Fair trade greens?

[NewToEspresso]

Just wondering if there will be any fair trade grrens coming to beanbay anytime soon? The Bolivia Caranavi Organic Fair trade was a great bean.

[Andy]

Re: Fair trade greens?

The Bolivia Caranavi Organic Fairtrade was a great bean but not because it was Fairtrade. We had to scrounge through a lot of bad coffee to find that one!

If we find great coffee we source and sell it regardless of its certification (RFA, Fairtrade, Organic, Smithsonian, Pigmy friendly) and in fact often we will sell it without mentioning the certification as I dont want it to be a sales tactic. (except for Pigmy coffee... I would tell the world about that one)

[fatboy_1999]

Re: Fair trade greens?

I remember the last batch of Pigmy coffee.

You could only secure a small lot.
It was a little bitter.
Best suited to a short black.
Tiny defects in the beans.


Ill stop now.

[Mono]

Re: Fair trade greens?

Ill stop now.

Yes please ;D ;D

[NewToEspresso]

Re: Fair trade greens?

Tried to look on the net for fair trade greens in Aus but they are darn hard to find. Maybe Im not looking in the right place. Anyone know where I might be able to source decent Fair Trade greens? Melbourne preferred but willing to get them interstate if theyre not available in Melb.

[Thundergod]

Re: Fair trade greens?

The Bolivia Caranavi Organic Fairtrade was a great bean but not because it was Fairtrade.

Why do they have to be Fairtrade?
Buy from Coffee Snobs and some of the price goes to Faircrack.

[barrel]

Re: Fair trade greens?

Absolutely! and Faircrack is transparent too, unlike certified coffees, you actually get to see that your money is making a difference where it counts.

[bassway]

FAIRTRADE coffee discussion.... Again!

Tried to look on the net for fair trade greens in Aus but they are darn hard to find. Maybe Im not looking in the right place. Anyone know where I might be able to source decent Fair Trade greens? Melbourne preferred but willing to get them interstate if theyre not available in Melb.

Again, why Fair Trade? Are you feeling guilty or something? ;D
Or is there a need?

PMed you.

[Barry_Duncan]

Re: FAIRTRADE coffee discussion.... Again!

I don’t know about Melbourne sources. I have bought some fairtrade East Timor and Salawesi (Indonesia) greens from Di Bartoli here in Sunny Sydney.

See them amongst the Site Sponsors in the left column.

They are both good coffees.

I agree with others that faircrack is possibly of greater benefit to some coffee growers than fairtrade.  

I know people who buy roasted fairtrade and feel good about it, possibly unaware that most of what they pay goes to the importer, roaster and our government as GST.

There is no GST on greens.

I am aware of cooperatives marketing East Timor and Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee in a way claimed to give a fair return to the growers.

I am looking forward to the next BeenBay.

Barry

[A_M]

Re: FAIRTRADE coffee discussion.... Again!

Tried to look on the net for fair trade greens in Aus but they are darn hard to find. Maybe Im not looking in the right place. Anyone know where I might be able to source decent Fair Trade greens? Melbourne preferred but willing to get them interstate if theyre not available in Melb.

AND

Absolutely! and Faircrack is transparent too, unlike certified coffees, you actually get to see that your money is making a difference where it counts.

YEP..

Total raised so far: $42,618.70
Total donated: $13,627.21


Current FairCrack balance: $28,991.49



July 2010
This donation has purchased two more pulpers for the Southern Kilimanjaro villages and some raised drying beds. We wish the farmers well in their new coffee processing journey
Click here for more details
$5,631.34

May 2009
Following on from the initial success of the first project on the southern Kilimanjaro slopes we have replicated the project so that two new mountain villages will benefit from the installation of two new central pulperies.

$4,759.20
September 2008
Purchase two coffee pulpers for communal use by the small holder farmers on the southern slopes of Kilimanjaro. We hope this will improve their coffee quality and their market price for many years to come.

$3,236.67
May 2007
The birth of FairCrack happened in the following thread. In future we will show the chosen projects below.

[ccc2]

Re: FAIRTRADE coffee discussion.... Again!

FAIRTRADE beans require appropriate certification with FLANZ (the Australian/NZ FT Licensing body).

