Last Friday we celebrated Fair Trade Month by sampling two Certified Fair Trade and two fair trade related coffees at our regularly scheduled cupping. Our renowned master roaster Stephen Bybee was once again our guide as we tried to discern the subtle intricacies that differentiate and define each bean.

As we explained in an earlier post, fair trade related coffees are coffees that are purchased by wholesale buyers under guidelines similar to those developed by the Fair Trade Labeling Organizations International (FLO) but which allow for various models of fairness and justice that do not necessarily meet official Fair Trade Certification standards. So what then are the guidelines for Fair Trade Certification? The small-print details are actually quite complicated, but, as the TransFair USA web site puts it, "Fair Trade Certification guarantees consumers that strict economic, social and environmental criteria were met in the production and trade of an agricultural product... [It] empowers farmers and farm workers to lift themselves out of poverty by investing in their farms and communities, protecting the environment, and developing the business skills necessary to compete in the global marketplace."

Sounds good, doesn't it? See, it does to us, too, which is why Stone Creek sources, buys, roasts and sells Certified Fair Trade coffees as well as fair trade related coffees.

You can click on over to the TransFair USA web site if you'd like to learn more about Fair Trade Products and Fair Trade Certification.

On a side but related note, we'd like to mention that during this last cupping we were pleased as coffee punch--hmm, wonder what that would taste like--to see two new faces. You too can join our merry band of coffee samplers by coming to our next cupping scheduled for Friday October 19 at 9:00AM at the Stone Creek Factory. Fairly traded, amazing coffee awaits!