Help wanted with other name for ..........

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Help wanted with other name for ..........

Postby coffeefreak » Tue May 24, 2005 8:52 pm

Hey out there,

Sorry I was off line for a while. I was busy with lots of things. One is Fair Trade, Max Havelaar, Utz Kapeh and so on.

Almost all of these organisations ask money to join. So I thought of finding a new name for just the whole thing.

I want to find a name which tell that the coffee is fair trade and that the producers get paid well.

Who can help me finding such a name. Can be in English or Dutch.

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Postby Steve » Tue May 24, 2005 9:18 pm

Just tell the customers Jan, I think if they trust you they will understand. Leave Fair trade for the nestle's of this world to try and justify themselves.

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Postby Raf » Wed May 25, 2005 7:52 am

I sort of agree with Steve, although there's no use hiding your lantern under the haystack. Tell your customers "de koffieboeren krijgen een eerlijke prijs voor deze koffies".
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Postby ivdp » Wed May 25, 2005 9:10 am

And how would you know they do get a fair price? By buying direct from a farmer?
What is a fair price? More than the price the neighbour gets paid?
Or is it related to international market levels? Maybe only if the market is high?

I just returned from Java and Sumatra, saw a lot of exporters, planters, farmers, coffee trees and factories.
The only fair means of supporting the coffee community locally is a high international price.
FT, Utz Kapeh, 4C etc etc iare marketing instruments. Only those able to certify get the bonus, neighbours are being left alone.
Because of the rising international market price of the last season, things look so much better than last year or 2 years ago.
Most old crop has been sold earlier this year, (yest indeed also local people do speculate), new coffee plantings can be seen everywhere, infrastructure has become better, more TV sets etc etc. We can be hopeful for the future: better qualities and much more coffee in the coming years.
Let us not forget to drink more coffee to keep the market high!!

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Postby Steve » Wed May 25, 2005 10:01 am

But don't you think the market had a lesser influence on specialty coffee? Many of the prices of my greens, have changed very little over the past 12 months (Sumatra aside) apart from perhaps normal small price rises to track inflation. Compare this to the standard Santos and excelso prices I get offered these seem to have been affected much more.

And a fair price, is a price the farmer, importer, roaster and customer all feel like they got a good deal.

But I'm with Ivo drink more and be merry :)

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Postby mattmills » Wed May 25, 2005 12:06 pm

Very wise words.
The probelm is that the Speciality coffee counts for a small percentage of any farms coffee. It in reality is a marketing tool, and Steve you are right, acutally the price of Speciality coffees fluctuate far less than the general market, but again these top qualities are not the majority. Even the best farm/farmers will produce crap coffee this can not be helped, and this coffee goes a long way to contribute to the farm.

It is also so very difficult for anyone to to know whether the money ends up going where we think it does. With speciality coffees/direct to the farmer/ or however we by the coffee it means very little. Many occansions when coffee is bought directly from the farmer is signifies that the farm is developed and wealthy enough to even know how to do this type of export, where the majority of coffee is grown by small holders, these people are the ones that end up suffering and many people would like to help, but it is (almost) impossible to reach these people 1) as they do not produce enough coffee and 2) they would not have the first clue of how to export their goods.


My apologies for deviating off the conversational line. With regards to the name, the best suggestion i can give would be to use the George Forman way...... so good you out your name on it!
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Postby scottwhite » Fri May 27, 2005 2:21 pm

I am told that the difference between the amount a fair trade farmer gets and a non fair trade farmer is only up to 10% more, which in reality amounts to pence not pounds.

Yet fair trade is outrageously expensive IMO for the quality of beans you get relative to the price when compared to non registered bean supplies.

As pointed out, who is it that actually traces the product back to the origin source and then calls the farmer every time to check the price he/she was paid, my geuss is nobody does, it's a rip off, a way to sell poor quality beans at expensive prices, harsh but it has to be said.

Same can be said about bananas and a whole range of other products.
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Postby Gouezeri » Fri May 27, 2005 2:46 pm

Ok, so seeing as we are thrashing this one out, what are the alternatives? What means/suppliers are there for assuring that standards are maintained, both for the product and the remuneration?
Steve, think you could explain a little more about CoE?
Personally, the reason I never drink TC is that the product is no good and I have little way of knowing where the extra cost is going. That said, given the option, I think most people here (if not everybody) would choose a product where they were certain the farmer was getting a fair and balanced price
D
[I've personally already read a bit on this, but thought that the rest of the forum would appreciate the opinions of the pros.]
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Help wanted with other name for ..........

Postby coffeefreak » Sun May 29, 2005 12:35 pm

Thanks for all the input. I knew this and I'm aware of it. but..................

not all the customers let us explain the story about the coffee. That's why I need the other name. So in one sight they should be able to see it't fair trade.

Such a non existing name I'm looking for.

Jan "Coffee Freak" Schuitemaker
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Postby Gouezeri » Sun May 29, 2005 9:30 pm

One of the experts here can correct me if I'm wrong (and I've just researched this as much as possible on the net), but "Fair Trade" as a term is simply a matter of principle, an ideal, whereas "FairTrade" (no space) is the trademark. So there shouldn't be anything wrong with simply calling it "fair trade coffee" or coffee that has been "fairly traded" or even "ethically sourced" (I'm sure you can translate these into Dutch).
Education, however, must be the key and that probably entails a label or a slip of paper with the packet explaining where the coffee has come from and the ethics involved, anything else is surely just a marketing ploy based on the "feel good factor." Instead, the focus should be on quality; both of the product and equally of life.
I presume your clients come to you for a quality gourmet product Jan, I find it hard to believe that they would not be interested in where it has come from or how it was produced.
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Postby Steve » Sun May 29, 2005 9:30 pm

Jan

I think you are not being fair to your customers. And any way why would they listen to a name if they wont listen to your story.

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Postby Joey » Thu Jun 09, 2005 9:08 am

I think if you add "fair traded coffee" to any name above, that tells what it is...doesn't it? Who wants to know more asks anyway, thoise who know these terms must be satisfied.
Keep it short and simple.
If it would be that your money goes to the farm directly, it would be "mano a mano" ... from hand to hand, but I guess that's not how it's working. (sorry, I just quickly flew over the page, didn't have the time to read all intensly)
Or take a fantasyname that also draws a picture in the mind of the customer, like "Happy Farmers Coffee".... because that's what you want, leave a happy farmer on his farm, right?

just my 2 cents

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