A jolt with a difference (continued)

Seth Petchers, coffee-program coordinator for Oxfam America, says Fair Trade coffee offers a potent way for companies to show that social responsibility is on their agenda. The product is also of the highest quality, he says, as demonstrated by the fact that Fair Trade farmers in Nicaragua claimed seven of the top 10 spots in a competition sponsored by the development organization TechnoServe. "Given fair resources and the ability to invest in quality products, these farmers are really able to deliver some of the best coffee in the world," Petchers says.

In this combination of premium product, surging popularity, and feel-good outcomes, one might sense a marketing opportunity for the big industry players. After all, as an article in Time indicated in March, Fair Trade sales have tripled over the last three years, now composing 2.5 percent of the specialty-coffee market. For the most part, though, the giants seem to marginalize the significance of Fair Trade coffee even when they incorporate it into their offerings.

Massachusetts-based Dunkin’ Donuts, for example, last year began using Fair Trade coffee beans exclusively in its new line of espresso beverages, but the copious television advertising this summer for the company’s iced lattes makes no mention of this. (In response to a request for comment, Ed Valle, Dunkin’ Donuts’ director of brand marketing, says in a statement that Fair Trade beans "meet or exceed two percent of our overall coffee purchasing. . . . We’re excited that with the launch of a new product, we had an opportunity to use Fair Trade beans at 100 percent levels. Right now, we’re focused on building demand for that product line, and ensuring a growing and quality supply of Fair Trade coffee beans.")

Starbucks, with almost 4000 shops in the US, has one Fair Trade variety among its whole-bean offerings and periodically offers one Fair Trade brew. (Starbucks officials did not return a call seeking comment.) Procter & Gamble, the maker of Folgers, the leading seller in the US, and the Millstone specialty brand, last year introduced Mountain Moonlight, a Fair Trade–certified coffee, but until its scheduled arrival on store shelves in September, it has been available solely via the Internet.

Tonia Hyatt, a P&G spokeswoman, says that only a relatively small number of coffee growers — about 600,000 of 25 million — benefit from Fair Trade practices, and that industry-wide efforts to narrow the disparity between global supply and demand are more important. P&G has tried to stimulate more sales through new products, she says, while also supporting technical efforts to help farmers, and advocating that the US rejoin the International Coffee Organization. When it comes to Fair Trade coffee, Hyatt says, "The consumer, in the end, decides how much we sell."

Of course, some of these big players have another reason to avoid a fuller embrace of Fair Trade coffee. As Oxfam’s 2002 report noted, "The big four coffee roasters — Kraft, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, and Sara Lee — each have coffee brands worth US $1 billion or more in annual sales. Together with German giant Tchibo, they buy almost half the world’s coffee beans each year. Profit margins are high — Nestlé has made an estimated 26 percent profit margin on instant coffee. Sara Lee’s coffee profits are estimated to be nearly 17 percent — a very high figure compared with other food and drink brands. If everyone in the supply chain were benefiting this would not matter. As it is, with farmers getting a price that is below the costs of production, the companies’ booming business is being paid for by some of the poorest people in the world."

In some instances, American industry induces demand for products, arguably in ways contrary to the public interest. Gun manufacturers, for example, reversed slumping sales through the introduction of semiautomatic weapons, like the 9mm pistol, which became an icon of the subsequent crack-fueled crime wave of the late 1980s. Similarly, carmakers’ introduction of sport utility vehicles helped to wipe out the gains in fuel economy achieved after the mid-’70s oil crisis. When it comes to Fair Trade coffee, though, it’s the small players — cafés, co-ops, roasters, and religious groups — who have propelled the growing popularity of this socially responsible product.

AS THE OWNER of a small East Providence coffee-roasting company with four employees, Rik Kleinfeldt is familiar with the Catch-22 surrounding Fair Trade coffee: it’s easy to find through cafés, markets, and other sources for those who seek it, yet largely invisible to the great majority of other consumers.

"It is very frustrating in the sense that most people will express sympathy for the farmers’ plight," Kleinfeldt says, but don’t put their money where their mouth is. "To me, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to reach the person who buys Folgers and Maxwell House," even though New Harvest’s $8.50 online price for a pound of organic Fair Trade is competitive with what Starbucks charges for a 12-ounce package of the non–Fair Trade stuff.

So it goes, cup for cup, and pound for pound, as Fair Trade proponents try to get their message out. More ham-fisted efforts — like an unsuccessful attempt a few years back to require coffee sellers in Berkeley, California, to sell only Fair Trade, organic, or shade-grown coffee — are ineffective by comparison. And although some other roasters around New England — including Dean’s Beans, in Orange, Massachusetts; Green Mountain Coffee, in Waterbury, Vermont; and Ocean Coffee Roasters, in Middletown — lean toward Fair Trade beans, these seem like the exception, rather than the rule.

Kleinfeldt, a 38-year-old Ohio native, is a confirmed java junkie — he typically drinks eight cups a day, including four espressos, without getting jangly. As someone who came to Providence to pursue a PhD in history at Brown, roasting coffee is a way of following his bliss while also practicing socially responsible business practices. After working for a decade at the Coffee Exchange — itself a strong local supporter of Fair Trade coffee — Kleinfeldt started New Harvest with his wife, in 2000. The company’s Rhode Island clients now include Olga’s Cup and Saucer, White Electric Coffee, Pastiche Fine Desserts, Seven Stars Bakery, Whole Foods Market, and AS220, all in Providence; Bristol Bakery, in Bristol; the Coffee Depot, in Warren; Village Hearth, in Jamestown; and the Revival House, in Westerly. Its list of out-of-state customers is also growing. Fair Trade coffee constitutes two-thirds of New Harvest’s sales, and the company’s logo — showing a strong hand grasping a coffee plant — sums up its populist philosophy.

As New Harvest notes on its Web site, "Some people — maybe most — dismiss things like Fair Trade coffee as ‘politically correct.’ We find this perplexing. Most people, in this country and elsewhere, have to work for a living. Most Americans have little in common with the people at the top of the corporate ladder. Their wealth is really unimaginable to most of us, and grossly excessive. By buying non-Fair Trade coffee, you cast your lot with them, to the detriment of coffee farmers on the brink of starvation."

Like New Harvest, Equal Exchange has enjoyed the kind of growth that would please even the most bottom-line-oriented businessman, yet the worker-owned company remains unabashedly left of center. "Our mission is not profit-maximizing," says organizing director Virginia Berman. "We make profits and employ 75 people on wages they can live on in Greater Boston and enjoy a great quality of life. We’re not about multi-million-dollar salaries," since the co-op’s top-paid people earn no more than three times the income of its lowest-paid workers.

Among other efforts, Equal Exchange has been a leader in working with religious organizations to promote the use of Fair Trade coffee. In one such case, Catholic Relief Services unveiled an effort in January designed to raise sales of Fair Trade coffee among the 65 million Catholics in the US.

Berman acknowledges that efforts to raise awareness about Fair Trade remain at a very early stage. Like most Fair Trade boosters, though, she holds out hope that this brand of feel-good coffee — and its underlying philosophy — will continue to grow in popularity. "Most people in the US want to do the right thing," Berman says, "and when given a choice, it has been our experience that consumers would prefer the product that’s going to treat someone [at the source] with dignity."

Encouraging more people to become critical consumers constitutes a major challenge in the US, where shopping represents something akin to a state religion. Even without taking into account its numerous tangible positive effects, however, Fair Trade coffee offers the possibility of a different way of doing things.

Ian Donnis can be reached at idonnis[a]phx.com.