Coffee Lovers - screw the multinationals. Here's how

[Neecy]

This is a long post, but it's time to strike back.

While Bush* talks about spreadin' freedom, huge American multinational corporations are spreadin' poverty throughout much of the third world - specifically, in coffee-producing nations.

OXFAM estimates that companies such as General Foods have driven world coffee prices so low that it now costs already impoverished farmers more to produce their crops than they earn from them. Child labor is not uncommon, while the profits these companies make from coffee production is HUGE - often as high as 300%. Meanwhile, much of the canned coffee on the market today is produced in Vietnam, using extremely low-grade, highly caffeinated beans that sell for thirty cents a pound or lower on the world market. They're screwing everyone - the producers *and* the consumers.

Here's how to fight back, and stop feeding the greed machine.

Get a home coffee roasting appliance - they're available for under a hundred bucks (I got mine at sweetmarias.com). They're incredibly easy to use - set the roast darkness level you want, push a button, and in a few minutes you'll have enough roasted coffee for one to two 12 cup pots, depending on what you get (and the smell of roasting coffee is, well, pretty great). On the internet, you can buy Fair Trade or co-op grown green coffee beans, where the farmers make a living wage and you STILL pay less per pound than a can of Folger's will cost you. I belong to a green coffee co-op (greencoffeeco-op.com) where I can buy co-op grown green coffee beans wholesale for under $2.00 a pound - and it's like no coffee you've ever tasted. Just amazing. Forget the canned crap, or the overpriced and overroasted Starbucks garbage. Try a Guatemalan Monte Maria, which is smooth, rich, and has a pure cocoa finish, or a Kenyan AA that has high berry notes throughout the cup. Or a Uganda Bugisu that has a huge milk chocolate taste. All micro-roasted yourself, in your kitchen, without the help of General Foods or Kraft, and for far less than you're paying for that thiry-cent per pound Vietnamese coffee.

Don't give these pirates your money. Do it yourself, and stop supporting their sharecropping greed and the child labor that goes into every cup of their coffee. I refuse to feed the machine any longer.

[chelsea0011]

1. I may take your suggestions. I love coffee and have been buying

fair trade when possible, but have had in the back of my mind roasting my own.

[Willy Lee]

18. Another suggestion- buy from a local roaster

I am a coffee roaster of specialty coffee. While 95+% of my coffee is fair trade/organic I guarantee you that ALL of my coffee provides coffee farmers with a living wage. It is very true, and very sad, that the big coffee corporations- including Sarah Lee, Folgers, etc, pay pennies per pound for low grade coffee and sell it at a huge markup in the US. The US govt has consistently refused to adopt legislation barring the sale of this low quality "triage" coffee. Specialty coffee, on the other hand, is priced based on taste and quality. I would venture to say that any specialty coffee roaster in your home town is not a part of this problem. They are part of the solution.

If you do decide to roast your own- enjoy! It is quite easy. Feel free to drop me a line if you want any tips.

[Neecy]

19. good point

I still buy coffee from a small local roaster, mainly because she's a big supporter of CoffeeKids and all of her stuff is FT (and it's very good). You're quite right that the commercial local roasters have a very good track record when it comes to supporting a fair return for the growers - after all, if they fail, all that's left is that nasty low-grade stuff pushed on us by General Foods.

Thanks for the reminder. If you don't have the time to roast yourself, check out your local guys and don't be afraid to ask questions about the coffee they sell.

[CatholicEug]

20. Interested in being a roaster

Hi, I'm new, and this is the subject that drew me in. Strange, eh?
Anyway, I've spoken with some Fair Trade people, and I would like to become a roaster myself ... perhaps have a small boutique for coffee roasting, so long as it's FT.

I don't want to ply you for trade secrets and the like. I understand if this is your business, and you don't want the competition. But if possible, could you give some advice to a newby who is interested in something like starting a local roaster?

Thanks!

[Willy Lee]

23. Feel free to drop me an email-

I'm happy to share what I know.

We're in this together, after all.

[cally]

24. Hi Willy

Your posts just motivated me to go back to my local coffee roaster. I quit buying my coffee there because it's less convenient :eyes:. This is important and I'll quit buying the commercial fair trade stuff...who knows if it's actually fair trade..and go back to the local guy. Thanks.

[Willy Lee]

25. Excellent Cally!

That is one of our taglines- "Support your local coffee roaster"

The other- "Life is short. Breathe deep, have fun, laugh plenty, and drink good coffee."

Besides, you can't beat fresh roasted.

[CatholicEug]

26. Willy Lee,

I don't have enough posts to do this. Could you write me?
Thanks,
CE

[Willy Lee]

35. CatholicEug-

You can contact me via our website,
www.goshencoffee.com

Mmmmmm..... morning coffee is delicous!

[Eurobabe]

2. I had no idea you could buy a countertop

roaster. Interesting! I just checked sweetmarias, which model do you have? I usually try to buy Fair Trade anyhow, I never drink canned coffee, yucky...

[Neecy]

5. great!

