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A Feature on Fair Trade in Ethiopia
Fair trade coffee in Ethiopia?
By Louise Williams
11-01-2008
Fair trade claims to guarantee a better deal for third world producers. But are producers really getting such a good deal? Louise Williams has been to southern Ethiopia to find out what benefits fair trade is bringing coffee producers. more…
There is an accompanying sound clip that gives some insight from our friends at Stumptown Coffee in Portland.
Chat Nights with Texas Coffee People Proudly Presents: Cole Arendt
In addition to our normally scheduled 7:30pm Tuesday evening chat sessions, we will, from time to time, feature a coffee industry professional as a solitary guest “discussion panel”.
Aaron Blanco has arranged for the first of these special presentations to occure on Dec. 12th, 7:30pm sharp.
The discussion will begin promptly at 7:30pm CST, and will end precisely one hour later.
Our first Celebrity Guest Speaker will be:
______________________________
Cole Arendt
of
New Guinea Traders LLC.
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If you have not already done so, please Register on the Texas Coffee People Forums beforehand if you intend to join in the discussion. If you have already registered, we would appreciate it if you would log in so that your username is visible throughout the duration of your visit.
If you would like to discuss any specific questions or topics with Mr. Arendt, you may send them to Aaron Blanco, who will be moderating the Discussion. You may reach him at: aaron[at]browncoffeeco.com or by clicking his name above(must be logged into the forums).
This Chat session is open to anyone and everyone interested in participating.
Again, the session is featuring a discussion with Cole Arendt, moderated by Aaron Blanco at 7:30pm sharp(cst) and will last for precisely one hour. We hope to see you there!
The Chat Room is open 24/7, though not always populated, and can be found by Clicking Here.
Browsing
I was at the library yesterday. With two small children, I go often; but yesterday was a special treat. My wife and I decided to skip past the local branch library in favor of San Antonio’s Central Library, the one that was designed by some famous guy from Mexico and that looks, well, like it was designed by some guy from Mexico.
Anyways, one of the (obviously) nice things about large libraries is the sheer volume of books to peruse. Sometimes I get lost in the sea of print, never quite finding on the way out what I went in there for. So I was pleased to stumble serendipitously on two coffee books that many here may or may not have seen.
The first is Coffee, A Dark History, by Antony Wild. [FYI, I usually link to Amazon's site since it often lets you browse a few pages online.] With the compulsory overview of the history of coffee (i.e., Kaldi’s goats, smuggling coffee into new lands, etc.) it is a non-standoutish. But, as the title suggests, Mr. Wild does dabble in some of the, ah, seedier and seamier underbellies of the trade. Some chapters deal with slavery and coffee, hierarchical systems that sprung up around the coffee trade, and of course there is the seemingly obligatory chapter on so-called “Fair Trade.”
The other book I picked up is more of a geographical survey and is entitled, The Birth Of Coffee, by Daniel and Linda Lorenzetti. With some amazing photographs covering every major coffee growing country in the world, this book reads more like a collection of travel essays, the kind that allows the reader to pick up rich resources of information about the coffee world without feeling like one is reading a dry dissertation. Thoughtful and romantic, this book is a beautiful compendium and should at least be browsed if not checked out at your local central library…if not bought outright. I’m happy to have found two such books to keep me occupied for a while. 
Honesty of origin and a “fourth wave”
I was doing a little hunting around the web, and came across this little article.
I found it to be an interesting way of looking at things. I also found it sort of offensive in his definition of the 4th wave (to see why, click here)
Let’s talk about estate coffees & the fourth wave!
By Baccellieri, Michael
Publication: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal
Date: Dec 2006
Subject: Coffee industry (Industry forecasts), Coffee industry (Logistics)
Location: United States
It seems that in various trade journals and newspapers there is a big deal being made about estate coffees and the “third wave” coffee movement. However, what exactly is an estate, and why do producers and roasters tout their product as “estate” coffee? Michael Baccellieri of the 25-year-old specialty coffee roaster, Longbottom Coffee and Tea, sounds off!
