Look for a small Fair Trade logo that
identifies fairly traded products. Photo
courtesy Green Mountain Coffee.

Today’s tip is to purchase a Fair Trade product. May 11th is World Fair Trade Day.

Fair Trade is a practice that seeks to aid economically challenged, small-scale farmers around the world. Many of them labor in poverty to produce the cacao, coffee beans and other crops we take for granted. Because of the “system,” they often earn less than it costs to produce the crop.

While America’s small farmers often endure severe economic hardships, American children go to school and families have access to public health care and other assistance. In third world countries, however, these “essentials” can be hard to come by. And since school is not mandatory in certain countries, many children instead work in the fields to contribute to the household income.

Why is the situation so bleak? Most small family farmers live in remote locations and lack access to credit, so they are vulnerable to local middlemen who offer quick cash for their crops, at a fraction of their value.

Through Fair Trade, farmers and their families earn better incomes for their hard work. This allows them to hold on to their land, keep their children in school and invest in the quality of their harvest.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP: BABY STEPS

Use your purchasing power to make an impact on the lives of small farmers and their families.

 
THE FAIR TRADE MOVEMENT

Certified Fair Trade products now comprise a multi-billion dollar industry, with over 10,000 products in the marketplace. Consumer demand for fairly traded products has steadily risen over the last decade, thanks to the tireless work of dedicated advocates and advocacy organizations, committed companies and student activism.

Fairly traded chocolate is delicious. Photo courtesy Divine Chocolate.

Fair Trade is a business practice that protects the environment while improving livelihoods.
The fair trade movement, which includes different certifying agencies, has a vision of a world in which justice and sustainable development are at the heart of trade structures and practices, so that farmers can maintain a decent and dignified livelihood. Read more about it at FairWorldTradeProject.org.

You’ll see different logos on Fair Trade products: There are many organizations around the world dedicated to the promotion of fair trade and its values. In North America, the leading organizations are the Fair Trade Federation (FTF), TransFair USA, and the Fair Trade Resource Network.

Internationally, the big names are World Fair Trade Organization and FLO International. Here’s more about Fair Trade certifying agencies and the logos to watch for.

Thanks in advance for pitching in this great cause.

Kopali Organics specializes in chocolate-covered snacks: banana, cacao nibs, espresso beans, goji, goldenberry, mango, mixed fruits, mulberry and pineapple.

The products are also Fair Trade Certified, which means that the enterprise supports thousands of family farmers and communities worldwide (more about Fair Trade certification).

Plus, 100% of profits go to The Sylvia Center, a garden-to-table program that inspires young people to discover good nutrition on the farm and in the kitchen. You can feel good about your purchase.

We’re become enamored of Kopali’s Organic Chocolate Covered Banana snacks, bits of banana covered in delicious semisweet chocolate.

Even better than a plain chocolate snack! Photo courtesy Kopali.

For a limited time, you can save more than $1 a bag by purchasing a 12-pack of Kopali Chocolate Banana (normally $3.99 a bag, now $2.92). Buy them directly from the company website.

Don’t worry that 12 bags might be too many. These treats may become your favorite snack…and are certain to earn the appreciation of any friends you share them with.

Learn more about Kopali Organics snacks at Kopali.net.

Make your daily chocolate nibble fairly-
traded. Photo of Equal Exchange Minis by
Elvira Kalviste.

This year, we went Fair Trade for Halloween. That means that the chocolate we handed out was ethically produced.

While you won’t see many articles about it, cacao is an agricultural product that uses child slave labor in the fields. Just search for “chocolate slave labor” and you’ll read all about it.

Start with this article from CNN. The journalists document that “child labor, trafficking and slavery are rife in an industry that produces some of the world’s best-known brands.”

So, with a small effort to help make the world a better place, we buy Fair Trade/fairly traded products whenever we can. Especially for Halloween, we don’t want to give kids chocolate that enslaves other kids.

Equal Exchange chocolate is a producer/packager of chocolate, cocoa, coffee and tea, supporting small-scale farmers and their families in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Panama and Peru.

All of the products are organic as well as fairly-traded. The company motto: “Small Farmers, Big Change.”

Fair Trade ensures that farmers are paid fair value for their beans. In more than a few situations, brokers buy up crops for less than it costs to produce them, keeping small farmers in an endless loop of poverty.

Fair value affords money for adult labor (enabling the farmers’ children to go to school instead of working in the fields), a minimum standard of living and sound agricultural practices that protect both workers and the environment.

