Fair-trade coffee plans closer to reality
January 31, 2006
Members of the UW's Fair Trade Coffee Coalition (FTCC) pressed representatives of Tully's Coffee yesterday to start serving more types of fair trade coffee on campus.
Right now, Tully's -- the sole coffee provider for the UW Housing and Food Services (HFS) -- offers three blends of fair trade coffee, only two of which are served on campus.
"This really cleared the air, so to speak," said Rob Martin, Tully's vice president of merchandising and production. "As a coffee-growing company, we didn't understand their position completely at first. We didn't know if they would start coming in and banging the tables and making demands."
The FTCC's eventual goal is to make all coffee served on campus 100 percent fair trade, said member David Yake.
"Everything about the meeting reassured us about Tully's commitment to developing more fair trade options," Yake said. "We think the relationship between the coalition and Tully's will be very fruitful not only for the campus, but also for Tully's Coffee."
To earn fair trade certification, farms' working conditions must comply with U.N. human rights standards, and their farmers must be paid at least the world market price for their product, according to transfairusa.org.
Through awareness activities such as a signature drive last month, the FTCC has promoted fair trade on campus to convince HFS and Tully's that it could be profitable, said Ashley Miller, ASUW's vice president and FTCC member.
As a result of the FTCC's efforts, Tully's is developing a fair trade decaffeinated blend and is considering producing a fair trade espresso blend, Martin said.
Tully's also plans to start serving its Evergreen blend on campus to give the UW community another fair trade option, he said.
Tully's and the FTCC found they shared some of the same ideas, Miller said.
"We wanted to build a partnership with them so we can both reach our goals," she said. "We wanted to say, 'We're here to help you with this. How can we help you with this?'"
All Tully's coffees "meet or exceed fair trade standards," even if they lack the exact certification, Martin said.
Still, FTCC members feel third-party certification is necessary to assure that standards of humanity and quality are met, Yake said.[img2]
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