Fairer Than Fair Trade: Intelligentsia's Direct Trade Program

We've been rambling about beer and wine lately, but not enough about coffee, which is, after all, the reason we're here.

There's been a number of stories over the past couple of years in Pittsburgh and national press on the Fair Trade Certified designation, what that means exactly and why paying coffee farmers reasonable prices for their crop is necessary for sustainable growth. 

The short story:  The Fair Trade Certification program, as run by TransFair USA, pays coffee cooperatives meeting certain criteria a floor of $1.26/pound ($1.41/pound if the coffee is also 100% organic).

Unfortunately, for reasons unclear to many, the Fair Trade program excludes a significant number of responsible growers.  The program also doesn't detail where the revenues should be invested, nor does it earmark levels of investment in specifics that would improve both the product and the farm's (and community's) sustainability.

Intelligentsia Coffee Roasters take a different tack.  Their Direct Trade(TM) program strives to achieve all of the above, plus more.   The corporate ethic of Intelligentsia put them at the top of our list when we were searching for roasters two years ago.  Intelligentsia pays appropriately for quality and assist growers in developing and improving their crops to meet the growing demand for (and discernment of) specialty coffee in the US. 

Their relationships with growers is the primary reason why they (and as a result us) consistently get the best beans in the world, as evidenced by the number of Cup of Excellence coffees they offer and specials such as the Cruz del Sur(TM) Peru Tinga Maria micro lot we featured here last week.

Here's the criteria in a nutshell (although we encourage you to read the whole background):

Intelligentsia Direct Trade™ – Criteria

1. Coffee quality must be exceptional.
2. The verifiable price to the grower or the local coop, not simply the exporter, must be at least 25% above the Fair Trade price.
3. The grower must be committed to healthy environmental practices.
4. The grower must be committed to sustainable social practices.
5. Intelligentsia representatives must visit the farm or cooperative village at least once per harvest season, understanding that we will most often visit three times per year: pre-harvest to craft strategy, during the harvest to monitor quality, and post-harvest to review and celebrate the successes.
6. All the trade participants must be open to transparent disclosure of financial deliveries back to the individual farmers.

Do we pay more for our coffee.  Yep.  That's why you pay more.  But we think the extra nickel or dime per cup is worth it and so do most of our customers.

So just because you don't see the Fair Trade Certified label on all of the coffees you buy here doesn't mean the farmers are being paid poorly.  Rather, Intellgentsia pays more than Fair Trade - even more than Fair Trade Organic - prices for their beans, while ensuring that the revenues generated at origin are funnelled to the points where they will best help both the farms and the community.  (For more, see interview with Geoff Watts, Intelligentsia's green bean buyer from April or listen to the Portafilter.net podcast).

Nobody else in Pittsburgh (save for us and Luke & Alexis at Caffe Intermezzo) can make that claim.  And we feel pretty good about that.  You should too.