This issue impacts mass-marketed chocolate brands. In the case of the expensive gourmet chocolate, the chocolate makers are already paying top dollar to the best farmers (those fortunate to have the land in the areas that produce the best beans) to secure the limited supply of the world’s finest cacao (so you can feel good about paying $6.00 or more for that chocolate bar).

“Fair Trade” is a trademarked term authorized by TransFair USA, a nonprofit organization that audits transactions between U.S. companies offering Fair Trade Certified™ products and the international suppliers from whom they source. TransFair is one of 20 members of Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO). Read more on the issues of Fair Trade.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FAIR TRADE & “FAIRLY TRADED”

Only products certified by TransFair USA can use the trademarked term, “Fair Trade.” Products certified by other organizations must call themselves “fairly traded.”

EQUAL EXCHANGE HOLIDAY GIFTS

If you want to buy products that are ethically sourced, Equal Exchange and other producers are more than happy to provide them.

Equal Exchange has candy bars for stocking stuffers, boxes of minis (single bites of chocolate) for those who like to nibble and tins of cocoa, along with tea, coffee and gift baskets.

Shop online at Shop.Equal.Exchange.com.

And spread the word about Fair Trade.

Equal Exchange’s fairly traded, organic candy bars. Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

Fragrant and luscious, this tasty tea
needs no added sugar. Photo courtesy
Choice Organic Tea.

The lychee (pronounced LIE-chee, not LEE-chee, after the Chinese lai chi) is one of the most popular fruits in Southern China. The evergreen grows wild in southern China, northern Vietnam and Cambodia, although there is evidence that it has been cultivated since around 2000 B.C.E.

Lychee tea is highly esteemed in China. Following an ancient process, tea leaves are infused with the succulent juice of the lychee. The lychee is also a symbol of beauty. This tea has delicate woody overtones with a hint of sweet lychee flavor.

Alternative spellings include lichee, litchi and other variations.

We’ve been enjoying Lychee White Tea from Choice, a line of tea that is certified organic and Fair Trade Certified.

Blended with the exotic flavor of lychee fruit and osmanthus flowers, the tea is lush and aromatic. It’s a beautiful tea to drink plain, without sweetener. The lychee supplies its own delicate sweetness, and the tea can be enjoyed hot or cold.

Choice Lychee White Tea is available online.

Learn more about Choice at ChoiceOrganicTeas.com.

October is Fair Trade Month. If you don’t know about Fair Trade, it’s important enough to devote a minute to read this.

Small family farmers in developing-world countries grow much of the world’s cacao, coffee, tea, fruits and vegetables, cotton, flowers, ingredients for beauty products—more than 3,000 products in all.

The vast majority of family farmers must take whatever brokers or other buyers offer for their crops, which can be less than market price and less than what it costs the farmer to grow them. Conventional trade practices traditionally discriminate against these poorest farmers.

Fair Trade policies address these injustices. Fair Trade establishes practices that provide these farmers with fair terms of trade: fair prices—so they can make a small profit and send their children to school—decent working conditions and local sustainability.

Fair Trade Certified, the logo of Transfair,
is one of the global Fair Trade certifying organizations.

Manufactured products that sport a Fair Trade logo participate in these fair practices, enabling poor farmers to improve their financial position and send their children to school (instead of needing them as farm laborers). There are several global Fair Trade certifying organizations, the logos of which ensure that standards have been met, including Fair Trade Federation, Fairtrade Foundation, Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO), Transfair and The World Fair Trade Organization.

When you’re making a choice at the retail shelf and see a Fair Trade logo, think of the good that you’ll do by purchasing that brand.

Yesterday’s posts focused on tea. Now coffee gets its turn—in the form of coffee candy.

The artisans at How Do You Take Your Coffee?, a confectioner in Reno, Nevada, like their coffee so much that they freshly roast their own beans prior to making four different types of coffee candy.

The candies are innovative and sure to please the coffee lover—and the chocolate lover, too, since there’s a touch of chocolate in each.

The line is very different from Caffe Acapella coffee bars, a prior Top Pick Of The Week. Caffe Acapella make a chocolate bar-like product that’s all coffee.

How Do You Take Your Coffee? has bite-size candies—like the Java Rocks in the photo plus coffee and chocolate in a candy shell (think coffee M&Ms). The company uses fairly-traded coffee beans to make its products.

Java indeed rocks in this line of coffee
candy. Photo by Katharine Pollak | THE NIBBLE.

