Wild Bean Cafe plays fair with Costa Rican coffee

3 May 2010

Wild Bean Cafe plays fair with Costa Rican coffee beans

The coffee bean faces uncertain prices on the international coffee market, and increased costs mean world coffee production is dropping. However, the popular Kiwi flat white is playing an important role in Costa Rica - and other coffee producing countries - by helping to ensure farmers are paid a fair price for their coffee when it’s purchased through the Fairtrade system.

As New Zealand’s biggest retailer of Fairtrade coffee, Wild Bean Cafe accounts for 29 per cent of New Zealand’s Fairtrade Certified coffee market. Wild Bean Cafe’s Retail Marketing Manager, Raewynne Lory, says the choices we make here have a very real impact on coffee farmers in other countries.

“We use 100 per cent Fairtrade Certified coffee, which means that Wild Bean Cafe customers can enjoy their coffee a bit more, knowing they are helping to do good,” she says.

“Fairtrade makes a tangible difference to third world producers and the communities they live in. Quality of life is improving for people in countries like Costa Rica because of the Fairtrade contributions we choose to make in New Zealand.”

San Isidro – a region three hours south of San Jose – is the first Fairtrade coffee town in Latin America and is home to 150,000 people. More than 10,000 coffee farmers are members of the cooperative CoopeAgri, which gained Fairtrade certification for its coffee in 2004.

However, only 14 per cent of the cooperative’s coffee is sold on the Fairtrade market, due to limited importer and retailer demand for coffee beans at the higher Fairtrade price.

Wild Bean Cafe’s transition to 100 per cent Fairtrade Certified coffee in June 2008 accounts for approximately 10 per cent of CoopeAgri’s Fairtrade exports.

Victor Hugo Carranza Salazar, General Manager of CoopeAgri, says Wild Bean Cafe helped “keep the cooperative alive” in 2009. The cafe retailer’s Fairtrade premiums helped purchase tens of thousands of new coffee plants for farmers to replace old and damaged plants. The cooperative also invests in expert technical assistance for farmers, water recycling initiatives and the production of organic fertilizer, which is encouraged under the Fairtrade stystem.

“We believe we deserve a better life, and if we work together we can achieve it,” says Victor Hugo Carranza Salazar.

Fairtrade guarantees that farmers are paid a fair, sustainable price for their coffee. If the market price is higher than the Fairtrade mimimum price, farmers are paid the higher price. Buyers also pay a Fairtrade premium, a sum of money in addition to the Fairtrade price, which is reinvested into the cooperative to improve production levels, based on democratic vote by the farmers.

“The Fairtrade goal is to ensure the farmers who actually produce the coffee are paid a fair price for their product, so that they become empowered in their own businesses. This is not charity, this is a sustainable business practice that delivers what is fair to producers,” says Maria Trogolo, Policy and Producer Manager for Fairtrade Australia and New Zealand.

“As a Fairtrade retailer, it reconfirms to us the importance of Fairtrade to the survival and livelihood of these farmers,” says Raewynne Lory.

Ends

www.wildbeancafe.co.nz
www.fairtrade.org.nz

Editor’s notes:

Wild Bean Cafe accounts for 29 per cent of New Zealand’s Fairtrade Certified coffee market, as of October 2009 (Source: Fairtrade Labelling ANZ)

Wild Bean Cafe has 79 stores in New Zealand and 108 stores in Australia, all of which supply 100 per cent Fairtrade Certified coffee and hot chocolate

Approximately 25 per cent of Wild Bean Cafe’s coffee is sourced from CoopeAgri in San Isidro, Costa Rica

Wild Bean Cafe also sources coffee beans from cooperatives in Brazil, Mexico and Peru, and cocoa beans from Ghana.

Wild Bean Cafe is supporting Fair Trade Fortnight (May 1-16) and its “Big Swap” theme via an in-store coffee and thermo mug promotion

Coffee facts –

Every day 1.4billion cups of coffee are consumed around the world

Mornings are the most popular time of day for a cup of coffee – accounting for 60% of world coffee consumption. 30% of coffee is consumed in the afternoon and the remaining 10% at night

South America is responsible for more than 50 per cent of the world’s coffee

Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world

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