More..
Interesting way to put it.
Honesty of origin and a “fourth wave”
I was doing a little hunting around the web, and came across this little article.
I found it to be an interesting way of looking at things. I also found it sort of offensive in his definition of the 4th wave (to see why, click here)
Let’s talk about estate coffees & the fourth wave!
By Baccellieri, Michael
Publication: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal
Date: Dec 2006
Subject: Coffee industry (Industry forecasts), Coffee industry (Logistics)
Location: United States
It seems that in various trade journals and newspapers there is a big deal being made about estate coffees and the “third wave” coffee movement. However, what exactly is an estate, and why do producers and roasters tout their product as “estate” coffee? Michael Baccellieri of the 25-year-old specialty coffee roaster, Longbottom Coffee and Tea, sounds off!
More..
Interesting way to put it.
Honesty of origin and a “fourth wave”
I was doing a little hunting around the web, and came across this little article.
I found it to be an interesting way of looking at things. I also found it sort of offensive in his definition of the 4th wave (to see why, click here)
Let’s talk about estate coffees & the fourth wave!
By Baccellieri, Michael
Publication: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal
Date: Dec 2006
Subject: Coffee industry (Industry forecasts), Coffee industry (Logistics)
Location: United States
It seems that in various trade journals and newspapers there is a big deal being made about estate coffees and the “third wave” coffee movement. However, what exactly is an estate, and why do producers and roasters tout their product as “estate” coffee? Michael Baccellieri of the 25-year-old specialty coffee roaster, Longbottom Coffee and Tea, sounds off!
More..
Interesting way to put it.
Honesty of origin and a “fourth wave”
I was doing a little hunting around the web, and came across this little article.
I found it to be an interesting way of looking at things. I also found it sort of offensive in his definition of the 4th wave (to see why, click here)
Let’s talk about estate coffees & the fourth wave!
By Baccellieri, Michael
Publication: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal
Date: Dec 2006
Subject: Coffee industry (Industry forecasts), Coffee industry (Logistics)
Location: United States
It seems that in various trade journals and newspapers there is a big deal being made about estate coffees and the “third wave” coffee movement. However, what exactly is an estate, and why do producers and roasters tout their product as “estate” coffee? Michael Baccellieri of the 25-year-old specialty coffee roaster, Longbottom Coffee and Tea, sounds off!
More..
Interesting way to put it.
Indirectly
Hi Aaron. Welcome back from Guatemala. i know. i’m sorry i’ve been a flake since my return from guatemala and my visit with edwin at his family’s finca vista hermosa. in my defense, i haven’t been doing much blogging on any of my sites since returning. maybe that’s a sign of increased business keeping me away from the monitor. or maybe i’m just lazy.
at any rate, i wanted to toss a topic into the texas realm that are on my plate of late. it’s a little “discussion” going on over at coffeed over this so called phenomenon of “Direct Trade.” if you’re not familiar with the basic arguments of it, swing over here first for a primer. now, don’t get me wrong, i am a huge proponent of the concept of purchasing coffee as close to the source as possible, as i clearly stated in my posts in the first linked discussion. but i have a couple of issues that stick a bit in my craw. (i can use that term in a texas blogpost, right?)
first is the notion of trademarking the term “direct trade” as has been done by a certain specialty coffee roaster a bit north of us all here in texas. what’s up with that? does anyone hope to profit from that name? or if not, does anyone believe that by trademarking it the name will somehow help coffee producers in any way, shape or form? i don’t get the point of trademarking a name just to be the ones with the rights to it if there is really no inherent benefit to it from a cup quality standpoint. maybe it’s just money.
