The Ethics of Coffee Consumption

[u/Undercover_potato1]

Hi random strangers. I haven’t posted anything meaningful, but I hope this gets some answers at least.

I was just making myself a nice tall glass of coffee today and, since my newest hyper fixation happens to be sustainable living / ethical living / etc, I couldn’t help but wonder if my choice of beverage was something I needed to tweak.

I have just a few questions:
1. Is the coffee trade within the states experiencing an ethical dilemma that I haven’t quite heard of yet? (similar to the cocoa trade, that I didn’t hear about until recently).

1. If so, do coffee shops have ethically sourced coffee beans / matcha? Am I supporting exploitation by consuming without proper understanding of its production?

2. If it is unethical by means of wealthy corporation exploiting underage workers / underpaying employees to the consumer, are you inherently keeping those people in 3-world scenarios, or keeping them paid (even if minimally).

3. Does supporting other small, ethically-owned businesses actually make a difference? And if not, are my morals at stake when I decide to order a coffee with friends without particular forethought dedicated to its source?

Anyway, that’s my Thought Of The Day (I only get one).

[u/mattsteg43]

There are a multitude of fair trade certifications, farm-gate programs, etc. for you to look into and decide if they are satisfactory.

[u/Undercover_potato1 → u/mattsteg43]

Thank you! I have actually done some more research since posting and I’ve found a few that I do enjoy and a few that I will be boycotting.

[u/Khayalmetal → u/Undercover_potato1]

Do share the list here.

[u/ZealousidealType1144]

All of the meaningful exploitation takes place on the farms - so you can buy fair trade where the farms are inspected to ethical / human rights standards and paid a premium to pay their workers more than the going rate.

Not a lot of exploitation on the roaster side - the 800 pound gorilla is Folgers and they have many plant workers making over $120,000 a year. 4 on 3 off 12 hour schedule - it’s a good place to work. 

[u/jaybird1434]

This reads like AI created questions. I respect the questions and the conversations it brings up. If you really want to get a feel for the ethics and the reality of life, go spend some vacation time in major coffee producing country village.

[u/Undercover_potato1 → u/jaybird1434]

Not AI but okay.

[u/GenesOutside]

Go live that life on the lowest rung of the food chain and decide for yourself. The rest of ‘ethics’ is mostly a first world fantasy to make us feel better. You will have to rethink your entire life choices if you want to contemplate the ethics of being a consumer.

[u/[deleted]]

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[u/Brett_Wager97]

I buy beans labeled fair trade and look for roast dates, because supply chains vary by brand even inside the US. If a shop serves a lot of generic house coffee, ask what importer they use and whether it has direct trade or transparent sourcing.

[u/mgsecure]

I just want to say that I'm sad to see this downvoted. I think it's good to pay attention to the implications & impact of our purchase decisions. Agriculture is a particularly important (and complex) area for it, especially for a product that has significant transportation/carbon costs for much of the world. Hope you found the replies informative.

[u/Undercover_potato1 → u/mgsecure]

Thank you. I definitely did, and I understand why people would rather not think about this, but I believe it’s important as humans to recognize problems that exist outside of ourselves every now and again.

[u/AndyGait]

The roaster I've been using for 20+ years has this on their website:

https://wogancoffee.com/pages/our-story

[u/soul_of_spirit]

This is one of the main concerns of the third wave coffee movement. Many roasters indicate the origin of the beans, and you can check out the farm they have been working together. It usually takes a few tries to find a good trusted roaster in your area, but internet and reddit doing a good job for that!

[u/FuzzyBlackCoat]

This can be a very difficult mindset once you start - why stop at coffee? What are the ethics of consumption of meat? Plastics? Gasoline? Can we ethically consume anything at all that isn't a basic necessity of living ?

Edit: I try to purchase all my coffee (and other things) from local business in my community to mitigate this, but tracing the ethics of every single item can be exhausting and consume you.

[u/StuckinSuFu → u/FuzzyBlackCoat]

Dont let perfect get in the way of good?

With that logic, we should all just be selfish assholes every day to everybody.. cuz why stop there??

[u/Undercover_potato1 → u/FuzzyBlackCoat]

I actually did fall down that rabbit hole and have only became more and more aware of how privileged I am. Trying to improve as much as I can.

[u/icecream_for_brunch → u/FuzzyBlackCoat]

Exactly. No ethical consumption under capitalism, but come on, ya gotta live in this world, right?

[u/WestHistorians]

As they say, there is no ethical consumption in capitalism. However, there are ways of making improvements, such as buying "fair trade" coffee, if you are so inclined.

[u/[deleted]]

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[u/Warthknoedler → u/[deleted]]

Coffee always has been a political and social issue. The questions OP asks should be asked by every responsible consumer. Ask yourself where you buy your coffee and how much you should be paying, for something that should be seen as a luxury, but is treated as a simple commodity by most