Traceability
The Empire of Germany officially colonized Rwanda in 1899, and upon doing so it quickly began the production and exportation of coffee. They created a set of rules for the colonized farmers; rules that didn’t allow them to consume coffee or cut the trees down, but mandated that they grow the plant. Coffee consumption spiked in the German Empire following the unification of Germany in 1871, and coffee farmers experienced exploitative working conditions to satisfy rising demand. Not just Rwandan farmers producing coffee for the German Empire, farmers in all colonized coffee producing nations experienced similar instances of exploitation.
Rooted in historical struggle that has spanned the duration of the industry's existence, this Coffee Talk aims to provide an understanding of coffee sourcing and traceability. I will provide an overview of how coffee is traded, provide examples of various fair trade certifications that are applied to traceable coffee, and I will explain how traceability gives farms and its farmers an identity. I’m looking to inform you of why it is important to properly source coffee by providing a clear overview of what traceability is and how it works, as well as what the different kinds of organizations involved in maintaining a fair and ethical global coffee trade. Utilizing these two components of the coffee trade I’ll look to communicate how coffee producers’ identities are bolstered through this.
Traceability in its technical definition is the ability to “capture, preserve, and link the identity of producers to their commerce, not merely with technical accuracy but with moral credibility”, as defined by Starbucks director of traceability Arthur Karuletwa. The idea here being that all parties are assured that they are trading ethically and sustainably sourced coffee. In its simplest form, the coffee trade can be broken down into four ‘Pathways’ that the bean travels along its journey from seed to cup. Beginning with the Cherry Pathway, followed by the Parchment Pathway, Green Pathway, Roast Pathway.
Cherry Pathway: This part of the supply chain is when a farmer transfers picked cherries, which have been weighed and sorted for defects like unripeness and over-fermentation, to producers who process the coffee. There are a multitude of ways to process coffee, see my ‘Coffee Talk’ titled The Differences Between Coffee Processing Methods (https://thecoffeeplug.shop/f/the-differences-between-coffee-processing-methods).
Sometimes the farmer will have the facilities to process their picked coffee cherries, but this is often done at larger mills where many farms have their coffee processed by what’s called a producer. These are often referred to as estates, or if multiple producers share a mill, it’s referred to as a co-operative. A ‘Lot’ number is specific to individual harvests. No two harvests will have the same lot number. This specific information will eventually show the buyer exactly where on the farm the coffee was grown.
Parchment Pathway: Encompases the process from the moment a coffee is finished processing to the moment it reaches the exporter. A producer takes their processed coffee and brings it to market where the market will bid on lots. Winning bidders are free to export their lots. This is also where buyers can skip the next pathway, Green Pathway, and create direct trade agreements with coffee producers. ‘Skip’ might not be the best word for it though. What really happens is the two Pathways in essence merge.
Green Pathway: At this point, exporters that have purchased lots will look to find buyers for their lots of green coffee. Importers and distributors purchase these lots and act as intermediaries to deliver the green coffee to roasters and other consumers. While a lot of economic factors influence the cost of coffee at each stage of the chain, it is in the Green Pathway where distributors can most easily adjust the price per pound of their green coffee to maximize profits or earn larger margins to facilitate specific projects and developments. As the middle-men of the industry, this part of the chain can significantly impact the market. It is at this stage that the least traceable coffee can get weeded out of the supply. Most of the top quality coffee distributors will tack on extra dollars per pound in order to maintain direct trade agreements and relationships with specific farms. This not only ensures traceability and reliability for the buyer, but that money is invested into that farm in the form of increased take home pay for farmers, and money put to improving the farm’s infrastructure. Unfortunately there are many enterprises that look to exploit the industry and create massive margins from themselves. This is done by purchasing very cheap coffee, where the price per pound is much less than even the C-Price (New York Stock Exchange trades commodity coffee for a certain price, this is used as the benchmark for coffee pricing), and then selling it as highly rated coffee. But without any quality or traceability assurances, eventually these sorts of suppliers can get found out. For coffee roasters, being able to trace along the supply line is key, and if you’re a roaster that can’t get all the information and facts necessary for a specific coffee, don’t buy that coffee. This is the point where I myself get involved in the supply chain.
Roast Pathway: As the roaster, I’ve acquired green coffee and now's the time for roasters to work their magic and turn those green coffee beans into their most delicious form and deliver them to consumers either through retail or through cafes. The main concern for Coffee Plug coffee is the roast. Because after this stage, the coffee is out in the world, where any common person can experience the coffee. Connoisseurs could look to add your coffee to their collection, baristas or “Q graders'' can take the coffee to apply their craft and dial in a magical extraction of your bean and subsequently critique the product, or any random person can get their hands on the coffee and it will be a part of their experience for at least one morning. To see how The Coffee Plug fulfills a commitment to craft coffee, read the rest of the ‘Coffee Talks’ available on this website, check out my instagram @thecoffeeplug, and order yourself a bag in the ‘Shop’ tab on this site. Feedback and opening a dialogue with me is always appreciated!