second, there’s the idea of transparency that comes hand in glove with this phenomenon. while some of the companies that are doing a lot of direct work with coffee farmers are doing phenomenal work in the area of giving out tons of great stories and information that is both romantic and educational, there are, as i have tried to point out in my coffeed posts, some gaps in the record, if you will that need more clarification than the leading d.t. proponents seem willing to share with the general buying public. the strategy seems to be one of writing up so much information that some of the key pieces that should be baldly clear get–in my opinion–conspicuously lost in the shuffle.
here’s the great example. i began to inquire about a segment of d.t. that needs some clarification because i couldn’t find any real information perusing the websites of two (and the other, here) of the industry’s stalwarts in the d.t. area. (for the record, both are organizations i respect greatly.) the subject has to do with marketing and creating names for blends of coffees a roaster/retailer carries. the topic first came up while i was in guatemala at the dinner table, where a couple was in an animated discussion with jaime about what they were calling a “mark of origin.” i sat down with my plate and started to listen to these groups discuss how one of these companies above had created a fictitious name for a coffee they were selling that was actually a blend of many different coffees from around a particular country. no big deal, right? well, the issue was that the marketing behind the coffee (they had a t-shirt made up for it and lots of webinfo) made it appear, at least to the people at the table, that the company was marketing a coffee from what looked like a single farm, or at the very least, from a single co-op. there was nothing anywhere on the packaging and labeling of the coffee that indicated that this bag was indeed comprised of coffees from over three dozen farms scattered across a country the size of, well, colombia. we had some long discussions about it that evening; voices were raised on both sides about a company’s right to do what they please with their products; about deceptive marketing practices; about how it’s cool to perhaps not label the bags as a blend for space’s sake but that why in the ocean of information that can be put on the website was the fact that this was a blend not mentioned online and how in fact the word “blend” didn’t even appear anywhere in the info pages for this coffee. and so forth.
so, being ever the instigator i am, i decided to bring it up on coffeed. why do we find very little if any indication that this coffee is actually a blend? what is the idea behind a fictitiously fabricated name for a blend of coffees known as a “mark of origin” (which the two companies above prefer to call “I-marks” and “Roaster’s Marks,” respectively)? why create a fake name? why not say it’s a blend? how does this square with the idea of transparency? aren’t we risking obfuscating instead of educating the masses? is it really that hard to identify these coffees differently that honestly captures what is happening but that is still done in a marketable way? and what of the farmers who toiled hard on these coffees (and were,to be sure, compensated well for their labors), only to have them slip behind the anonymity of a false name created by the roaster just to sell more coffee? didn’t that fly in the face of the whole direct trade ethos?
these were questions i floated to the forum and got many lengthy and educational responses in return about the history of the roaster’s mark, the greatness of all the web information about how these companies went to this country to get coffee, how so many other names we label our coffees are also not precise (as though this were some justification), why it’s not evil and the like. what i didn’t get was a direct answer on why it was necessary to create a fake name when we’re trying to be precise and direct. why is a fake name, not an imprecise or outdated name, mind you, but a fake, fabricated name, created by a wealthy north american company to sell more coffee from a not wealthy group of latin american farmers, is necessary and beneficial to any of the farmers under whose banner they reside.
part of the response was that there is some recognition for the farmers who provide exceptional coffees to the group by getting “micro lot” status under the roaster’s mark. but i think from a theoretical perspective this is an even worse and insensitive offense to these hard working farmers, who are struggling to break the cycle of anonymity that keeps coffee prices low and ensures the greatest profits go to the retailers. to create a false name, let’s say it’s called, “Perro Grande,” under which you gather all these coffees, then decide to “honor” one of the best of the blend by giving that farmer “Perro Grande Especial” status is gratuitous at best and seems to me to smack of slapping a north american band-aid (the one where we think money solves everything) on a latin american problem (the one where they know that getting name recognition for themselves solves everything). the farmer’s name is not Perro Grande. his farm is not called Perro Grande, nor is his co-op, dry mill, coyote’s business, the exporter’s, the shipyard or anything at all. IT’S A FAKE NAME WITH NO CONNECTION TO THE PEOPLE OR THE COFFEE! it’s like being called the juan valdez of el salvador or something. he doesn’t even exist! so then what? the whole world buys this Perro Grande coffee and the farmers (including the micro lot farmer) gets what? recognition that will bring more buyers bidding with higher prices to his door? even if you mention his name and his farm’s name, he will now forever be associated with Perro Grande, which in turn will ever be associated with the company that created this marketing phenomenon, ensuring the farmers will ever be in the thrall of…the sole company that decided to trade directly with him in the first place.
