What is Fair Trade Coffee?

Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Organic -Good luck saying that name five times real fast…

I stopped back in at my new favorite coffee roaster- Coda Coffee- to see what else I could try – I walked away with a pound of their Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Organic coffee, and a question.

This was late on a Friday afternoon, so I was forced to wait until Saturday morning, mouth literally watering on the drive home from the fragrant smell of this organic, fair trade certified coffee. I love a light roast coffee and this one does not disappoint. My preferred method of drinking is to brew it first thing in the morning and then let it sit for a few to cool down. Right out of the carafe I picked up slight chocolaty and even a hint of cherry flavors. After cooling down for a bit is when I could taste the hints of citrus this wonderful coffee is known for.

Some of you may wonder why light roast/dark roast? What does it all mean? More on this later…

The question I walked away with? As I was sitting down enjoying this exotic drink- I began wondering what exactly is “Fair Trade Certified”. I have heard the phrase and have a basic understanding of what it means, but have never really researched it in depth- so here is my understanding.

Fair trade Coffee is coffee purchased at a higher price in order to ensure that the farmers are paid a fair price. Essentially this is a way to ensure that the farmer is not being paid pennies for something he should be receiving dollars for, just because of his/her economic status. There are different standards that must be met and maintained in order to get the certification and have that little stamp on the product. As the consumer, we don’t really see an increase in the price as the only thing it really affects is the profits of the company selling the coffee.

So next time you have the option to buy a Fair Trade product, you can know that your dollars are being split a little more evenly to help out people that worked for it!

Enjoy!