Interesting angle of reporting on Direct Trade model coffee practices, showcasing the expense and time in developing grower relationships so that the focus remains on coffee quality in addition to sustainability.
The "big three" micro-roasters - Intelligentsia, Stumptown and Counter Culture - are featured, along with coffee luminary George Howell of Terroir. "To Burundi and Beyond" is one of the best written, accessible and fun to read stories on Direct Trade type coffee we've seen. We hope you'll read the article in its entirety.
An excerpt:
One of the most effective methods of encouraging change turns out to be as simple as sharing a few cups of coffee with the people who grow it. Obvious as it seems, this was far from common practice until about 10 years ago.
Mr. (Geoff) Watts (Intelligentsia's coffee buyer) said that cupping (coffee lingo for the formal, multistep tasting process used to evaluate quality) can help growers understand what a buyer is looking for. “There has to be a real financial incentive for every incremental improvement in quality, but it can’t be mysterious,” he said. “It has to be objective. The grower has to have every reason to believe that his investment in his farm is an investment in himself, not just him doing what some crazy American wants him to. And when they have the same evaluative skills that we do, they can taste their coffees and know what they could be worth.”
Direct trade relationships typically mean that the roaster guarantees to pay well more than the going Fair Trade price for coffees that meet an agreed-upon standard based on a cupping scale. If the coffees score above that standard, growers earn even more.
Direct Trade is simply a better model for ensuring quality in the cup while developing sustainable growing practices and helping coffee-growing communities. We're glad we use these coffees. Thanks to newly minted Chilango Jay Caragay for the link.
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