Browsing through the coffee section in the supermarket isle, you may have noticed tags like Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, Direct Trade, but what does all of this really mean? Often time the ethical issues faced in coffee parallel those in the cocoa industry; mono cropping ruining the soil, minuscule worker pay, human rights issues, and still this day caged civets for Kopi Luwak! There are however some clear signs that coffee has been ethically sourced with factors like better worker pay, eco-conscious practices, and investment in local community infrastructure, and co-operative models. Let's explore what signs to keep an eye out for!
What Is Direct Trade Coffee? Is it Ethical?
Whilst the the term 'direct trade' has become somewhat hijacked as a greenwashing virtue signalling badge on supermarket packets of coffee, the term originally had much more weight around a decade ago when independent coffee roasters originally coined and adopted the term. In essence, direct trade is sourcing fully traceable coffee with a direct link to the farmers, with greater details about the coffee, farmers, and land on which it is grown. Often times this comes with perks like better coffee, worker pay, infrastructure, and leverage for the farmers to gain a greater ratio of profits in the supply chain.
Direct trade is closely tied with the third wave of coffee culture, and especially with social media, customers take notice when they can see a snapshot of the story behind their cup!
First and foremost, feet on the ground! Whoever is the key operating officer representing the farm, should at least be there semi-regularly so they fully know the latest challenges, and are helping farmers overcome them. We've met Edwin pictured above who is often at the Ugandan farms he works with, and helping with projects related to better worker pay, improving infrastructure, and a good price for exceptional coffee. This gives the coffee far more depth than from a generic wholesaler, who at best visited once and simply clicks a button for more coffee... More Uganda Mount Elgon details here!
John Frater is another one of our direct trade partners, who sources exceptional Colombian coffees, and helps bring hidden out the hidden gems from Planadas region farms. Half the time he is in Colombia navigating the harsh terroirs and long roads up the mountains, working with farmers, other times in the UK sharing exceptional coffees and stories of all the hard work and care that goes into farming. We could geek out all day talking to John about Colombian coffee, and the industry at large, and we can't stress enough that John has been working in this industry well over 25 years, so he practices what he preaches!
These Colombian coffee typically grow at high altitudes, which has a strong correlation with more exotic and sought after flavour characteristics. The last thing you'll get is a dull cup, and our Colombia Pachamama which pools together coffees from a variety of farms in the Tolima region, delivers one of our more sweet and acidic coffees.
Is Coffee Eco Friendly?
Even in the best case scenario, specialty coffee is fairly resource intensive, requiring between 2-5 years to grow, lots of water, land, machinery, general operating costs, and that's before being sent on a freight ship internationally. So what do we mean by eco-conscious? We've explored this topic before, but in a nutshell, it's what we can do to at least mitigate our environmental impact, and encourage regenerative practices for future generations of coffee farmers.
Ana Luiza Pellicer is chief operating officer at Mio coffee farms, who go above and beyond in eco conscious practices like crop rotation, deriving power from solar panels and using compost from the husks homemade compost made from waste products like coffee straw, coffee husk, wastewater (which is naturally rich in potassium and phosphorus and ideal for coffee crops). Additionally, fair pay is guaranteed for all workers, well above the national average, and Mió is the only farm in the region to have real control of workers hours and to compensate them accordingly if they do any extra time. Expenses for workers and their family are reduced with weekly milk and vegetable allowances, constant healthcare access and free daily commute from the city.
See our Mio Sustainability Report for more details!
Mio grow a variety of coffee varieties like Yellow Catucaí, Mundo Novo, Yellow Bourbon. All of these lend themselves to that classic bold Brazilian coffee flavour, which most people are familiar with. At Cannon we don't roast it to the point of getting the baggage flavours of burnt rubber, so rest assured, no need to add milk or sugar! Our Brazil Fazenda Mio is a proper dark roast, which brews exceptionally well on espresso, whilst still keeping sweet qualities which farmers have set out to achieve.
Is Coffee Traceable?
Whether it's John at Green Collection, Edwin at Dream Coffee, or Ana at Mio coffee farms, each farm has their unique challenges, and the common trend amongst these direct trade suppliers is feet regularly on the ground, improving pay and community support for farmers and a direct link to the farms. We can ask any question, and you're more than welcome to forward any queries to the farms; they love hearing about you enjoying the coffee and wanting to know more! That's what makes us different from a fairly shallow seal of approval, we can give you a live link to farms, so you can see we practice what we preach.
Apart from our Decaf (we're working hard to source a fully traceable one!) all our single origin and blend coffees are 100% direct trade!