Over the years we have seen the genesis and growth of many coffee marketing systems that, on some level, seek to put a different spin on the old school exploitative coffee industry. There are systems and certifications that focus on bird habitats, tree canopies, production practices, and social conditions. There are many varying opinions in the coffee world about which of these systems brings the most benefits to growers, the environment, and to coffee drinkers themselves. Within this discussion, there is a growing debate about the merits and deficiencies of two of the most popular systems: Direct Trade and Fair Trade.

While these systems have some things in common, they also have some stark differences. "Direct Trade" roasters market their coffee as the best-tasting coffee out there and take this idea as the final measurement of their product. Roasters using the "Fair Trade" philosophy use the relationship with the coffee grower as a starting point and work forward towards the end product from that point. Both argue that their system benefits growers and end consumers more than the other.

Instead of dissecting how DT operates or extolling the virtues of FT, this little article will instead implore you, the brave coffee drinker, to make up your own mind using one simple tenet as a baseline measurement for what you buy. I am talking about transparency.

Roasters using Direct Trade or Fair Trade can give you pretty marketing materials til the cows come home, but in the end what proof do you have? In DT the roasters will tell you (literally) "the proof is in the cup" somehow arguing that as long as the coffee tastes good, you don't need any real information about how the coffee was sourced. Most roasters using the FT angle will lean on third-party certification and stress that their practices and contracts have been scrutinized by a "disinterested" third party, while hiding their actual practices as "industry secrets". In either scheme a coffee-drinker wanting to make a decision based on real information is left with a "just trust us" model.

Transparency in business practices is the solution to this problem. If all coffee companies (and other companies, for that matter) backed up their claims by showing their financial documents (contracts, P&Ls, etc) then consumers could make informed decisions about what they want to buy removing the need for certifiers. Making consumer decisions based on facts as opposed to fluffy marketing would allow us all to choose the model we want to support according to whether or not it meets our standards. That would be true economic democracy. If a DT roaster showing you the money trail fits your personal criteria of a better company, you could choose their product. Same with a company using the FT philosophy-- you would inevitably decide on the "fairness" of their practices based on hard information.

At Just Coffee Co-op we do not hide behind the excellent taste of our coffee or a third-party certifier to sell you on our model. All of our financial information, including contracts with growers, P&Ls, and a breakdown of where your money goes when you buy a bag of our beans, is available on our website. We will continue working to make all of the info more understandable and accessible as we move forward.

Ask the companies that you buy from for transparency. Every day we hear democracy defined in economic terms-- money is the prime motivator of our governments and the companies that influence them. Until we have transparency in business-- while companies can still hide their practices-- we cannot have real democracy.

Thanks for listening!