Hot Java!
What Is Sustainable Coffee?
By Tastes
of the World
Gourmet
coffee lovers have been seeing a few new terms in the local
premium coffee shop as they file past the seasonal retail
displays of roasted, whole bean bagged coffees. Phrases
include ”eco-friendly,” “organic,” “shade-grown,” “fair
trade” and “certified sustainable.”
Most
often those beans seem to the casual buyer to be simply more expensive
than the corporate mega-brands.
But these few phrases represent
far more benefits than at first glance, including economic and
social gains for the growing regions and farmers, harvesters and
processors of green coffee beans at the local level.
What is “sustainable”?
“Sustainable” coffee equals premium prices and quality
coffee due to organic farming practices, fair market payment for
beans to local growers and quality controls adopted by the "certified"
coffee brands. Those premium coffee prices reflect growing concerns
worldwide for paying fair wages to growers, using more expensive
ecologically friendly organic farming practices, better paying
traditionally underpaid harvesters and processing workers, and
adopting strict quality controls for “certified sustainable
coffees."
Daniele Giovannucci consults with
governments, international agencies and businesses on coffee markets
and production strategies to improve competitiveness and support
innovative environmental and rural poverty reduction work. Giovannucci
has authored exhaustive studies, including the 2003 "The
State of Sustainable Coffee Report — A Study of Twelve Major
Markets." This study discusses coffee market forces in
Europe and Japan and the growth of sustainable coffee around the
world. It estimates that fair trade, organic and eco-friendly
coffees represent less than 2 percent of coffee consumption in
developed markets.
Another Giovannucci-authored study,
"Sustainable
Coffee Survey of the North American Specialty Coffee Industry,"
estimates the global market for sustainable coffee to be approximately
$565 million retail for over a million 60-kilo (about 132 pounds)
bags of green coffee beans.
Ticket out of poverty
It is estimated that growers of certified sustainable coffees
can nearly double their income from otherwise depressed coffee
prices. So economically challenged third-world countries see small
farmers adopting organic growing techniques as a ticket out of
poverty and subsistence. Corporate buyers are attracted to sustainable
growers by consumer goodwill and health concerns related to those
organically grown coffees. This leads to dubious claims by some
of the corporate coffee representatives and has led to the need
for certification authorities.
What’s with all the
jargon?
One group, Fairtrade Labeling Organizations International (FLO),
has been active in monitoring and certifying, auditing and verifying
standards for sustainable coffees. Another, Transfair USA, carries
on similar activities in the American coffee market. Consumers
are justifiably confused when many terms are applied to sustainable
coffees and fail to differentiate between organic, eco-friendly,
fair trade and sustainable terms.
Premium prices are sometimes supported
by certification, labeling and monitoring by third-party organizations
and sometimes by local governments, such as the "Jamaica
Coffee Industry Board." But some labeling is simply slick
sales and PR by greedy corporations seeking premium prices for
average coffee beans, so support for labeling initiatives and
independent certification is growing.
Fair trade and sustainable coffees
are seeing increasing production in Central and South American
growing regions, most notably in Mexico and Peru. Columbia has
seen some pressure and attempts to divert production of cocaine
with coffee crops for the fair trade market with little major
success to report so far. Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia are big
participants in sustainable coffees in Africa, while East Timor,
India and Indonesia are major supporters of sustainable coffee
in Asia.
With the North American coffee
market dominated by multinational giants Sara Lee, Kraft and Procter
& Gamble, little interest has been shown in adopting sustainable
coffee by major corporate coffee producers. Meanwhile, Brazil
and Vietnam, the world's number one and two coffee producers respectively,
are flooding the market with poor-quality beans and driving down
coffee prices.
But major grocery chains are seeing
demand for sustainable coffee and may adopt fair trade and organic
coffees to sell nationwide at Safeway, Kroger and Albertson's
stores. Increases in availability, demand and awareness of sustainable
coffee are leading to more of the same in a spiraling increase
for fair trade organic and shade coffees in premium markets. Some
sustainable coffees are even finding their way into instant coffees,
but the vast majority of the sustainable market is in premium
and specialty markets.
© Tastes of the World
Tastes
of The World coffee company focuses on specialty
gourmet coffees that are not readily available in the United States:
rare gourmet coffee from Jamaica Blue Mountain to Kopi Luwak,
exotic and fine Italian espressos from Illy and Marcafe as well
as a selection of premium Puerto Rican coffees including Cafe
Tres Picachos. Come discuss your favorites in the coffee
talk forums.
