Orleans Coffee Exchange is committed to supporting environmentally sustainable coffee growing practices that treat coffee growers fairly. We participate in programs that encourage practices such as shade growing, biodiversification, and organic farming.

Fair Trade Coffee
Orleans Coffee Exchange is pleased to announce that they have been licensed by TransFair USA to roast and distribute Fair Trade Coffees. Fair Trade coffee raises incomes and living standards for small coffee farmers overseas while helping to protect the environment. Fair Trade does not promote charity but instead promotes self-reliance for farmers who are disadvantaged under current trading conditions.

Fair Trade practices include paying farmers a fair price for their harvests; an amount that provides a decent wage for their labor. Currently the Fair Trade price is well above the severely depressed prices paid to most coffee farmers for their crop. The Fair Trade program provides working capital to farmers, allowing them to avoid the exorbitant interest rates that small coffee farmers are often charged. The program also promotes sustainable agricultural practices, such as organic and shade grown farming, that help protect the environment. And Fair trade premiums are used by producer co-ops to improve health care delivery in their communities and to support community social programs for women and children.

Enrollment in the Fair Trade program costs farmers nothing. They must demonstrate that they are democratically administered co-ops where each farmer has an equal vote and produce coffee that meets the quality standard agreed upon. The coffee is then offered to certified importers who make it available to certified roasters. Roasters must report their purchases and sales of Fair Trade Coffee to TransFair USA and pay them a small (per pound) fee to help offset their administrative expenses. This ‘chain of custody’ is important in that it guarantees that only coffee that is certified may display the Fair Trade seal.

To learn more about Fair Trade and TransFair USA, visit their Web site at www.transfairusa.org.

Specialty Coffee Association of America
Orleans Coffee Exchange is a longtime member of the SCAA. The SCAA is the trade association for the Specialty Coffee industry, one of the fastest-growing food industries in the world. Specialty Coffee—sometimes called "gourmet" or "premium" coffee—is grown in the world's most ideal coffee-producing climates and prepared according to exacting standards. One of the SCAA's primary functions is to set the industry's standards for growing, roasting and brewing.