A resource for Los Angeles peeps looking for fair trade coffee to buy at a nearby store and brew at home.

I’ll update this as I go, but please feel free to suggest additions I’ve left out. Hopefully it’ll help you find some new local options for fair trade coffee.

I’ll do a round-up of places to get fair trade certified coffee on-the-go soon too. Update: Here’s that list.

Independents
Romancing the Bean (Burbank). They get their coffee from Volcanic Red. The organic beans are fair trade certified.

Surfas (Culver City). Get Monkey & Son coffee, wholebean. All fair trade certified, all organic.

The Conservatory for Coffee, Tea & Cocoa. (Culver City) This cute lil local shop roasts its own beans, in store. Many of its blends are fair trade.

Artisan’s Exchange (Claremont). In addition to Peace Coffee and Monkey & Son coffee, this small gift shop features fair trade imports, art from the local community, and socially responsible products made in the United States. 242-B West Foothill Blvd. Claremont. 909.626.6772.

The Coffee Cellar. Inside Mama’s Hot Tamales Cafe. 2124 W. 7th St. @ Alvarado. Mo - Su 9:30 am to 3:30 pm. I haven’t visited this cafe yet, but The Coffee Cellar specializes in triple-certified coffee — organic, fair trade and shade grown. By preordering, you can also get their coffee at the Bicycle Kitchen on Tuesdays and the LA Ecovillage on Sunday evenings. Plus, The Coffee Cellar’s at the Silverlake Farmers’ Market @ Sunset Junction on Saturdays from 8 am - 1 pm.

Co-Opportunity. (Santa Monica) This member-owned co-op offers fair trade coffee from Cafe Altura, Equal Exchange, and Green Mountain Coffee — along with fair trade cocoa and sugar!

Ten Thousand Villages Pasadena. Choose from a nice selection of fair trade coffee from a variety of fair trade coffee roasters at this fair trade shop.

El Pueblo Folk Art & Specialty Gifts. 50 N. Raymond Ave. Pasadena. This nonprofit store in Old Town Pasadena reportedly carries Equal Exchange’s fair trade coffee and tea, along with some other fair trade items.

Chains
TJ Maxx. This clothing store’s gotten into coffee, which is a bit of an odd juxtapostion. Luckily, the coffee’s all organic and fair trade.

Marshalls. This clothing store’s gotten into coffee, which is a bit of an odd juxtapostion. Luckily, the coffee’s all organic and fair trade.

Java City. We have 1 location in the Wells Fargo building downtown :)

Trader Joe’s. Last count, they had 5 different fair trade certified options available at v. reasonable prices — Including a fair trade decaf blend! Most are also organic and shade grown.

Cost Plus World Market. You can get World Market’s own fair trade certified World Village Coffee.

Wild Oats. In addition to v. yummy fair trade chocolates, Wild Oats carries lots of fair trade certified Green Mountain coffees.

Whole Foods. Sadly, Whole Foods is trying to sell their own NOT fair trade certified Progresso coffee. They do, however, carry a few other smaller brands of fair trade certified coffees.

Peets. Lloyd of The Year of the Coffee Blog will vouch for their Fair Trade Blend :)

Big bad chains
Starbucks. The mermaid has 1 fair trade certified blend, called Cafe Estima. If you’re down to your last option, get that for your fair trade fix.

Borders. This is sorta like Starbucks too, cuz the mermaid owns Seattle’s Best, which the Borders in LA are slowly converting to. Make sure you go for the organic fair trade blends (green packaging).

Lastly — Costco (roasted by Starbucks), Ralphs, Target, and Walmart (and prolly some of the other major supermarkets) do offer a few token fair trade certified stuff. But why go there when you can go elsewhere?

[pic by Audreyjay]

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