Coffee Shops: A short review

I recently noticed that a large number of coffee shops don’t actually do fair trade, and if they do, it is not the “default” coffee, it is something you need to ask for specifically. This seems to be the case with most coffee shops and I think it is also something that needs to change. Change in this department however will only come with consumer pressure, and that is up to us.

I entered a local coffee shop recently and was surprised to find that they didn’t do fair-trade or any other form of “Help the farmer” initiative. This got me thinking about coffee shops and where they all stand. It seems a lot of them either don’t sell a fair-trade option or if they do it is something that needs to be specifically asked for.

Morelli’s

I know Morelli’s as the frequent companion to WaterStones bookstore. Walking into one the other day I asked the man behind the counter whether they did fair-trade to which the reply was a very embarrassed and almost ashamed “no”. Again, fair-trade wasn’t even optional. It occurred to me that perhaps asking for fair-trade was uncommon and that the staff was not properly prepared to answer the question. They had no alternative to what I’d assume is “unfair trade” coffee (which is what I’ll call anything that doesn’t explain its background). Looking into them I have found very little and am therefore going by my experience that the shop doesn’t sell fair-trade or have any alternative. In this aspect, comments and links telling me otherwise would be appreciated.

Costa Coffee

Costa sells fair-trade coffee as well as sources its produce from rainforest alliance certified farms. On the fair-trade front, you can buy any a fair-trade option on any of the espresso based drinks at no extra cost. In my experience, this is not the default and you need to ask for the fair-trade option in order to get it, otherwise you will be given the regular version. Costa also claims to sell rainforest alliance certified coffee. This is the case, however like most rainforest alliance products, it has a flaw. In order to gain the certification, only 30% of the coffee needs to be sustainably harvested under the rainforest alliance regulations. This means that the remaining 70% can come from anywhere with any background and the customer is not told. While Costa is on the right track, selling both fair-trade and rainforest alliance coffee there is still a long way to go. In my experience, Costa sell fair-trade versions of all their beverages, however you need to ask for it. In this case, it is up to the consumer to request the fair-trade option every time.

On their website, Costa themselves say

“In recent years we have seen a gradual growth in the demand for our Fair-trade products. With the launch of our own Fair-trade blend we expect to see a noticeable shift in customers wanting this option over the next few years.”

The shift I believe they are talking about here involves a certain amount of customer participation. I think that more of us should ask for the fair-trade option and push it to the extent that we no longer need to ask, but are given it straight away. Costa did at one stage put their fair-trade options on the price display board in all their stores. You could buy any fair-trade version of your chosen drink for an extra cost. Naturally the majority of customers purchasing their drinks somehow found it more profitable to save a few pence, and always bought the regular version because it cost a tiny bit less. Subsequently, Costa removed the fair-trade option presumably because there was “no demand” for it. In this case, that is a fault with the consumer, not the company. We should demand fair-trade and be willing to spend the measly extra pennies to get it.

Cafe Nero

Cafe Nero is very vague when it comes to fair-trade. Their site states that “Due to the number of varieties of beans in our blend and our need for consistently high quality, it is not always possible to purchase all of the beans in this way” (Nero site). They never actually claim to sell fair-trade coffee and neither do they claim not to. The closest they get to covering the matter is saying “The majority of the coffee beans in our unique blend are sourced from clearly identifiable and traceable sources”. Their fair-trade section on the site tells you nothing at all – see for yourself.

I wrote to the company asking simply whether they did fair-trade or not; below is the reply I received.

“Hello Paul

Thank you for your enquiry regarding Fair Trade.

We do not currently offer Fairtrade products though we do support the principles behind Fairtrade and associated schemes. Our main focus is our coffee. We are proud of the quality of our coffee and the fact that it remains highly rated by our customers. Our unique blend is made up of an unusually large number of beans, whereas most of our competitors use one bean or a blend of only a few. We purchase from different suppliers across the season in order to preserve this high quality. These two factors make it very difficult to work towards a claim of Fairtrade (or similar). We do believe that the premium prices that we pay for our high-quality beans translates into higher prices for the grower, nevertheless it’s clear that there’s more that we can do here to demonstrate this.

We are currently working towards ensuring that our beans are sourced from clearly identifiable and traceable sources. Today this can be achieved for the majority of our beans, though not all. We are working hard on the rest.

Subject to taste testing and commercial negotiation we are progressing a test of an alternative Fairtrade certified blend to sit alongside our “signature” house blend. Our Fairtrade blend is in select stores as a 10 store trial to understand levels of customer take up prior to any national roll out. It is fully Fairtrade accredited and all elements of the supply chain adhere to the Fairtrade standards. Since this is the first time we will have an alternative blend in our business we will take great care to measure both operational and customer reaction to this.

I trust that this demonstrates our desire to make real progress in this area.

Kind regards

Justina Virde (Head of Customer Services. Cafe Nero Group Ltd)

I think that sufficiently explains Nero’s policy better than I could. They don’t do fair-trade. I am surprised to find that a company that takes so much pride in the quality of the coffee offered to the consumer has so little regard for the welfare of their suppliers. It appears to be a matter of sacrificing ethics for quality and I am disappointed to find where their priorities lie. The letter does state they are at least looking into getting fair-trade products and that the result will come from the consumer demand. This is where we can play our role by writing to the company or going into their shops and asking for it. If the company needs “proof” that consumers want fair-trade, then the ball is in our court. I fail to understand what “trials” the company needs to do since fair-trade is available in Starbucks and Costa as well as every supermarket in the country.

Tchibo

It’s hard to explain what Tchibo actually do because they do quite a lot. All their shops are half cafes half utility shops. The shop however is somewhat like an auction where they have a selection of items that are for sale for one week only, and then the stock is replaced with something else. One week they may be selling kitchen items, the next might be clothes or garden furniture. The Cafe however doesn’t change and their coffee is fair-trade. They aren’t the easiest places to find but they are worth visiting if there is one in your area.

What you can do:

Ask: There are hundreds of different cafes, all of which have varying sources and producers so it is very hard to know exactly where your coffee comes from. I’ve only talked about a few of the coffee shops however there are still many others we will be looking into in the future. In the mean time, if you don’t know where your favourite cafe stands on fair-trade, just ask. Some people won’t do fair-trade, others might do their own versions, either way we as consumers have the right to know where our coffee comes from.

Question: If somewhere doesn’t do fair-trade. Ask them why? Is there an alternative? Rainforest Alliance? If fair-trade is so accessible in supermarkets and shops, why is it hard to find in coffee shops where the coffee is merely transformed from what you get in the supermarket to its beverage form? Fair-trade is by no means perfect, however it should be the default setting, even if it is a little more expensive.

Demand: It appears to me that a lot of coffee houses use the excuse that fair-trade coffee is not in demand. Whether this is because companies are seeking a way to avoid it or there is actually “no” demand, this needs to change. The only way this is going to happen is if we ask for it. If you want fair-trade coffee, go to the places that you know sell it. If you’re loyal to one brand that doesn’t do fair-trade but you don’t want to change. Write to them and ask them to do fair-trade versions? Ask for “unfair-trade cappuccino” coffee when you order and persistently ask for fair-trade.

These are what we are going to be doing and are merely ideas. If anyone has any other ideas, please feel free to share them. Also if anyone knows of any coffee chains and shops that should be looked into, please share those also. On a previous entry on Starbucks, a reader left us a handy link which is worth checking out. It is a search engine that finds local and independent coffee shops near you should you want to avoid the chains: Find your local coffee shop here.

(We will be posting more on some other chains as and when we know enough about them)