trip to one part of one county’s coffee growing region is limited information to work with. Nonetheless, my recent visit to the western highlands of Panama was an eye-opener, replacing a mental image based on a great deal of…
A roaster claiming to sell Bird-Friendly coffee when it is not serves as a reminder that if you are unsure about the certification claims, you should check with the certifier
A recent article notes that more producers in central Kenya are turning to organic coffee in order to take advantage of price premiums. This is welcome news, as over the last 15 years or so, Kenya has been one of…
This blog focuses on sustainable coffee specifically as it pertains to the environment. I’ve written some about Fair Trade, because there is a connection between poverty and environmental degradation. But Fair Trade is complex, and the issues surrounding Fair Trade…
There’s a nice article in the New York Times today describing the specialty coffee industry and the workings and benefits of direct trade. The title, “To Burundi and Beyond for Coffee’s Holy Grail,” sort of misses the point, but it…
One of C&C’s favorite roasters, Caffe Pronto in Maryland, has just received Bird-Friendly certification from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. Most people associate the SMBC certification with farms, but roasters may also participate. Obviously, they need to sell SMBC certified…
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