Fairtrade Coffee FAQs

Extract Coffee Roasters Supply Chain Honduras - Roaster to Grower

FAIRTRADE COFFEE EXPLAINED

Fairtrade certification is a big talking point in coffee. It's something we're asked about time and time again. Is our coffee Fairtrade? What exactly is Fairtrade coffee anyway?

The coffee supply chain is complex (the image at the top of this page, illustrates everyone involved from grower to roaster). The coffees we roast at Extract Coffee Roasters aren’t Fairtrade certified. But they are ethically sourced from growers we know and trust, who farm with respect for people and planet.

In this Fairtrade Coffee FAQs we explain more about what Fairtrade coffee means in the speciality coffee market and the similarities and differences between Fairtrade and our coffee sourcing.

IS EXTRACT COFFEE CERTIFIED FAIRTRADE?

Our coffee is better than Fairtrade. We pay a price that’s higher than Fairtrade because the quality of the coffee we buy is so high.

Coffee is a commodity crop. That means its traded on international markets around the world. This is called commodity coffee.

The coffee we roast is speciality coffee which is traded outside of the commodity market.

This coffee is such high quality, growers can sell this for a price which is higher than the Fairtrade minimum price. This means that for high quality, speciality growers, there is no incentive to getting Fairtrade certification, even though their farms operate in a fair and ethical way.

Of course, this doesn't mean that we don't buy any Fairtrade coffee. Some of our coffees are sourced from cooperatives which have official certification, however the individual lots we buy don’t usually carry this certification and certification at cooperative level is not a pre-requisite of our buying policy.

WHAT ACTUALLY IS FAIRTRADE COFFEE?

Fairtrade coffee is coffee which is produced by a farm, mill or grower who is certified by The Fairtrade Foundation, a global not for profit organisation that upholds an agreed set of “fair” standards for workers producing products around the world through its certification programme.

This is what the Fairtrade Foundation says about what Fairtrade and who they are:

“Fairtrade is a system of certification that aims to ensure a set of standards are met in the production and supply of a product or ingredient. For farmers and workers, Fairtrade means workers’ rights, safer working conditions and fairer pay. For shoppers it means high quality, ethically produced products.

The Fairtrade Foundation is an independent non-profit organisation that focuses on four key areas of work in the UK:

We license the use of the FAIRTRADE Mark in the UK

We help to grow demand for Fairtrade products and empower producers to sell to traders and retailer

We find new ways of working with our partners to support producer organisations and their networks

We raise public awareness of the need for Fairtrade and the significant role of Fairtrade in making trade fair.”

HOW DOES FAIRTRADE CERTIFICATION BENEFIT COFFEE FARMERS?

In coffee, the Fairtrade model ensures a minimum price guarantee to producers for their coffee. When it was first introduced the model pulled a lot of farmers out of poverty.

For growers producing commodity coffee, or lower grade speciality coffee it means that the farmers can guarantee a minimum price for their coffee.

However, coffee growers producing higher quality coffee can make better returns by separating out the best quality coffee and selling it as speciality grade coffee, rather than selling through Fairtrade channels.

The better quality the coffee, the more a grower can sell it for. This is the end of the market that Extract operates in, and prices are much higher than the Fairtrade base price.

BUT HOW DO YOU KNOW YOUR COFFEE IS ETHICAL IF IT ISN’T FAIRTRADE CERTIFIED?

Speciality coffee is bought on a quality based premium. Extract Coffee Roasters pays a higher price for exceptionally high quality coffee.

To produce coffee of this quality, growers need a skilled workforce. Skilled agronomists to work on the farm, experienced pickers to harvest perfectly ripe cherries, knowledgeable workers to meticulously sort coffee at the mill.

Farm owners offer attractive wages and welfare packages to attract the best workers to their farm. These packages can include above-average wages, pensions and help with buying land upon retirement, education for workers’ children at schools on the farm, housing and even healthcare.

Extract Coffee Roasters works with high quality importers including DR Wakefield, Volcafe, Mercanta and Algrano. These importers manage the logistics and legalities of transporting coffee around the world. Importers also have rigorous audit procedures which gives Extract confidence that the farms we work with are free of child and slave labour and have good working conditions for the people producing our coffee.

Ultimately, we think that it’s about trust and traceability. At Extract, our coffees have 100% traceability back to the farm. We work with growers we know and trust and have developed relationships with these growers over many years.

You can read more about our coffee growers, and the support packages in place for their workers in our Ethical Coffee Sourcing pages.

WHY AREN’T ALL HIGH QUALITY GROWERS FAIRTRADE CERTIFIED?

The costs and paperwork involved in Fairtrade certification are significant. For coffee which is exceptionally high quality and being sold for a premium anyway, certification won't necessarily mean more earnings for that grower.

In some cases, larger cooperatives are able to bear the administrative and financial costs for Fairtrade certification, then audit growers within the cooperative to ensure they all meet Fairtrade standards. This is the case for Sol y Cafe, a cooperative in Peru whose coffee is in our Organic espresso, Rocket espresso and Project Peru filter sachets. In this case, the coffee we buy does not carry fairtrade certification, even though we are buying from a cooperative that is certified.

Many of the farms we work with are smaller, family-run businesses. Because the coffee they produce is already being sold for more than the Fairtrade premium, the time and expense of Fairtrade certification simply doesn’t make sense for them.

IS FAIRTRADE COFFEE THE SAME AS ORGANIC?

Organic certification is another tricky subject. In order to claim they are organic and to use an organic accreditation, such as The Soil Association or USDA, farms need to go through a process of organic certification to show they meet organic criteria and standards.

Organic focuses on how products are grown and their impact on the soil, environment and animal welfare. It’s less focused on the people in the supply chain. So whilst there is some overlap, the standards are different to Fairtrade standards.

In the coffee industry, organic doesn't always show the whole picture. The best quality coffee is grown using organic methods, but the expense of certification certification means not all growers are certified. Quality based premiums can outweigh the benefits of certification - just like with Fairtrade.

You can read more on our Organic Coffee FAQs page.

IS FAIRTRADE COFFEE BETTER QUALITY THAN UNCERTIFIED COFFEE?

No. In speciality coffee, a Fairtrade certification does not mean the coffee is higher quality.

All of the coffee we buy is speciality-grade coffee. Speciality coffee is top grade, scoring 80 points or higher when graded.

The price of speciality coffee is based on the quality it scores at grading. We pay more for better quality and this price may be above and beyond an organic premium.

IS FAIRTRADE COFFEE MORE TRACEABLE THAN UNCERTIFIED COFFEE?

No, not for the coffees that we roast and sell.

At Extract, our coffees are 100% traceable back to the mill, cooperative, farm or even the individual lot. That means we can tell you exactly where that coffee has come from, who imported it and what checks have been done on that individual grower to ensure they are operating correctly.

This is often the case for speciality coffee roasters, but is not necessarily the case for commodity coffee which is lower grade. These coffees can be a blend from many different producers, all certified Fairtrade, but there’s no traceability to individual farms and lots.

ALL THAT READING LEFT YOU THIRSTY?

You can buy our ethically sourced coffee online using the links below. Or, if you'd like to keep reading, we have more resources in the Ethical Coffee Sourcing section of our website.