Now that you have a simple overview of the stages along the coffee supply chain, let's move along. Traceability is the number one validating factor for coffee. What I mean by this is two-fold. If you are able to trace your coffee’s origin down to a farm, you know that it is trustworthy and you know that the farm is being transparent in their practices and you know which farmers get credit for the coffee. It not only validates your purchase, but more importantly, and the bottom-line of this discussion, it validates and gives proper recognition to the farmers that grew the coffee. There are about 12.5 million coffee farmers. A massive number of these farmers don’t have any sort of recognition. Giving proper recognition to farmers allows them to get noticed by more people. This in turn may increase their sales, profits, and money that can be invested to bettering the farm. Increasing the money flowing into the farm allows them to build better facilities. Better facilities lead to more efficient work and higher pay. Farms are only paid by how many pounds of coffee they produce and sell.
Having an identifier (such as a card, a stamp, a sticker, a branding emblem) can add meaning to these farmers, highlighting their uniqueness. This kind of recognition also increases the farmers’ passion for their craft. When you have farmers who are getting validated for their craft, they will have an extra spark of motivation to continue improving their methods and produce more great and even better coffee. Inspiration is often born out of validation. What I mean by this is positive reinforcement can encourage one’s mind to continue coming up with and trying new ideas. Highlighting farms helps the industry improve, and generally raises the quality and care for coffee. It also draws attention from investors that could bankroll improvements to growing and processing operations. Through best practices in coffee traceability, we as a coffee community can preserve identity and increase visibility of coffee farmers.
I touched on this a moment ago, but traceability is also important for the consumer. Traceability provides more information to the consumer and allows them to find specific coffees they like and coffee that’s higher quality. In my opinion, when it comes to coffee, as well as any other food or drink that one consumes, it is extremely important to be well informed. I think that going out of your way to understand fully what you are putting in your body will help you consume the right things, which can be healthier for you as well as tastier.
To take the conversation beyond just coffee, lots of people today are extremely trusting of stores and restaurants when it comes to the food they sell without fully knowing why they trust them. Now that’s not to say that there are generally bad practices going on across these industries, but sourcing food and drink from places where you get the most information about the product is beneficial in the long run. Buying coffee from somewhere that has taken the time to ensure the product is traceable and to compile information on the coffee, signals to the consumer that this coffee company actually cares about coffee. We live in a world dominated by Starbucks and Dunkin. While these companies have significantly improved their traceability tactics in recent years, they remain coffee places that are designed to sell a lot of coffee, and not particularly high quality coffee. A small coffee company run by people genuinely passionate about their product is the better option for any coffee drinker. Again, that principle applies to most things outside of coffee as well. Buying small not only supports and validates those businesses and individuals, but it also gives the consumer a sense of fulfillment and security knowing they are getting products crafted out of passion, and not strictly profits in mind.
Understanding coffee traceability is a wonderful thing. But not everyone has the time or energy to trace every cup they drink. This is why there are certain certifications in coffee, and all you really have to do is look at the bag you buy or ask the seller to see if it has a certification label. Several trade certifications exist. I will list them and provide overviews now. The four most prominent ones are Fair Trade certification, Rainforest Alliance, USDA Organic, and Smithsonian Bird Friendly coffee.
Fair Trade Certification: Created by Fairtrade International, this is the most popular and easiest to understand certification. For many, a Fairtrade Certification is a bare minimum certification. Fairtrade implies that the coffee is bought for at least $1.40 per pound or $.20 above publicly traded price of coffee, (C-price, the price of coffee on the New York Stock Exchange). Also entails that at least $.05 of every pound is reinvested into the farm’s infrastructure.
USDA Organic: This is the only legally defined and enforced certification. Based around farming in a holistic way, this includes being grown in soil with no prohibited substances by the USDA, like synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. USDA requires that farmers rely “on natural substances and physical, mechanical, or biologically based farming methods to the fullest extent possible.” No premium, or fixed differential here, except for fairtrade where they will pay a $.30 differential.
Rainforest Alliance: In their words, the Rainforest Alliance “aims to create a more sustainable world by using social and market forces to protect nature and improve the lives of farmers and forest communities”. They have no fixed minimums, but they are looking to transition to what they call a “sustainability differential”, which would be money that goes to farms that is separate from any premiums based on quality.
Smithsonian Bird Friendly: In their words, buying Smithsonian Bird Friendly Coffee means that you “preserve critical habitats for birds and wildlife, fight climate change, protect biodiversity, and support farmers committed to conserving bird and wildlife habitat by farming sustainably.” Coffee deemed Smithsonian Bird Friendly preserves habitats, must be USDA Organic, and protects migrating birds.
To end this Coffee Talk, let’s recap what I talked about today. The central ideas covered, hopefully, gave you a better understanding of the importance around sourcing not only coffee, but also gave you something to think about and explore further when sourcing any of the food you eat. Tracing back things we consume not only gives much deserved recognition and identity to those that put in the work to provide you with it, but it also gives you, the consumer, peace of mind knowing what you’re putting in your body. There are a number of organizations and certifications out there to help you stay informed and to help you source safe and fair coffee and food for all parties along the supply chain, all the way to your home. Next time you’re drinking coffee, or eating anything for that matter, I want you to think about every step that coffee had to go through until it got to you. Each bean grown on a tree that is several years old, harvested for weeks, and processed for up to months at a time. Then it’s traded on the market, gets bought by distributors, after which it ends up in the hands of roasters where it gets developed into a magical flavorful experience. Each of these things requires patience, persistence, and attention to detail. Every person along the way is a master of their craft, but I bet you don’t know anything about them.
REFERENCES
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