Definitions
What are cuppers?
Cuppers are expert coffee
tasters.
What is organic
coffee?
Organic coffee is
coffee that has been
grown according to
organic farming techniques,
usually without the use of artificial fertilizers, pesticides
or herbicides. The term
organic can also refer to farms
which incorporate
socially responsible activities
such as recycling,
composting
, soil
health and environmental
protections.
What is fair trade?
Fair trade is an
organized
social movement and market-based
approach to empowering developing country producers and
promoting sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of
a fair price as well as social and environmental standards in
areas related to the production of a wide variety of
goods. It focuses in
particular on exports from developing countries to developed
countries, most notably handicrafts
, coffee,
cocoa,
sugar,
tea, bananas,
honey,
cotton,
wine, fresh fruit and
flowers.
Why Fair Trade Certified Coffee Is An
Important New Movement
It's a consumer trend. More and more
people care about the conditions of the people who produce the
products they buy. Coffee is the first commodity in the United
States for which there is an independent monitor that
guarantees that producers were paid a fair wage for their
product and work in decent conditions -- a real alternative to
sweatshops.
This is a huge industry trend. Across the
country, there are over 100 companies that have licensing
agreements with TransFair to offer Fair Trade Certified coffee.
Major roasters include Starbucks, Tully's, Peet's, Equal
Exchange, Diedrich, and Green Mountain, serving over 7,000
retail locations, with volumes rising every day.
It's an environmental issue. Small
farmers are the best stewards of the land. When you support
Fair Trade, you support the environment. Fair Trade farmers
don't have the capital input to clear forests, buy chemical
fertilizers and pesticides. They generally grow small plots of
mixed-crop, shade grown coffee organically.
The untold story of the gourmet coffee
boom: it's leaving small farmers behind. Prices are currently
at 8-year lows, falling under $.50 per pound in August 2001 --
yet retail prices stay high, meaning mass industry profits.
Fair Trade brings small farmers into the boom.
Reprinted from
GlobalExchange.org
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