Specialty Coffee Retailer is a publication for owners, managers and employees of retail outlets that sell specialty coffee. Its scope includes best sales practices, supplies, business trends and anything else to assist the small coffee retailer.
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exchanges like the Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange in New York. This has played a large part in recent price volatility, as financial managers and other non-industry players have increasingly sought commodities like coffee as alternative investments. Tea, on the other hand, is traded mainly though public weekly regional or national tea auctions, according to Byers. The prices at these auctions are published weekly, setting a benchmark for direct sales and making the tea market more responsive to supply and demand. "So current high market prices in tea are likely a real benefit to producers, while in coffee high market prices also bring increased financial risk/exposure to producer organizations," Byers wrote. This is because when market coffee prices temporarily exceed the Fair Trade price, small growers in a Fair Trade cooperative are tempted to sell their crop on the open market, depleting the co-op's supply. DIFFERENT GOALS Differences between coffee and tea lead to different goals for sustainability. Because most tea farms are larger than coffee farms, they're more likely to have hired hands, which brings up issues of fair wages and benefits. Byers is part of a "Tea Wage Project" with the government of Holland and other FAIR TRADE AND BY LEE BYERS One of the best moments in working for Fair Trade was my first visit to a Fair Trade certified organic tea estate in India. At first, I was just overwhelmed by the warm welcome and reception by the workers on the tea estate: all the workers came to greet us, and they brought us garlands of flowers and incense. It was very humbling, because oſten these workers have very little themselves, and it was a great privilege to see their sense of purpose that comes from Fair Trade. I was privileged to see one of the workers on the tea farm, a young woman in her twenties, get up and give a PowerPoint presentation on Fair Trade premium investments to the management of the tea estate, the workers committee and to us. It may be difficult for some to understand why that is such a big deal, but in a country with quite defined boundaries of class, gender and language, there was just a real sense of something changing, of empowerment, of giving dignity and a voice to someone who is obviously very bright and giſted. You could see the challenge and fear in her eyes to take that first step, but also nongovernmental organizations. The project is looking at three heavy tea-producing areas (the Assam region of India and the nations of Malawi and Indonesia) to record baseline wages and suggest ways to raise them. The size issue in tea farms also affects specialty tea certification. Larger farmers, who are more likely to be approached by certification organizations, tend to grow mainstream tea more oſten than specialty tea. This drags down the proportion of specialty tea with sustainable certification. TeaSource's Waddington fears that smaller growers, who are more oſten the source for specialty teas, get bypassed by sustainability certifiers. "You're going to raise some controversy with my opinion on this, but I think the fair trade organizations have done a poor job of making fair trade certification available in the tea industry," he says. "It's kind of slanted in the tea industry toward the big boys, and the small family tea growers who actually oſten surpass the big boys in how they treat their workers, they can't afford to get certified." BIGGER ISSUES The larger size of tea farms also shapes agricultural and environmental issues. "Big tea farms—oſtentimes, as far as the eye can see, there's Lee Byers (right) on a visit to a certified tea farm in India. Photo courtesy of Fair Trade USA the joy as she spoke publicly (through a translator) for the first time about justice, hope and a better future for her family and others. What I am trying to say is that it is not all about the money; the Fair Trade premium paid is very valuable and it goes towards health clinics and education and things that directly benefit the workers on tea farms. But Fair Trade is also about empowerment and building community—and that is really special. November 2011 • www.specialty-coffee.com | 19 L ee In t e B r y . na e tiona l r s i s s e nior ad v i s or f or c off ee a nd t e a f or F ai r t r ade