Tuesday, March 30, 2004


fig leaf anyone?

that global coffee giant sara lee -- one of the so-called "big four" multinational coffee roasters responsible for that stuff in the supermarket cans -- has agreed to begin using a little sustainable coffee is a good step.

but as the article makes clear, it's purely a public relations move. still, when i was at the scaa committee meetings last year in atlanta, i did have the privilege to meet one of the utz kapeh people, who i believe is good friends with well-known greenie, surfing champion, and scaa big-wig c. wolthers.

(note to self: notice how many scaa people surf. is surfing the specialty coffee equivalent of golf? are all the serious specialty deals made on the banzai pipeline? must check this out. . .)

what's unclear to me is what "sustainable" actually means to sara lee: it may not mean a living wage for coffee farmers, it probably doesn't mean bird-friendly or pro-songbird, pro-rainforest, and it probably doesn't mean organic.

like "natural," or putting "low-fat" on bottles of high-sugar, sickeningly sweet soft drinks, "sustainable" probably means nothing meaningful for sara lee. true, the coffee is certified by utz kapeh, and they stand for something.

but in what amounts will they be using it? what is their timetable to expand & increase their use of certified sustainable specialty coffee? these are the hard questions. and i'll bet we consumers will never get a good answer to them. . .

we consumers should demand better quality, better tasting coffee, we should demand cross-certified coffee -- coffee that is sustainable, organic, pro-songbird, living-wage coffee all of it -- and we should be willing to pay a fraction more for it.

by fraction, i mean fraction. we're talking maybe a mere US$0.50 out of what is generally a US$10-per-pound specialty coffee.

what's interesting is that the theme of this years scaa's conference is in fact sustainability. it's just under a month away now.

if you haven't registered to come join us for the scaa coffee lovers' consumer-member track -- a full weekend of workshops, events, and fun socializing -- there's still plenty of time. i'll be seeing you all there i hope!

wouldn't it be fantastic to pull espresso together? i'll make a shot for you if you'll make one for me!

posted by fortune | 10:05 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments