Oxfam peddling Fairtrade scam
Fairtrade is commodity coffee, an infinitesimal contribution of the price of a cup of coffee goes to the grower.
Apart from helping the Oxfam shop meet its target, Fairtrade is a brand to make people feel good, little more.
There are many reasons to buy coffee anywhere other than an Oxfam shop:
- quality coffee
- freshly roasted
- supporting local businesses
- supporting coffee growers
The coffee in Oxfam does not display a roast date, it displays best by, which is meaningless.
It is the same in supermarkets, though there are rare exceptions.
There is a reason for this, it will be old coffee, and by displaying the roast date it will illustrate this. Therefore best not to show.
Union Hand-Roasted Coffee in Waitrose displays a roast date.
If you want fresh coffee, coffee that shows the roast date, buy from an indie coffee shop, or direct from the coffee roaster.
Support coffee growers, not through selling more coffee, which deflates world price for coffee, not through Fairtrade which adds a small premium to low quality commodity coffee, support by Direct Trade, improving the quality of the coffee grown by the farmer, who can then command a better price.
A coffee roaster such as Union Hand-Roasted Coffee works direct with the coffee farmers, helps them improve the quality of their coffee, and then guarantees to pay a higher price.
Kew Gardens is mapping Yayu Forest in Ethiopia to establish the vulnerability to climate change and what measures can be taken to mitigate.
The importance of the forest, important as any forest, is not only the diversity of species, is that it contains wild Arabica coffee trees, a reservoir of genetic diversity for coffee.
One way to protect a forest is to give it value. It has value if the coffee farmers can receive a higher price for their coffee. The way to do so is by improving quality.
Union is working with the growers to improve the quality, care of the trees, picking of the reddest, ripest coffee cherries, supply of polypropylene netting on which to dry the beans, establishment of a cupping lab to enable the farmers to assess the quality of their beans.
Union want quality beans, for which they will pay a premium above the commodity price for beans.
Direct Trade not Fairtrade.
