Certified Fair Trade Coffee

Caffe Ibis is a proud licensee of TransFair USA and offers Fair Trade certified organic coffees. Purchasing Fair Trade certified coffee is ensuring that the coffee farmers recieve fair wages and product compensation for their labor when selling their coffee. Consumers are encouraged to look for the TransFair USA Fair Trade Certified seal pictured above to be sure you are supporting the Fair Trade movement.

Clearly, no agricultural product is sustainable if prices are too low to support the investment of time, energy and money. In the case of specialty organic coffee, the investment is very high, indeed. Mountain grown, specialty grade, organically grown, and shade grown coffee represent one of the most labor-intensive crops grown on earth. The extra hand labor in care of the coffee tree, repeated selective picking, care in processing, drying, sorting, packaging, and storing all contribute to superior cup quality. At today's retail prices of between $9 and $13 per pound (11 to 22 cents per cup), it also represents one of the world's best values.

However, as with other agricultural endeavors, the farmer receives a tiny fraction of that selling price. Large corporate farms and coyote speculators exploit small farmers by meeting the growers on the long road to market with their highly perishable crop on their backs. Yes, the Juan Valdez with a donkey carrying Colombian coffee in television commercials is a fantasy for too many small farmers. A Fair Trade certified price differential can make the difference between a donkey, a floor over the dirt of a home, or an elementary school education for a child.

Clearly, Fair Trade certification is a key element for a sustainable coffee future. Farmers everywhere do hard, demanding, highly speculative work, often out of a love of the land and a love of the occupation. Without a fair price for their crops, all the love in the world will not pull them out of a nosedive into oblivion. With that oblivion we will all be condemned to a life without the energy and inspiration that foods of quality give to us.

TransFair USA

Fair Trade Federation

Certified Organic Coffee | Certified Shade Grown | Certified Fair Traded
Mountain Grown Specialty Grade