so i’ve preached a seriously long missive that risks me sounding like i hate the direct trade concept and two of the companies i respect who practice it well. but i wanted to get that out there and off my chest and i’m hoping we can spark some discussion here on txcp.
i guess the only thing that really got me, after reviewing all the posts that have been posted so far is that no one really defending their practices bothered to acknowledge what i was saying about labeling it fairly as a blend or that they perhaps could have some culpability for creating confusion among the buying public. they mostly just wanted to share with everyone how much they were doing and not back down. but that’s okay. it’s been informative, at least.
LET ME ALSO SAY FOR THE RECORD that brown is not perfect and does not practice direct trade enough (yet) or have all its so called ducks in a row with regards to imprecise labeling designations…i still use size grades like “AA” and people groups (not actual geographic indicators) such as “Mandheling.” but i think it’s still worthy of discussion.
super long post. i’m done. discuss, texas.
Intelligentsia trip to Nicaragua video
No, it’s not TX related, but it seems to be a bit undiscovered yet, so I thought I’d show it first to the TXCP readers. As the “owner” of the YouTube Coffee and Espresso group, how could I not?
I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eraEhQoV9g8]
huehue to go
so in just another day i’ll be off to guatemala and the highlands of huehuetenango for two weeks to visit edwin martinez’ finca vista hermosa. not to brag or anything, but it is going to be one slammin’ trip. some of you may remember edwin from our november barista jam at ruta maya here in san antonio. edwin has become more than a professional colleague. i feel privileged to call him a friend and i have immense respect for the things he and his family are doing with coffee of course, but also in being an amazing part of their community. edwin says that while it’s not uncommon for many coffee plantations in their area to have to search for labor during the critical harvest season (going on now in guatemala), at fvh they have workers lining up to help. why? basically, because they care.
now, you can talk all you want about fair trade this and certified that; but when you’re doing the stuff–really doing good and right by your workers as they are at fvh–then you don’t need some third party bureacracy to stamp a label on your coffee just so americans can feel good about themselves. edwin, his family and all the workers who are associated with fvh have had a great thing going down there for three generations and i cannot wait to experience it firsthand and to pay my respects and say thank you to the people who surely spend blood, sweat and tears to care for the coffee they produce. our trip will be all about learning as much as we, the last people in the coffee chain, can about the first people in the coffee chain.
i will be doing my best to blog regularly about the trip here and/or at my other coffee blog.
when i return there will definitely be plenty of things to share with you about some projects and experiments we began and conducted there. very, very cool stuff that’s out there on the bleeding edge of the specialty super-premium coffee movement. won’t get into it all here and now, but some of the stuff the projects include are: freezers, g.p.s. equipment, tons of hiking, tons of note taking, at least one article (hopefully two) in one or another of our beloved trade zines and tons and tons of pictures.
i’m humbled and honored to have such a great opportunity, and i’m hyper proud to plant the proverbial texas flag in the midst of all this hoopla. i don’t consider myself to be anything special in all of this. i’m just glad to have the chance to be there and i hope this will be another small stone in the coffee edifice we’re building here in the lone star state.
and oh yeah, i want to put out there before i go that i’ve really been thinking long and often about the next texas barista jam. something magnanimous. something difficult and challenging and inspiring. something never before seen in texas. i’m thinking late march or early april. who’s down?
catch y’all soon.
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