After the article about coffee and its impact on people, I decided to look for organic and ethical coffee brands in the UK.
“Climate change is coffee’s biggest long-term threat. Rising temperatures, increasing weather volatility, increased prevalence of pests, and diseases associated with climate change all contribute to lower yields and lower quality, with a damaging effect on farmers’ livelihoods. Prolonged drought, when combined with poverty, forces farmers out of coffee production and contributes to human migration. Without action the global area suitable for coffee production is predicted to decline by 50 per cent by 2050, and yet demand is expected to double (World Coffee Research 2017).” Union roasted
Here is the research’s result:
Alpaca coffee
Alpaca coffee is new to the coffee game. In April 2020, Alpaca coffee team began a Kickstarter campaign with their first plastic-free ethical coffee. The Founder, Victoria, set herself a goal not only to help you drink “responsible” coffee but also reduce your plastic consumption.
Pros
- We love their packaging and the fact that they can be added to your compost according to their website. The packaging is plastic free and home compostable!
- They really care about the coffee they offer and only use premium coffee which kind of ensure you of a good cup of coffee.
- They offer a subscription, and to be honest, everyone hates to realise you do not have enough coffee. So this is a plus!
After doing some researches through their website and their Instagram page, I found one main Brasilian factory that they are working with but no more information. One of the factories is Guima cafe which is part of the coffee association of Brasil which recognise and help local producers and has the rainforest alliance label. However, I did not find a place talking about the workers and their wage/hours/way of life. The production of coffee can be chemical and is a lot of hard work, it would be nice to have insurance for the good care of them.
I managed to contact Victoria and ask all those questions and she send me all the informations I needed in the most transparent way! They work with certified farms and estates, have a minimum ethical requirements list for each factory that they work with. They are also happy to prove that not only the farmers are paid a higher wage than the coffee producers for big companies (non-ethical coffee) but also that they have access to training, resources and education.
Cons:
- I would love for them to add the factories, the minimum ethical requirements to their website. The most transparency on all the production process will definitely help and I am sure the consumer will be happy to know the story behind each coffee bag they buy.
Cafe direct
Pros:
- They are B certified corporation which is quite a hard label to get. Here is all the info on this label.
- They work with small farmers around the globe.
- 50% of their profit goes to the communities they work with to help them grow and develop.
- They do not use any middlemen which helps with reducing the cost and so increasing the wage of the farmers.
- They offer a lot of different type of coffee at different pricing. They have organic coffee, blends, single-origin.
- They offer subscription, coffee machine, or even just trial coffee for your preference.
Cons:
- To be honest we did not find any. Well, if you want to be picky, you could say that all of their coffee is not organic or that only 1/3 of their sales is certified Soil Association Organic but well…
Pact coffee
Pact coffee was founded in 2012 with a totally new concept of subscription. You can choose to buy in bags or recyclable pods, regular roast or decaf, the grind size, the coffee range (they have different quality and explains the taste you can expect from each), the type of coffee and then the delivery ( from 1 bag each day to every 60 days).
It is fully customisable and I love this ethical coffee concept.
Pros:
- They work directly with farmers and do not go through fairtrade. That help the farmers to be paid between 25 to 125% more than the usual trade rates. When you choose your coffee range you will see the different price per coffee as well as how much the farmer has been paid.
- Someone is actually going to the farm, tastes the coffee and meets the farmer. A commitment meant to last as this ensures a better connection between businesses.
- They work with a small business which have proven sustainable practices.
- The coffee bags are recyclable.
Cons:
- The coffee is not organic but we can go above that due to a good explanation. They are working with farmers who are too small and cannot ensure not using pesticide due to their smaller production. “We don’t currently offer organic coffee, as a lot of the growers we work with are so small that it’s not possible to certify them as such. That said, we invest in our farmers so that they can create sustainable working practices and we always choose our coffees based on cupping quality. Will, our Head of Coffee, had a chat to some of our farmers about this issue last time he visited Brazil. They told him it wasn’t realistic for them to completely rule out the use of some pesticides due to coffee leaf rust. This rust is a fungus that attacks coffee plants and has been a terrible issue for farmers in recent years. Without some sensible use of pesticides, their coffee trees would simply die.”
Union roasted:
Union roasted was created in 2001 by two scientists. They decided to implement direct trade to save farmers from the drop of coffee price implemented by bigger factories.
Pros:
- They have the SCA sustainability award for their work in Ethiopia.
- Their workers receive a wage between 39% to 69% above the world market price.
- From the shipping packaging (farm to seller) to the packaging you will receive at home is recyclable.
- They have all type of coffee and source from 14 different countries and have more than 40+ producers.
- We also love that they have a real lookout for the workers and the quality of life which is amazing. They state “These families have been able to feed their children, send them to school and invest in their livelihoods. So our total indirect impact exceeds this number significantly.“
Cons:
Once again it is hard to find a con here…
If you are a coffee lover, remember that climate change will have an impact on coffee and its production. Also, coffee workers are often starving or have a really low quality of life. By just spending a bit more in coffee will prevent this last one to happen. By trying to be more sustainable we also might help with climate change.
Small changes are better than no changes.
