I had lunch recently at a restaurant in Arlington, Virginia and was offered coffee or a cappuccino. The regular coffee was fair trade. But the coffee used to make the cappuccino was "direct trade." I wasn't familiar with that term but have since discovered that direct trade is an alternative to fair trade.Direct Trade is an effort by US coffee importer and retailer Intelligensia to do more and better for coffee producers. How?
Intelligensia works directly with coffee growers to help improve the quality of their coffee. They pay growers or cooperatives (not exporters) a 25% premium over fair trade prices. They closely monitor what growers are doing and the impact of these efforts, which requires a hefty commitment in terms of time/travel/education/etc.. And they expect growers or cooperatives to commit to "sustainable" social and environmental practices.
What's the big difference between Fair Trade and Direct Trade? For one, Intelligensia doesn't seem averse to working directly with family-owned farms (which Fair Trade doesn't do). But, the main difference may come down this: direct trade cuts out the fair-trade middleman . . . Intelligensia doesn't pay to put the fair trade logo on their coffee, instead they put their own logo on the product and that logo indicates the existence of a continuing relationship with growers.
Building a strong relationship with growers is a costly investment that may be sensible for specialty-coffee retailers operating at the high end of the market and serving discriminating consumers (who want to support this kind of support). This strategy may not work for importers buying lower-grade, cheaper commodity grade coffee. I was wondering about for craft products like those that Indego's partners produce . . . IA has the kind of continuing, deep relationships that Intelligensia has with its producers -- should IA be a Direct Trade retailer?
(Photo: coffee cherries ripening on the shores of Lake Kivu, Rwanda. One of my pictures.)
- Karol
5 comments:
This is a subject i am very interested in. I would love to know how i can find out more about this if you could indicate any further reading i can do. Thanx
Karol: Thanks for everything you are doing with Indego Africa and for your post on Direct Trade. Just wanted to point you -- and annig -- to some blogs that are hosting/have recently fostered some good discussions of the Direct Trade model:
coffeelands.crs.org
shotzombies.com
sprudge.com
transcendcoffee.com/blog
Hope these leads help! Love the photos...wow.
M
Thanks so much for both comments -- Annig sorry to be late responding. Michael has really helped with the suggested readings. You might also check what Counter Culture coffee is up to.
Karol
just saw this post...good stuff!
check out this newer company promoting coffee companies sourcing in the "direct trade" model. www.dtcoffeeclub.com current roasters are barefoot, intelligentsia, and madcap coffee.
Direct trade proponents often make a big deal about Fair Trade pricing. But there's more to it than that — to get the Fair Trade label, coffee producers must meet basic democratic and environmental standards, and importers must not only guarantee the price but making sustainable purchasing agreements beyond one purchasing cycle. A "direct trade" coffee might do this — or, y'know, they might not. They might not even be telling the truth. If you're buying coffee from a small, passionate company you trust, okay. But be very suspicious when Nestle, Altria, Starbucks, and etc., starting making noise about cutting out the "middleman". That middleman isn't there to take a cut of profits — they're there to insure integrity.
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