Once certified, you receive a FLO ID from FLANZ to allow you to purchase them from a broker and as part of retaining your certification, you need to provide quarter stock inwards and outwards reporting, with fees applied to product that you sell in that reporting period (this is about to change in coming months).

This of course applies to roasters and retailers.

Availability of FAIRTRADE green in Australia is somewhat constrained and beans you may get today may not be available in 1-3 months time.

As for those that believe roasters are profiting from FT sales - dont make that mistake by jumping to conclusions without having experienced the the business fundamentals of running a FT offer for customers.

This is not a negative bias against FT, but simply an attempt to make people aware that quite a few roasters choose not to participate in FT for this very reason.

[bassway]

Re: FAIRTRADE coffee discussion.... Again!

FAIRTRADE beans require appropriate certification with FLANZ (the Australian/NZ FT Licensing body).

Once certified, you receive a FLO ID from FLANZ to allow you to purchase them from a broker and as part of retaining your certification, you need to provide quarter stock inwards and outwards reporting, with fees applied to product that you sell in that reporting period (this is about to change in coming months).

This of course applies to roasters and retailers.

Availability of FAIRTRADE green in Australia is somewhat constrained and beans you may get today may not be available in 1-3 months time.

As for those that believe roasters are profiting from FT sales - dont make that mistake by jumping to conclusions without having experienced the the business fundamentals of running a FT offer for customers.

This is not a negative bias against FT, but simply an attempt to make people aware that quite a few roasters choose not to participate in FT for this very reason.

Another good and accurate post by ccc2

It doesnt even stop there.
Fair trade also require certain wording and the term fair trade has to be written as "FAIRTRADE".
For example on the back of a coffee bag the following has to be written:
"The FAIRTRADE Label on this product is your independent guarantee that this XXXXXXXXX coffee meets international Fairtrade standards.
FLO I.D. XXXXXX"

The front artwork label on the bag also has to be approved by FLANZ if you are using the fair trade label.

As ccc2 said the additional paperwork, auditing, differing labels etc, makes delivering a fairtrade product to the public more difficult.

Wether you take this as something against FT or as an understanding that FT use this to keep everything above board/to a standard and to distribute the cost/work along the supply chain to do this, is up to you.

[opinion]
The way the FT system is setup is prohibitive to high quality coffee. This is why I suspect it is looks upon so poorly here. Reports and studies have shown that FT does have an effect on the ground. One could/would argue that high quality coffee can also return a high price to the farmer/producer and that less gets lost in administration and marketing costs.
Given that I think that if you dont care about quality or cannot taste the difference FT has a good case and you at least think about buying it.
FT does have its place.
[/opinion]

[crazyhakins]

Re: FAIRTRADE coffee discussion.... Again!

You could try mod edit non sponsor link removed I have had contact and they are looking to step up their green bean sales, so send them an email.

My opinion on FairTrade is this:
We have to remember who buys most of the worlds green beans, cause it isnt coffee snobs members. Its massive corporations who are trying to buy their products at rock bottom prices to maximise profits. Its companies who will bully farmers and growers to get what they want, regardless of how it affects the farmer. Fairtrade is an effort to regulate bean prices so that farmers arent getting ripped. I agree that roasters and cafe owners wanting premium beans probably wont buy through the fairtrade market, because they want beans sourced direct that are the best. And like anything, you have to pay good money to get the best, so rather than find the cheapest beans they can buy for next to nothing, theyre trying to buy the best, and are willing to pay what theyre worth.
I still think Fairtrade is great, because it is doing SOMETHING for the farmers. Im sure it isnt perfect, but what system is?

[TC]

Re: FAIRTRADE coffee discussion.... Again!

I still think Fairtrade is great, because it is doing SOMETHING for the farmers. Im sure it isnt perfect, but what system is?

FairCrack is pretty much perfect as the funds go where they are needed, not on lunches, company cars and holidays fact finding missions for fat cats.

[beanflying]

Re: FAIRTRADE coffee discussion.... Again!

Fairtrade is an effort to regulate bean prices

WRONG fairtrade is a way to regulate a price structure to benifit the international trade and tell farmers what to do at their cost.it is pure and simply a marketing entity maskarading as a psuedo charity/welfare group to make us more wealthy coffee drinkers feel better.

It is a load of corporate B$llstuff

Good beans are good beans regardless of FT, RA or IMA wally certified