So my partner-in-crime City Hippy, the UK branch of the Starbucks Challenge, asked if Starbucks’ claim that ALL their coffee is “fairly traded” should be “allowed.” I responded in what I think is my longest blog comment ever, but still wanna dig deeper into it here.

Yes, Starbucks insists all their coffee is “fairly traded” — a rather misleading claim, because consumers are apt to think that the coffee was bought at prices set by fair trade certification rules, which is at least $1.26/lb.

Most of Starbucks’ coffee is bought for less.

To their credit, Starbucks does pay higher than average prices for coffee — an average of $1.20/lb, according to their website. This is, at times, more than double the going price for some coffee — but then that’s not saying much, considering the bulk of this coffee is the gross tasting stuff bought by the real meanies like Nestle and P&G at slave labor prices.

So you might feel like telling Starbucks not to water down fair trade with these “fairly traded” claims.

But here’s where the phrase gets a new twist. There are actually quite a few coffee companies out there who’ve gone above and beyond the fair trade certification regulations — but have chosen NOT to get certified.

Now these are coffee companies that are just as concerned about social and economic justice and environmental concerns as the bottom line. Many wouldn’t even be in the coffee biz if it didn’t mean they were making the world better through their enterprise. These companies buy ALL their coffee at, or more often, well above, $1.26/lb. They work within the producer countries. They make all their financial documents avaliable online, so that, if you wanted, you could do your own personal audit to know that they’re walking the walk as well as talking the talk.

Now no one really can deny that Larry’s Beans‘ coffee, for example, is fairly traded, certification or not.

Why do they not get certified? Well, some coffee can’t get certified, period. For coffee, the fair trade sticker’s only avaliable for small co-ops, meainng neither individual farms nor larger estates can get certified (Why not? Find out here.).

There are other issues too. Some coffee companies feel that the certification process needs to include quality in their criterion. While I disagree with this, there does seem to be a glut of sub-gourmet-level beans compared to the amount of yummy beans in the fair trade certified market right now — A real problem, if you consider that most fair trade certified coffee is bought by bougie coffee-lovin’ people — who have green hearts, but have tastebuds too.

Others feel the cost of certification — between 5 to 10 cents a pound — isn’t worth it — especially when that extra money could go back to the farmers.

And the real farmer advocates — like Dean’s Beans — are ticked that companies like Starbucks that seem to care more about the bottom line than about equity and justice can get the same sticker as they can. Like the anti-chain coffee drinkers that shun all Starbucks coffees on principle, Larry’s Beans and others don’t want their coffees wearing any sticker Starbucks — or even worse, Nestle — is wearing.

Now I’m still all for the sticker — and I don’t agree with all the above arguments (I’ve talked about quality issues before; I’ll talk about certification cost and sticker sharing later). But some of these non-certified companies — who, by the way, will use the phrase “fairly traded” or even “fair trade” (sans “certified”) to describe their coffee beans — really are trading fairly and making the world a better place.

Which sorta brings me to an impasse about the use of the phrase “fairly traded.” The problem is, the phrase can be used by anyone, to mean pretty much anything. And some who use it are saintly (Larry’s Beans), others, quite evil (Nestle)…

This and more to be addressed over the weekend and beyond — armed with an interview with Thom of the all-organic, all-fair-trade-certified Monkey & Son, and a detailed email from Cindy of Starbucks with the real skinny on what the company manuals say regarding fair trade coffee.

Filed in: starbuckschallenge trade business cityhippy coffee corporate csr fairtrade losangeles starbucks

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