Fair Trade Proof

Transparency is an essential aspect of Fair Trade.  Fair Trade networks from IFAT (the World Fair Trade Organization) to FLO (Fair Trade Labeling Organization) place transparency on the list of essential fair trade standards and criteria.  As members of Cooperative Coffees, the Fair Trade green bean buying cooperative, we are involved with an online transparency tool that allows anyone the opportunity to view every piece of paperwork involved in bringing coffee from farmer to roaster.

The website allows the user to do several things.  First, you can become familiar with what all the documentation means.  Once you understand the documentation, you can start to trace a particular cup of coffee.

We believe that being a Fair Trade company means that we need to honestly and openly fulfill every aspect of Fair Trade, which, is much more than just paying a higher price.  Most importantly, Fair Trade is a long-term, equitable partnership between farmers and roasters.  Our trade mode includes pre-financing, sharing information and working together for higher quality coffee and fairer business conduct.  Total transparency allows all actors to operate at the same level, without concealing anything.

As coffee consumers, retailers, roasters, importers or producers, we can decide to be better informed about the choices we make.  With truth, comes the power to make things better.

You can now trace the origins of our coffees by lot number at  www.fairtradeproof.org.