I have an i-Roast, which I love. I started with a Fresh Roast Plus, which is simple to use and roasts great coffee - I just wanted a slightly larger bean volume, so I upgraded when the i-Roast came out.

You can also find a lot of roasters on eBay, but stay away from the Melita (terrible). Anything by Hearthware - especially the Precision, one of the greatest roasters ever and now sadly discontinued - is worth a shot.

[Redleg]

3. Thank you so much for the web link.

I used to buy fair trade coffee from One Thousand Villages when my wife worked there. We have since moved.

[4_Legs_Good]

4. I buy my coffee from global exchange.org

And there are many health food and alternative grocery stores which carry "fair trade" coffee. It may be a bit more expensive, but it's still not bad and NOTHING compared to buying a cup at Starbucks.

I usually buy Cloudforest which is from Chiapas.

http://store.gxonlinestore.org/cloudforest.html

Anyway, roasting your own coffee must be totally cool, but for those of us who are too lazy, there are lots of ways to get around the multinationals.

You're absolutely right, though, let's start letting the farmers make the $ rather than the fat cats.

david

[anarchy1999]

6. Thanks for the suggestions and the links.

From a confirmed coffee junkie and a fervent anti-Starbucks activist.

[sadiesworld]

7. kick

[htuttle]

8. I stick with fair trade coffee called 'Just Coffee'

It's a local roaster here in Madison. Money from each bag ends up being donated to various groups, ie., if you by the Chiapas blend, $1 goes to buy the Zapatistas trucks (for coffee farmers).

[Willy Lee]

22. Those "Just Coffee" guys are great.

Tell them Goshen Coffee says Hi!

[kayell]

9. Newman's Own Coffee just showed up in the Publix near me

They are fair trade and organic. Good coffee.

[indigobusiness]

10. Great post!

Thanks

[yorgatron]

11. another kick from a coffee lover

:kick:

[DinahMoeHum]

12. You can find Equal Exchange coffee at most Stop n Shop stores

They sell organic/fair trade coffee, tea, cocoa, and hot chocolate mix.

:donut:

[bobaloo2]

13. Good idea

I've been home-roasting for the last year or so. I just use the hot air popcorn popper technique, using a Poppery 2. It takes me about 15 minutes to roast a pound of coffee, which lasts me for a week.

As you say, it's an opportunity to try dozens of estate labeled single origin coffees at a low price, get great coffee to drink and know that it's good for the producers too.

Don't be put off by the idea of having to spend lots of money for a home roasting machine, just get started by buying a hot air popcorn popper at a garage sale or Goodwill for a couple of bucks and read the instructions on the net. After the first time it's really easy. Later, if you drink a lot of coffee or have the money for the fancier setups move up to them, but they're not necessary.

[Neecy]

14. absolutely

A lot of people roast coffee with a popcorn popper - the principle is really the same as the commercial home roasters, superheated air forced through a fan - with excellent results. I think SweetMarias has an entire section on using a popper for coffee roasting.

I love the distinct flavors from single-origin coffees. Sadly, so do many of my friends now and I give away a lot more coffee than I drink!

[The White Tree]

15. Thanks for the idea

My wife is a coffe fiend and we will consider it.

[mike_c]

16. kick-- thanks so much for posting this....

I'm going to sweetmarias,com now....

[turbo_satan]

17. Couldn't agree more

There's really no downside to roasting your own, especially if you drink a fair amount of coffee. It actually ends up being cheaper even in the short-run, you always have fresh coffee, and you get to be obsessive about a new hobby.

You can get amazing results from small-batch roasting, and small counter-top roasters can be had for less than $100. And if you buy in bulk (say, more than ten pounds at a time), you can get great green coffees from Mexico, Costa Rica, and Guatemala (some of them, like La Minita, ethically grown and traded) for less than $4 per pound. You can even get some of the exotics (e.g., Yemen Mokha Mattari) for another buck or two more, whereas Starbucks charges, I believe, $20 per pound. And whereas Jamaican Blue Mountain or Kona are almost completely unaffordable at places like Peet's ($50 per pound for Kona, last I checked), you can get them for less than $15 per pound.

Sweet Maria's is a great company to deal with, BTW -- one of the best suppliers I've dealt with.

[Neecy]

27. yep

Sweet Maria's is great, and I love the detailed information they provide on each variety. It's an excellent resource, and I've always gotten good beans from them.

If you want to stock up before the new crops come in, check out some of the co-op offerings. They have a Costa Rican Central Valley FT Organic that looks really good ($1.95), and a Honduras San Marcos that got rave reviews for ninety cents a pound. If you can still get in on some Yemen Mokha Ismaili, it's fabulous. I roasted some over the weekend and it's a killer ($4.50). They also have a very good Longberry Harrar Horse for under two bucks. It's all non-profit and volunteer-run, so give it a try.

[turbo_satan]

28. Oh -- I forgot to mention another GREAT vendor

Here's a plug for a great guy and a class act:

JIM CAMERON
GREEN COFFEE SALES
EMAIL: [e-mail]

(no web site, but he's quick to reply to emails).

