I recently attended a ‘cupping’ (coffee tasting) at Salt Spring Coffee’s offices in Richmond BC. This local company, founded on the BC island it is named for, has some of the tastiest roasts around, organic and fair-trade to boot. But they do a lot more than just importing and roasting great coffee.
Salt Spring supports Fair to Farmer Direct™, a third-party-certified program that goes beyond the traditional trade relationship. This means the company does a lot more for the small organic coffee growers:
- They purchase coffee from certified organic farms and co-ops only
- They pay farmers more than the fair trade base price
- They encourage long-term purchasing contracts
- They visit Fair to Farmer Direct coffee growing communities at least once every three years; many once a year
But sometimes even that is not enough. While visiting coffee co-ops in northeastern Nicaragua last March, Salt Spring made good on a project that’s been in the works for three years – delivering chippers to help make organic compost from readily available farming waste. Check out the video.
It shows that when you decide to buy Salt Spring Coffee at London Drugs, you’re getting a whole lot more than great tasting cup of java.
