Would You Pay More For Fair Trade?

How much thought do you give to your favorite coffee when you see that “Fair Trade” symbol?

The word “fair” tells you that this must be something good. But, I dug deeper, and I’m going to give you a mini-lesson in Fair Trade operation. Stay put, because this will make your coffee taste even better. Here’s how Fair Trade works:

Sometimes, coffee farmers don’t get paid enough money to pay for the cost of growing their beans, which makes it impossible for them to feed their families – and even worse, making it impossible to invest in growing practices that can enhance the coffee bean. Coffee companies, like Green Mountain Coffee, that are Fair Trade Certified, guarantee the coffee farmers a fixed price for every pound of coffee.  This guaranteed profit allows the farmers to invest in best practice growing methods, and more importantly, allows them to feed their families. With a guaranteed price, farmers can not only buy food for their families, but actually buy health care and invest in education. Fair trade is a win-win; it brings better quality for you, and the farmers and their families.

Now, doesn’t that make your Fair Trade Certified coffee taste better? To really get a “feel good” feeling, friend Green Mountain Coffee’s Facebook page, and see all of the great things that are happening around the world with Fair Trade.

Of course, a great cup of coffee goes beyond humanitarian dynamics, and is built upon the magical confluence of roast, blend and brew… and the perfect equipment. A home process that leads, more often than not, to frustration. This explains why so many of us carry around our own coffee-shop brewed-to-perfection cups.

“Blending,” say the folks at Green Mountain Coffee, “is where the art is. Knowing which notes will harmonize, and which are better left to solo.”

Something you just can’t fiddle with at 6 a.m. when your brain is too fuzzy to think. So, it was with skepticism that we tried the K-Cups Portion Packs from Green Mountain Coffee. Could this little cup really contain magic? The science and art of a great cup of coffee, reduced in micro-size? Surely, it would taste too weak… or too “instant.” Yes… it would have that instant flavor…not the deep, dark brew that you need to get yourself going in the morning. Instant. That was all I could think about when ever I looked at the box.

So, we grabbed the Keurig machine and took it in the car with us to go to the lake, where some of our friends would dole out gold for one of those coffee-shop cups, and shared our brew. In less than a minute, hot, piping coffee jetted out of the machine. Good things take time, I thought to myself. I gingerly handed the cup to our first guest. (He, by the way, is my painter tutor…)

He set the cup back down on the picnic table, on the deck, overlooking our fire from the night before, and let the cup brew a bit. Then, he brought the cup of up to his lips, and said, “Excellent.”

My husband, who drinks Starbucks every morning, and does not like “instant” coffee was waiting for his reaction. He put the cup of Green Mountain Coffee “Our Brew” to his lips and took a sip of his cream/sugar brew.

“This is good coffee,” he said.
“As good as your Starbucks?”
“Yeah… just as good…” a second sip, a second cup. “Better than Starbucks.”

All day long, that machine and those cups just sit there… it’s just too easy to grab a second cup. Because, each cup is already engineered to bring out that perfect flavor… with all of the blending and brewing decisions already made for you, condensed down to one simple little cup.

Pushing that little brew button can be addictive. I’d like to give you a chance to win a Keurig coffee machine and K-Cup Portion Packs of Fair Trade Green Mountain Coffee, provided by BlogHer. To enter, leave me a comment about whether you look to see if your coffee is “Fair Trade Certified” before you buy it.

You can enter between September 8-24, 2011. Here are the official rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry
methods:

a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post

b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment
on this post

c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on
this post

d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about
an alternate form of entry.

Other chances to enter are here.