One question I hear a lot while doing coffee demos in supermarkets is “what do those symbols mean on the coffee bags?” This is an easy one to answer, and might be informative for our readers!
The first and easiest to explain symbol is the “Certified Organic” symbol.
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The next, and in my opinion most important symbol on a coffee bag is “Fair Trade Certified.”
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Fair Trade is a trading partnership between coffee purchasers, and producers, which guarantees economic justice for the often impoverished producer by setting a floor price at which coffee is purchased for. The details in this social and economic partnership are complex, and I will devote my entire blog next week to try and explain it. Suffice to say for now that at FCN, we only drink Fair Trade coffee, and are trying to slowly convert our catalog over to Fair Trade as quickly as possible.
The last symbol I will go over today is “Bird Friendly” (also known as “Shade Grown.”)
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“Bird Friendly” coffees are the only coffees on the market that are certified as shade-grown and organic by an independent third-party inspector using criteria established by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center of the National Zoo. These criteria are based on years of scientific research.
If you have any questions or comments please feel free to chime in. Look for my next post which will be all about Fairly Traded coffee.
Matt