Aldo Coffee Company

Sunday Conversation Starter

If you're at a loss for real issues not being discussed on the Sunday morning news programs, why not start here:  Western Farm Subsidies to Blame for Food Crisis, Not Brazilian Biofuels.

New UK Report: "Fair Trade" Not Helping Poorest Farms

This from African Agriculture, regarding the newly published report "Unfair Trade":

Tom Clougherty, policy director at the Adam Smith Institute, said: "At best, Fairtrade is a marketing device that does the poor little good. At worst, it may inadvertently be harming some of the planet's most vulnerable people. There is nothing wrong with being concerned about the working conditions, wages and environment of workers, but we don't believe Fairtrade is the most effective model. They make assumptions about agriculture in the developing world - that they must be small farming cooperatives, but this is just not sustainable if countries are to develop."

Our coffee roaster, Intelligentsia, developed a different model, called Direct Trade (TM), that addresses most of the weaknesses of Fair Trade, especially in the area of sustainable practices.

The more you know...

About Shade Grown Coffee

We used to have a direct link to this info on Shade Grown coffee by Geoff Watts of Intelligentsia, but few people ever visited it so we took it down awhile back. 

However, a commenter to a post on Blog Lebo suggested eco-caring folks who weren't buying shade grown coffee may not being doing all they can for the environment.  We hear it sometimes ourselves: "Where's all your shade grown coffee?"  "Well, I'll only buy shade-grown, bird-friendly direct traded coffee."

Nice sentiments.  But, as with all dogma, there is more to the story.  In this case, much, much, much more. 

Direct Trade Coffee & Intelligentsia Featured in the NY Times

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:

"Shade Grown" Criteria Need More Transparency

Solid post from Bloggle about the murkiness of "Shade Grown" coffee claims.

Bloggle's author, deCadmus, also gives props to Intelligentsia's green bean buyer Geoff Watts, who visits each of Intelligentsia's Direct Trade relationships at origin each year.  deCadmus explains clearly why Geoff - and many others - are skeptical of some coffee certifications.  Lots of great links for further investigation if you're so inclined.

U.S. Chocolate Makers May Soon Use Transfats Instead of Cocoa Butter Unless We Act

The U.S. Chocolate Industry, through its Chocolate Manufacturers of America (CMA), and in collaboration with the Grocery Manufacturers Association, have petitioned the Food and Drug Association (FDA) to change the current requirements for chocolate. Their plan is to change the basic formula of chocolate in order to use vegetable fat substitutes in place of cocoa butter, and to use milk substitutes in the place of nutritionally superior milk.  These changes will have adverse effects on the eating, physical and nutritional quality of chocolate (yes, flavonoids in cocoa butter have been proven healthful), and beg the question: What consumer benefit is associated with implementing these changes?    There isn't one.  This is all about the profits of chocolate makers, not about consumers, tradition, taste or quality.  Some other countries currently do allow vegetable fats up to a total of 5% volume. If passed, this change would allow 100% vegetable fat and no cocoa butter for US manufacturers.  Do you want that? Our opinion is that Nestle, Archer Daniels Midland and others can do what they want with transfats, but they can't call the resulting product "chocolate". Gary Guittard, of Guittard Chocolates, has set up a website to help chocolate-lovers fight this inane proposed change. www.dontmesswithourchocolate.com Please follow the instructions on how to send a note to the FDA to stop this insanity.  Thanks!

Read All About It: Direct Trade Brochures Are In

Now instead of having to listen to us windbags preach the faith, you can read up on your own. 

With pictures!

Grab one of these handy-dandy trifolds next time you're in the store and impress your friends with both your coffee knowledge and socially responsible ethics!

Fair Trade News - "Social Premiums" Increase, Kenya Now in Network

Some good Fair Trade news and a bit of a rant this morning..

Most customers (we hope) are aware that last year, our roaster, Intelligentsia Coffee, decided to end its relationship with Transfair USA, the marketing arm for Fair Trade Certification in the US.  Intelligentsia opted to formally create its own program, Direct Trade (now in 14 regions), which puts more emphasis on quality and long-term economic sustainability for both co-ops and single farms - and generally pays growers significant premiums above Fair Trade floors - while also achieving the stated goals of Fair Trade.

That said, those of you who still aren't on the same page with us will be happy to know the Fairtrade Labeling Organization has announced that "Social Premiums" paid to co-ops in their program are going up a nickel per pound for standard coffee ($1.26 to $1.31 and a dime a pound for organic ($1.41 to $1.51).

Perhaps bigger news is that the Kenyan government has finally stepped out of the way and is allowing co-ops to self-determine whether they wish to become Fair Trade certified.  While Intellgentsia, Counter Culture and other "beyond fair trade" roasters have sourced amazing coffees in Kenya (and paid premiums to growers for that privilege), coffeehouses proclaiming themselves as "100% Fair Trade" could not sell Kenyan coffees as there was no official Fair Trade certification - a loss for consumers, since many Kenyans are wonderful coffees, and a loss for farmers, since some roasters and shops wouldn't buy their beans (although nothing was stopping these folks from working in-country to improve the situation with specific co-ops and farms as with the Direct Trade model). 

Is The End of Small-Farm Organic Coming?

Seems the USDA is changing their criteria for inspecting "Certified Organic" farms because a farm that was part of a Mexican co-op was found to have been using pesticides that are verboten by USDA Certified Organic guidelines.

This story has not been reported in mainstream media.  We learned of it through Chews Wise which points to an article in Salon for the details.  (Note: See comments below from the articles author - it has the links to the original USDA articles We did not find any releases or updates related to this story on the USDA main site or their National Organic Program site, so have not been able to verify it as yet.)

According to the Salon article, this change by the USDA would likely have dire unintended consequences - namely making it too expensive for most small-plot farms in Third World countries to abide by USDA guidelines.  With the cost of certification becoming too rich for small farmers, those currently farming "shade-grown" coffee would go back to growing commodity beans, along with ripping out shade canopies and using pesticides and chemicals.

In other words, if this story is correct. those of us who like good coffee will see less of it and what we will find will be more expensive and much of it will come from larger corporate-owned farms.  None of this is good news.

We'll be talking to Intelligentsia, who buys a huge amount of USDA Organic beans, to see if they have any additional facts or comments on this story.

UPDATE:  Some other roasters have been busy rallying the troops along with the SCAA, even before the Salon article appeared.

Local vs. Organic. Which Is Best?

Belle sent us this link from Time magazine on whether eating locally or eating organically is better.

It's a good read.  When we can't get local for a particular item, we try to get organic if it's possible.  We'd love to get more locally, but there just aren't sources for many things you'd expect - for instance, why does Western New York has a thriving cheese industry but not Western Pennsylvania?

All good coffee beans are grown close to the Equator.  Pittsburgh is not close to the Equator, as you well know whey you step outside.  Because of coffee (and tea) geography we'll always have some environmental footprint because of the transit energy needed to bring beans into the US.  However, we're confident our roaster is working to minimize that footprint and to offset it somewhat, whether in Central/South America, Indonesia or East Africa.