MEITUS: New coffee labels, same bargain

By Marty Meitus, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published October 14, 2008 at 3 p.m.

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As most people know by now, coffee is no longer just coffee, just like chocolate is no longer just chocolate. Instead, coffee can have a host of labels, from Fair Trade to Organic to Single Origin - just like chocolate.

I'm a huge coffee drinker - make that a huge coffee snob - but that also translates into wanting to know more about what I'm paying for. In these lousy economic times, I'm not willing to forsake one of my true pleasures - good coffee. But I'd also like to see my money go a little further than just my daily cuppa.

To find out whether I'm doing a little passive social and environmental work, I called Doug Welsh, roast master for Peet's Coffee & Tea, which has numerous shops in Denver. Here are some of the terms you see popping up on labels:

* Fair Trade: This label is one way to know that small- scale family farmers are being paid a set minimum price for their coffee.

TransFair USA, a nonprofit organization, certifies that products have met the strict international Fair Trade criteria and licenses U.S. companies to carry the label on their Fair Trade product. Fair trade doesn't mean coffee is organic. However, Fair Trade Certified coffee does have some environmental requirements, and 78 percent of Fair Trade coffee is organic.

Welsh says Fair Trade is a wonderful way to support farmers. But there are other certification programs as well because individual farmers and large farming groups aren't eligible for the program, and in some cases the Fair Trade program is just being implemented in certain coffee-growing regions.

"We also buy coffee from equally progressive larger farms with benefits, and for those we have to look to other certification programs," Welsh says. Fair Trade represents about 2 percent of the world coffee market.

* Organic: The term organic, whether coffee or carrots, is regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture with strict guidelines. "If you invoke the word on the package," Welsh says, "you must follow the same rules, even if it's produced in Sumatra." Many high-end coffee growers don't use herbicides, pesticides or chemical fertilizers, but only the label is a guarantee.

* Single-origin: Single-origin coffee is farmed and produced in one country or region or on a specific estate. Welsh gives the example of Peet's Guatemala San Sebastian. The coffee used to be labeled "Peet's Guatemala"; now the label designates the specific estate in Guatemala.

* Bird-Friendly: The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center has come up with the Bird-Friendly certification for coffee farmers in Latin America who grow coffee under a canopy of trees that maintain the habitats of birds. The coffee is called "shade-grown." You must be an organic farm to qualify for the Smithsonian label. While Bird-Friendly is the program of the Smithsonian, Rainforest Alliance Certified also has been certifying shade-grown coffees that meet their requirements for a decade.

Although they're worthy programs and designations, Welsh doesn't consider Bird-Friendly the same as other labels. "There is no internationally recognized standard of what Bird-Friendly means, nor is the term controlled by contractual agreement (a la Fair Trade license). Which is to say, unfortunately, that there is nothing to stop any retailer from claiming any of its coffees are Bird-Friendly."

Whatever coffee you choose, Welsh points out that a pound of coffee is still good value for the money. At $13.95 a pound for the specialty coffees, he figures, that works out to about 35 cents a cup.

Not bad for an everyday pleasure.

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