If you order enough, he'll send it in a cool burlap sack! His prices are among the lowest I've found. For example, here's one of our trusted old war-horses at the office:

Tanzania Peaberry
1 LB $3.86
5 LBS $13.80
25 LBS $54.75

In bulk, that's close to $2 per pound!

[Neecy]

29. f'sure

I've ordered coffee from Jim, and you're right, he is a class act (and he knows a heck of a lot about coffee).

He just started a website about a month ago - I need to stock up on some of his Yirg, which is really tasty.

http://www.u-roast-em.com/

I have a sister who's addicted to his Tanzanian Peaberry - she puts a fairly dark roast on it, and she's burned through 25 pounds of it in no time. Her officemates keep asking her to bring it in for the rest of 'em, it's that good.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

21. In Minneapolis, you can get Peace Coffee, which is

fair-trade, organic, shade-grown, and, as a special added bonus (for an alternative transportation advocate like myself), delivered from the roaster to stores in a bicycle-pulled trailer. Their dark-roast Guatemala is wonderful.

[loudsue]

31. Got a link to someplace where we can order it? Thanks! n/t

[Lydia Leftcoast]

32. It's available at most local food co-ops

and possibly at Lund's.

If that' not handy for you, try

www.peacecoffee.com. :-)

[Carolab]

34. Millstone

has some great organics. Mayan Black Onyx is incredible.

[GliderGuider]

30. Transfair certification

Not all products that are labelled "fair trade" are fairly traded. Look for the Transfair logo. It's a different logo in different jurisdictions so find out what your country's logo looks like.

The Transfair people are all about fair trade -- promotion, inspection, certification, you name it.
http://www.transfair.org/

Most of you will be interested in Transfair USA:
http://www.transfairusa.org/

And for my homeys:
http://www.transfair.ca/

Please remember, you can also look for fairly traded products when you buy cocoa and tea.

[sherilocks]

33. I just added a bunch of vendors to a favorites file

to use when the election is over and I boycott every SOB corporation that advertises on Sinclair, or just plain pisses me off.

Thanks guys.

[Blue Wally]

36. Vietnamese coffee

What per cent of coffee consumed in the US is purchased from Vietnam?? I am not sure that the output of the Dalat coffee plantations can support US consumption. While some of the Vietnamese coffee is pretty bad, I always try to bring back a few kilos of the very best stuff everytime I go over there. I always bribe the guy at Gloria Jeans with a half-kilo to grind it for me, because the stuff is so greasy it gums up my home grinder. Good Vietnamese coffee is very, very good.

[Neecy]

39. well...

I'm not sure of the percentage sold in the US - I'd suspect it's most of their production - but I was surprised to read that Vietnam is now the second largest producer of coffee in the world. Most of it is low-grade robusta beans.

I've tried a few Vietnamese coffees - a few farms do grow arabica - and I found it fairly nasty, although it might be okay in espresso. There must be a lot of moisture in it, because I had the same problems grinding it. The beans were also an odd color, a sort of mottled brown, that must be a result of their processing or drying methods. If you've found a good one, I tip my hat.

[Blue Wally]

40. I don't know

When we are in Vietnam, we go down to the Cholon market. There are lots of coffee sellers there and my wife seems to know which ones have the good stuff. The cheap stuff is pretty damn skanky. You would think that much of the Dalat coffee crop is sent to France. those were originally French plantations. Also the long US embargo on communist Vietnam products (1975-1993) would mean that they had to have other outlets to sell their coffee besides the US.

[IrateCitizen]

37. Or just switch to "fair trade" coffee.

My UU fellowship places orders for fair trade coffee for all the congregants. Or, if you don't want to seek out a fair trade cooperative to order from, you can always buy Newman's Own coffee at the supermarket -- it's all fair trade, shade-grown coffee that benefits local growers and traditional methods as opposed to coffee plantations.

[Willy Lee]

38. Fair Trade is not the only answer

It is a good start, but as someone who is fair trade certified I can say that the system is far from perfect. I know many many conscientious coffee roasters who will not join into fair trade because of problems with TransFair, the US certifying agency. There are also concerns about the subsidy issue that TransFair supports- farmers are paid a premium for poor quality coffee simply because they fit the TransFair model while a superb coffee grown on a family owned estate cannot carry this "Fair Trade" label because they are not a co-op.

Don't get me wrong- fair trade is a good start- but there are many other great ways to support coffee farmers. One of the best ideas I have seen is called "Relationship Coffee", whereby roasters establish long lasting relationships with coffee farmers and buy directly from them. A good source of information on relationship coffees is David Griswold's Sustainable Harvest (http://www.fairtrade.com/)

In my opinion, education is the best tool coffee consumers have. Instead of blindly believing that a label on your product will save the world, investigate your purchases. Talk to roasters and retailers about where the coffee they carry comes from. Ask them how they are assuring a sustainable coffee market. There is a ton of information on the internet about this subject.

Roast your own! It is fun and satisfying. And, of course, support your local coffee roaster!