The guys at Portafilter.net nabbed a great interview with Geoff Watts and Duane Sorensen on sustainable coffee practices during last week's SCAA conference in Charlotte. It's bound to generate some controversy in certain circles.
Geoff is the green bean buyer for Intelligentsia (our roaster) and Duane owns the highly respected Stumptown Coffee (warning: Flash site) in Portalnd, OR. Both companies are noted industry-wide for developing education programs in the field to help coffee farmers produce a better product.
Since it's a bit of a pain trying to dial right into the start of the interview, we've taken the time to transcribe most of it - which for some reason is 98% Geoff, 2% Duane. Read on...
If you go to the full audio file, following the interview with Watts and Sorensen is a wonderful discussion with an Ethiopian coffee producer who was at the show - that's way too long for transcribing here but well worth a listen.
TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW WITH GEOFF WATTS AND DUANE SORENSEN FROM PORTAFILTER.NET PODCAST #31
Duane Sorensen: “Don't believe the hype. Spend your money on Rwandan coffees, spend your money on top auction lots of Kenya coffee.
Interviewer: “What's hype?”
Duane: “Kona. JBM (Jamaican Blue Mountain)... Kope Luwak.”
Interviewer: "Geoff, what thoughts are you having about coffee while you're here?"
Geoff Watts: “What is the real value of great coffee? Both of us feel if you're buying the best coffee in any given place it should have a price that justifies and rewards that quality - and acknowledges more than anything else - that quality.
“I got into trouble with several proponents of several certification schemes about the difference between paying charity for coffee and paying a price that's directly related to the quality.
“There's a huge difference and there's a danger in paying for coffees that don't measure up in the cup – handing money out of a sense of social responsibility but not truly incentivizing the development or production of better quality.
“In a system like that if you're paying money for poor coffee and paying more than its real market value simply because you believe you should, you're perpetuating production of a coffee that will never have real intrinsic value and becomes totally dependent on this system of goodwill. If the goodwill of the certification disappears tomorrow the coffee farmer is left right back where he started – he hasn't developed anything.
“Duane and I are all about developing quality and then paying for it – paying for its costs, paying for its production and rewarding the growers who are able to produce something special.
“Fair Trade has done a lot of good in the world. I personally know a lot of farmers who would not be producing coffee today if it weren't for the existence of Fair Trade. During a long time of coffee market depression where prices were below the cost of production, Fair Trade kept these guys in business.
“However, I still feel in general that Fair Trade, among others, deal with coffee essentially as a commodity – one lot is interchangeable for another. In the end, the farmers who want to develop a business and be able to produce a product that has value independent of ANY certification – that has a value on the open market – you can go to the marketing and say, 'I know I have great coffee. I know there's a buyer who will recognize it and pay me for it.'
"If you can help farmers get to that level, you've given them something nobody can take away and is independent of anyone's goodwill.”
Duane: “Certifications are good, but they don't recognize quality.”
Geoff: “It's about real sustainability. Fair Trade still has great relevance in the commercial market and in entry-level specialty coffees. But when you start talking about high quality and the really special coffees – the boutique coffees – they have a value that far exceeds Fair Trade. $1.26 (the base price negotiated by the organizations responsible for Fair Trade Certification) is not a great price. It's an OK price. A livable price. But not a great price.
“Education is absolutely critical to all this. There are very low-cost things farmers can do requiring very little extra investment. Simple techniques, processing techniques, careful handling of the coffee that can increase its value twofold or threefold.
“One of the things the specialty coffee leaders, the specialty roasters, the specialty buyers and importers need to push is this idea that a farmer can take control of his own destiny. He can improve the intrinsic value of his coffee simply by doing a few things that require little capital – it just requires more effort, more human care. You can increase the value of these coffees and you can create a product that commands its own value.
“Ideally we're going to find a world where buyers themselves are fighting over these coffees. The great producers walking out into the market with their coffee saying, 'All right, what are you going to give me for it?'. And you've got roasters fighting to obtain his coffee. That's the future I hope to see.
“Sustainability without the notion of quality built very critically and fundamentally into the model has no meaning. Without quality, sustainability is nothing but hopes and dreams. When you add quality into the mix, sustainability becomes a demonstrable principle and something that can provide sustainable futures for farmers.”
Something to think about for all of us, eh?
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