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For instance, Fairtrade coffees must be produced by people who’ve been paid a fair price which covers the costs of production. (The price is always more than the usual market rate). There’s also extra money to help improve working and living conditions – as well as credit which allows producers to plan for the future.
What’s more these coffees tend to be ‘shade grown’. Unsurprisingly, this means that they grow in the shade – as opposed to plantations which cut down indigenous vegetation to make way for coffee plants.
And as the trees providing shade are also home to many migratory birds, shade grown coffee is definitely A Good Thing.
The Fairtrade model is well established and many other products are now being certified (chocolate and bananas are the most recent).
In some European markets, Fairtrade has gained a significant share of the market. For instance, in Holland, Fairtrade coffee accounts for almost 15% of the total coffee market – and its share is growing rapidly.
You can also expect to see big global companies start to offer Fairtrade products.
So what’s Matthew Algie doing about all this?
In 1997 Matthew Algie signed up with the Fairtrade Foundation and developed a range of Fairtrade coffees called Tiki. A growing number of co-operatives have joined Fairtrade, so we now have access to more superior coffees – coffees which are also 100% certified organic.
Since we started selling Fairtrade coffee, we’ve seen these sales grow by 40% every year. It’s your choice to serve Fairtrade, but if you’re not offering it already, now could be the time to give it a try.
However, we realise Fairtrade’s not for everyone. That’s why donating directly to coffee-related charities can be an effective option too – check out the article on Coffee Kids.
This article originally appeared in Fresh 11 | 
