not so much a coffee drinker, but I have gone through a similar journey through the years for finding more sustainable avenues for my tea drinking habits. looking forward to your writing on chocolate.
I found Ruta Maya coffee in Austin TX some years ago and have been drinking it ever since. It's excellent. This from their website: "Ruta Maya was founded on the belief that organic coffee farming can strengthen indigenous Maya communities and foster connections that transcend cultural boundaries. Our specialty roasts reflect over 20 years of direct partnerships with small independent cooperatives."
I agree with you Tom. Consumers need to be more mindful who their money is supporting when they buy something. Farmers need to get more of the money spent on coffee and other products so they can pay their workers more and keep on farming. I don't consume coffee but I do chocolate. Does the fair trade label mean you are more directly supporting farmers?
Thank you, Gina. Fair trade is not beneficial to individual farmers, only to large cooperatives. This limits its effectiveness. I was supposed to have my chocolate story available, but got waylaid by a work deadline. I’ll finish it tomorrow. Like the coffee story, it emphasizes direct trade relationships, where the person you buy from deals directly with the farmer or a processing group owned by farmers.
We strongly prefer Sumatran coffee, because of its very low acidity and because it seems to us to have a slightly higher level of usable caffeine, so we don't have to drink as much of it. But I've found it basically impossible to source ethically in the US, at least in any trustworthy way. At least, it never *feels* as trustworthy as the chains of trust you can find for some coffee from the Western Hemisphere. Any suggestions about where to look?
One of my favorite coffee shops is in the Karo Highlands of Sumatra, where I could sip fine coffee while looking out over the coffee farm. One very good direct trade coffee is from Equator Coffee in Eugene OR. Their supplier is a reputable family company in Aceh. https://www.equatorcoffee.com/products/organic-sumatran/
Coffee and chocolate are the things that make my whole world go round! I’m proud to say I tend to by certified fair trade and rainforest alliance approved products, not just because they’re more ethical, but they’re often better quality too! The best coffee, to me, is the coffee that my father sources direct from a local coffee plantation in a place called Chickmagulur - famous of growing excellent coffee in south India. He buys his coffee from a small holding. Of even more interest is that much of the ‘monsoon Malabar’ coffee is grown in or near rainforests, and hosts several endemic species! I’ve written about this quite recently :)
Being from Durham, we have been big fans of Little Waves since they started selling coffee from a bicycle. We also began ordering from Monarch Coffee in Hawaii after visiting their farm.
not so much a coffee drinker, but I have gone through a similar journey through the years for finding more sustainable avenues for my tea drinking habits. looking forward to your writing on chocolate.
I found Ruta Maya coffee in Austin TX some years ago and have been drinking it ever since. It's excellent. This from their website: "Ruta Maya was founded on the belief that organic coffee farming can strengthen indigenous Maya communities and foster connections that transcend cultural boundaries. Our specialty roasts reflect over 20 years of direct partnerships with small independent cooperatives."
This is very interesting. I will try their coffee.
I agree with you Tom. Consumers need to be more mindful who their money is supporting when they buy something. Farmers need to get more of the money spent on coffee and other products so they can pay their workers more and keep on farming. I don't consume coffee but I do chocolate. Does the fair trade label mean you are more directly supporting farmers?
Thank you, Gina. Fair trade is not beneficial to individual farmers, only to large cooperatives. This limits its effectiveness. I was supposed to have my chocolate story available, but got waylaid by a work deadline. I’ll finish it tomorrow. Like the coffee story, it emphasizes direct trade relationships, where the person you buy from deals directly with the farmer or a processing group owned by farmers.
We strongly prefer Sumatran coffee, because of its very low acidity and because it seems to us to have a slightly higher level of usable caffeine, so we don't have to drink as much of it. But I've found it basically impossible to source ethically in the US, at least in any trustworthy way. At least, it never *feels* as trustworthy as the chains of trust you can find for some coffee from the Western Hemisphere. Any suggestions about where to look?
One of my favorite coffee shops is in the Karo Highlands of Sumatra, where I could sip fine coffee while looking out over the coffee farm. One very good direct trade coffee is from Equator Coffee in Eugene OR. Their supplier is a reputable family company in Aceh. https://www.equatorcoffee.com/products/organic-sumatran/
Coffee and chocolate are the things that make my whole world go round! I’m proud to say I tend to by certified fair trade and rainforest alliance approved products, not just because they’re more ethical, but they’re often better quality too! The best coffee, to me, is the coffee that my father sources direct from a local coffee plantation in a place called Chickmagulur - famous of growing excellent coffee in south India. He buys his coffee from a small holding. Of even more interest is that much of the ‘monsoon Malabar’ coffee is grown in or near rainforests, and hosts several endemic species! I’ve written about this quite recently :)
Being from Durham, we have been big fans of Little Waves since they started selling coffee from a bicycle. We also began ordering from Monarch Coffee in Hawaii after visiting their farm.
I haven’t yet been to Little Waves, but I sure like the way they do business. I will check out Monarch.
Are you aware of this? Do you know of any direct coffee sellers that also have this certification? https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/office-of-the-secretary-of-the-smithsonian/2025/11/20/quarter-century-weve-made-possible-protect-birds-over-cup-coffee/