Fair Trade and Organic

Choices in Fair Trade and organic coffees

There's been a lot in the press lately about organic and fair trade coffee. According to an excellent article on the subject in TheNibble.com, coffee is a "heavily sprayed" crop, meaning that its production involves pesticides. Organic coffee is certified to have been grown without the use of such chemicals.

In order for coffee to be labeled as "Fair Trade," it must meet a set of parameters set by the Fair Trade Labeling Organizations International and the U.S. governing body, TransFair USA. In short, the coffee must be produced by small, individually owned coffee farms, and companies buying the beans must pay more than a set minimum per pound for beans. Producers must run farms democratically and be committed to sustainable agricultural and environmental practices. Many Fair Trade coffees are also organic.

We didn't find many specific reviews for Fair Trade or organic coffee, but CoffeeReview.com conducted a review of 20 Fair Trade coffees, in which the Green Mountain Organic Ethiopian Yirgacheffe (*Est. $9 for a 12-ounce bag) (*est. $9 for a 12-ounce bag, whole bean or ground) received high praise. This variety is also organic (Green Mountain makes several organic and Fair Trade varieties). This coffee is also highly rated in an article at TheNibble.com, which doesn't rate or rank coffees as rigorously as CoffeeReview.com, but does declare Green Mountain Yirgacheffe one of its favorite coffees.

While we didn't find many other top ratings for Green Mountain Yirgacheffe coffee, we did find several other articles that recommend Ethiopian Yirgacheffe beans in general. CoffeeReview.com editors call the Green Mountain coffee a rich, bittersweet coffee that would be enjoyed by those who like a "softly exotic" medium brew or a cup that hovers between sweet and savory. In a more recently written review, testers at CoffeeReview.com rate Allegro Rwanda Karaba Fair Trade coffee even higher, though this brand is harder to find than Green Mountain.

Ethiopian Yirgacheffe in general was selected as the favorite type of coffee in both Food & Wine and The Nation, but both tested varieties from specialty coffee roasters whose products are not available in supermarkets. Food & Wine chose the top five boutique coffee roasters and named a few of their favorite coffees -- Yirgacheffe was mentioned twice. Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee also pops up in The Nation's Fair Trade taste test, in which the writer said, "Clearly, Yirgacheffe from any vendor has something going."

Boutique coffees from small roasters are outside the scope of this report, but that's where you'll find a wide variety of organic and Fair Trade coffees. According to critic Davids, coffee lovers no longer sacrifice taste when choosing organic vs. non-organic.