Comments on: Klatsch Warfare

By: green LA girl

green LA girl — Sun, 30 Oct 2005 05:31:26 +0000

Yeah — Even as a fair trade advocate, I have to admit that at times, I’m very disappointed at the limited reach of the fair trade movement.

But hey, like you said, WCE — it’s a step — in the right direction…

By: WCE

WCE — Fri, 14 Oct 2005 12:21:22 +0000

The fair trade wine is a new one on me. For what it’s worth, I can assure you that no Kiwis were exploited to bring you that sauvignon blanc. Although God knows I worry about German vintners – it keeps me awake most nights.

So to what does this fair trade wine apply? I can see Argentina possibly, or Chile maybe. But the lot of the vineyard workers there is generally better than that of other agricultural workers. The same applies to the USA (for wine grapes). In South Africa the vineyard workers ARE exploited, but no worse than anyone else.

To me the problem with “fair trade” stuff is that it is a teensy tiny self-congratulatory patch on the problems of globalism. I know, I know, longest journey – single step, act locally etc etc. But still.

By: daw

daw — Fri, 14 Oct 2005 10:44:19 +0000

As you guys already think I’m morally defective, perhaps it will not surprise you to hear that how much the supplier got paid for some good that I’m purchasing matters absolutely zilch to me. I’m wholly mystified by the impulse to pay extra for literally no benefit. Why not just give to charity? Why build charity into your coffee purchase? And if you did, would this be the charity you felt it most important to support?

I live in the UK (where fair trade labels are all over wine also) — I’m aware of the label, and I treat it, just as peterb suggests, as a sign of reduced quality at the price. Something not to be embraced but avoided! Actually, contra peterb, I am also suspicious of organic goods for exactly the same reason — and try to avoid buying them whenever possible.

By: Mike Collins

Mike Collins — Sun, 02 Oct 2005 16:59:58 +0000

One of the easy ways to explain the Folgers and Yuban buyers (in addition to the continued presence of massive drip pots) is simply inertia – people are used to Folgers and to bad coffee preparation. God knows, I didn’t actually enjoy a cup of coffee until I was 23, because my definition of a cup of coffee was the burned drip-pot produced Folgers swill my parents drank. My father is addicted to gas station coffee.

By: green LA girl

green LA girl — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 17:18:40 +0000

OK — that’s SO NOT True about vegans! And this is coming from a nonvegan. Yes, there are some vegans who’re not foodies, but by and large, they are! check out Vegan Lunch Box (veganlunchbox dot blogspot dot com>, for example. Of course, it’s a lil tough to prove that it actually tastes good from a picture…

Anyway, back to coffee — I can agree that getting coffee stores on board is a big part of the movement, but I guess I feel like the strides made in fair trade so far have been at the grassroots level with individual consumers. Fair trade label recognition is at 50% in the UK — and I’d venture to say that — if it hadn’t been for consumer demand — Tea Leaves would not care enough to be posting about it either — no?

And your summary’s rather off, in my view — though perhaps that’s due to my own writing? Ric of Groundwork does sell a lot of fair trade coffee certified on the farmer’s end — some of his best tasting coffee, in his words. It’s not an either or issue. He just felt that quality should be one of the criterion for certification — that ALL certified coffee should meet a certain quality — which some may agree with.

My question about improving quality for FT coffee to make it more attractive to consumers would be — If consumers care so much about quality, how do we explain all the Folgers and Yuban buyers? For some, price is obviously THE deciding factor — and in general, grosser=cheaper — fair trade certified or not –