Sustainable coffee trade - a topic that is currently on everyone's lips. Here is a short definition of sustainability:
Sustainability in production aims to minimize the impact on the environment, people, animals and the planet throughout the entire value chain .
The trade of coffee - Sustainable coffee trade begins at the source!
There are two things you should know in advance:
Coffee is a listed product/food - so it is dependent on the euro/dollar exchange rate.
If a harvest turns out to be bad, the price of coffee will rise. If you have agreed and negotiated prices with the farmer on the stock exchange, he may receive significantly less than he had planned. It can happen that the coffee farmer does not even cover his production costs.
Direct trading bypasses this system. You negotiate directly with the farmer and set prices that are not tied to the exchange-listed price. This means that the farmer's prices per kilogram remain unaffected despite the fluctuations.
This is how we trade our coffees - sustainable coffee trade in the coffee homeland
First of all, we at Kaffeebrewda rely on direct trade. This means: We know our farmers, their plantations, the social environment and how the coffee is grown. We personally and directly check every year. We also trade our green coffees on an equal footing! We negotiate prices locally - based on quality and not on market value!
In the country roastery, we consistently use the organic seal, which we follow and enforce. Here, we keep an even closer eye on the farmer and the coffee. The Lacon Institute is on hand to provide us with advice and support as a neutral testing body.
However, direct trade and the organic seal are not mutually exclusive. There are just a few farmers who grow their coffee according to organic standards but do not declare it as organic because they simply do not have the money for the certification.
Whether through direct trade or through the awarding of the organic seal - we ensure that all cultivation methods for our green coffee are carried out without pesticides and chemical-synthetic plant protection products.
This protects the ecosystem and we get the best green coffee - because natural coffee cherries bring significantly more aromas and flavor to the cup profile.
Sustainability in coffee - more than just coffee cultivation
For us, sustainability does not stop with the cultivation and processing of coffee. For us, sustainability also means dealing with the local people - the social aspect of sustainability. Because without a livable local basis, no good coffee plant can thrive. This can best be seen and tasted in our project coffees from Kenya and Uganda !
In our wishful thinking, sustainability sounds like green nature, fair working conditions and happy people - but even small steps like direct trade on an equal footing locally would make a big difference. This would create a trusting relationship between coffee farmers and coffee roasters, from which both could benefit. But not only the farmers and roasters, but also the customers and end users could enjoy coffee even more consciously.
Our conclusion:
As long as coffee does not grow in Germany (and hopefully this will never happen - climate change issue!), one cannot speak of sustainability based solely on the long transport routes.
But for us, sustainability means much more than just an organic seal or short transport routes. A good relationship with coffee farmers and independence from the stock market price are particularly important to us!
So when buying, don't just look for seals, but ask your roaster where he gets his beans from, whether he regularly visits his farmers at the source and what the social environment of his coffee farmer is like.
Direct trade at Kaffeebrewda and the organic seal at the country roastery do not make us sustainability champions - but we make every effort every day to become even more sustainable, in all areas of our coffee homeland!