The day of Oxfam-USC’s inaugural event, I wandered around campus carrying a large coffee maker for said event, asking random people if they knew where Doheny Tea House — which is supposed to carry Peet’s fair trade coffee — was located. The mention on this USC webpage makes it seem like the place is open for business, but no one, not even the work-study students in the Doheny library, had heard of such a thing. One guy directed me to the second floor — where I found a coffee vending machine.

Turns out, the Tea House is scheduled to open Oct. 3, in conjunction with Parent’s Weekend. This I found out from Lore Oehmichen, senior manager at USC’s Hospitality Services whom I first mentioned here, after leaving her a message about getting more fair trade coffee on campus.

Lore’s been super busy, evidently. Tutor Hall Cyber Cafe and the Law School Cafe both opened or reopened this semester and efforts to open Doheny Tea House are in full swing. “It’s unprecedented,” Lore said, sounding a little tired.

These three new outlets all offer Peet’s Fair Trade Blend. Considering the fact that almost all the existing outlets serve Starbucks coffee, it looks like Hospitality Services is hip to the rising demand for fair trade products. Combined with the student-run Ground Zero Coffeehouse, which serves ONLY fair trade coffee, Trojans now have 4 options for socio-eco-friendly java.

Still, what about all the Starbucks coffee on campus? According to this Common Dreams article, Starbucks said it would allow colleges to switch to fair trade at no price premium, I told Lore. She sounded amenable to the idea, but is understandably overworked at the moment. A big switch like that, she said, would require some work and coordination: tastings to make sure the fair trade coffee is up to par, and announcements to let the student body know that the switch is taking place, in case anyone has complaints against it.

Fair enough. We’re gonna get back in touch mid-October, after Doheny Tea House’s grand opening, at which time a tasting will be arranged: “Trojan Grounds would be the best place for the tasting, don’t you think?” Lore said.

In the meantime, Lore’s gonna give her Starbucks rep a heads up about the possible (impending?) switch. Hopefully, they’ll be as helpful as Lore was. Of course, I still haven’t heard back from Starbucks myself — Ben J. of Starbucks last emailed me on Sept. 4, saying he’ll put me in touch with a district manager ASAP. I’ve been waiting over 2 weeks now…

fair trade, coffee

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