As if all the organic, fair trade, and shade grown coffee programs — not to mention all the company-specific initiatives — aren’t enough, now we’ve got the Common Code for the Coffee Community — aka 4C.

4C’s a mainly Europe-based association that got together Dec. 1 to come up with its own set of guidelines.

If you want a sense of how un-serious this initiative is, you have to look no further than Nestle’s full-on love fest all over it. That’s right — the most-boycotted company in the world has now found an “ethical” coffee standard to fit its needs.

As you can imagine, none of the serious fair trade and organic companies are buying into it. Naturland, which promotes organic agriculture, and gepa, the major European fair trade org, is already calling bullshit. As is Equal Exchange, etc. etc.

The Economic Times (PDF) reports that “this could be more in the interest of roasters and retailers in the European and North American markets and less suited for the coffee-growing community.” Noah of Fair Trade Coffee in Peru calls it “a supreme example of Orwellian double-talk.” Kenyan coffee farmers are already worried (PDF) that 4C’s way too expensive for coffee growers to implement.

Naturland says (PDF) coffee farmers “are to commit themselves to complying with certain standards in coffee production, but in return receive neither a guarantee that the coffee corporations will purchase as much of their coffee as possible, nor are they paid a higher price for their efforts.”

Let me encourage you to ignore this 4C crap and just stick to organic, fair trade coffee from companies with the ethical vision you share.

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