Just mix the concentrate with milk and
you’ll be transported to India. Photo by
Katherine Pollak | THE NIBBLE.

Chai lovers: You can now enjoy this spiced exotic treat in your own home. Rishi, sellers of organic tea, have launched an organic and Fair Trade Masala Chai tea concentrate.

Masala chai is made by brewing black tea with a mixture of aromatic Indian spices and herbs. Chai is the generic word for tea in Hindi and Punjabi and many other languages around the world—English speakers use the word “tea” from the Chinese “te” (from a dialect spoken around Xiamen). If you ask for chai, you’re only asking for tea; so show your superior knowledge and ask for masala chai if you want spiced tea.

Rishi’s Masala Chai concentrate is all natural and microbrewed (brewing in micro-batches enables producers to adjust each batch according to the seasonal characteristics of the ingredients). You just add milk, then heat it or drink the tea cold over ice.

The concentration of fine spices in Rishi’s brew makes your mouth tingle and transports you to the Indian subcontinent (put on some appropriate tunes as you enjoy the masala chai).

There’s a bonus: Every purchase helps the Jane Goodall Institute including Roots & Shoots, a global, environmental and humanitarian program for young people from preschool to college.

Look for Rishi’s Masala Chai concentrate at select Whole Foods Markets through the end of April; and afterward wherever Rishi teas are sold, including Rishi-Tea.com.

In honor of National Fair Trade Month, this week’s Gourmet Giveaway prize is not only socially conscious, but also smooth and satisfying.

Six winners will enjoy Brazilian coffees from National Geographic’s Terra Firma coffee brand. All Terra Firma coffees are Fair Trade Certified™, which guarantees fair prices to farm families, environmental stewardship and investment in farming communities.

We know many people will love Terra Firma coffee (it was on our Father’s Day gift list in June). The single-origin, specialty-grade coffee is sourced from six of the world’s finest growing regions: Brazil, Ethiopia, Costa Rica, Colombia, Sumatra and Kenya. If you don’t win, you can purchase it on Amazon.com in light, medium and dark roast, ground or whole bean. The handsome bag makes it a nice gift, too.

It’s effortless to make the world a better place, simply by buying Fair Trade coffee.

It’s effortless to save the world by drinking
organic, Fair Trade coffee. Photo by
Ermek | IST.

With coffee emporia nearly everywhere you look—cafés and shops that sell beans—you’d think that coffee was a hot growth category. Yet the annual growth rate of conventional coffee between 2000 and 2008 was just 1.5%. Organic coffee imports experienced a 29% annual average growth rate during the same period, and Fair Trade® coffee, 35%. Last year, the amount of organic coffee imported into the United States increased 12%, and Fair Trade coffee increased 30%, despite the worst economy in 70 years and the premium prices that both command.

You’d think this would be great news, but just 0.6% of the coffee sold in the major consuming countries is organic certified, and even less is Fair Trade certified.

In honor of National Fair Trade Month, we’ve reviewed some of our favorite organic and Fair Trade coffees. Agricultural products can be organic and Fair Trade, organic or Fair Trade (obviously, the vast majority of foods are neither). What do these terms mean? In brief:

Yet of the $18 billion spent on coffee in the U.S. last year, the tiniest fraction went to organic and Fair Trade coffee. You can make a difference while enjoying an excellent cup of java.

If you regularly buy organic chocolate, you’ve probably tried Green & Black’s. If you’re not “experienced” with G&B’s, you’re in luck: The line is widely available at retail as well as online. The U.K.-based company was a pioneer in the organic chocolate space, the world’s first organic, Fair Trade chocolate company. It has helped the cacao farmers of Belize stay on their farms and do what they love—grow cacao—instead of taking city jobs to support their families. Green & Black’s has proved that a company can be committed to environmental sustainability and Fair Trade prices, and still make a tidy profit. In fact, Green & Black’s organic chocolate is the U.K.’s fastest-growing confectionary brand, which prompted corporate giant Cadbury Schweppes to purchase Green & Black’s, in which it had a small stake, in May 2005.

Most of Green & Black’s bars are flavored, with four notable exceptions: two darks, a milk and a white. What we like most about G&B’s bars is that the flavors are never coy on the palate; they’re strong and forthright, demanding your attention with every bite. Read the full review for more about Green & Black’s chocolate bars—available in 13 varieties.

If you are a fan of dark chocolate, then you’ll fall in love with G&B’s 70% Dark Chocolate bar.