Fair Trade Morning Perk: Coffee Tidbits
Published January 19, 2009 @ 03:02AM PT
Wake up and smell the coffee. Just a little round-up of coffee news that I have encountered lately. 
- Tim Davies over at the @askforfairtrade blog shared a lecture recording from a seminar at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics. Gives a history on Fair Trade as well as positive and critical perspectives of how Fair Trade is working on the ground. Give it a listen.
- Speaking of @askforfairtrade, follow them on twitter and keep on posting your Fair Trade coffee experiences. Also, continue to contribute your thoughts on how to further develop the campaign.
- Recently, I created an action for fellow Fair Traders to Ask for Fair Trade Coffee at Starbucks and well, there was a little bit of Fair Trade fail for Starbucks last night. Basically, I went to Starbucks to do my occassional 'Starbucks Challenge' and when I kindly asked for them to brew me a cup of Fair Trade Certified coffee, the barista told me that they no longer brew their Fair Trade blend. Say wha? Something about bringing Starbucks back to their original feel and now brewing old blends that they use to brew when Starbucks first started (??). Whatever that means. Another breakdown in customer service? Somebody enlighten me, because I checked their shelves on my way out and there was a bag of their Estima Blend staring me in the face.
- So, I'm always scoping out the internets for discussions on Fair Trade (nerd alert), so I was pleasantly surprised to stumble upon TweetWorks. In particular, their Fair Trade group. First group question posed: How likely are you to buy fairly traded coffee vs. normal coffee? If you don't, is it the price or some other factor? The discussion that ensued is quite interesting. Fair Trade twitter-ers, check it out and join in on the conversation.
- Last one: Got my Thanksgiving Coffee: President's Blend in the mail the other day. Or as I sometimes refer to it, my Obama coffee. Can't wait to break it open and have my first cup of coffee to usher in the new administration with some Fair Trade coffee. yumz.
[Starbucks image: David Pullmer / The McGill Daily]
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Author
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Zarah is the Operations Manager for the Global Exchange Fair Trade Online Store, a project of the international human rights organization, Global Exchange. Alongside her work with marginalized communities from all over the world to get their products into the international market, Zarah serves to educate and inform the public about a more just and sustainable trading system.
