Thursday, October 23, 2008

Coffee Kids 20th Anniversary DVD Now Available

We recently completed a DVD celebrating our 20th Anniversary with the help of Machine Hero, a Rhode Island-based communication arts company. The original 10-minute film can be seen below. It explores Coffee Kids role in the global coffee community and how support for Coffee Kids translates to support for the long term future of the specialty coffee industry.

The DVD features additional information on conditions in coffee-farming communities and extended interviews with Coffee Kids’ Founder Bill Fishbein and Board President Rob Stephen, as well as Carlos Murillo of Expocert, a former Coffee Kids partner, and Lois Maffeo of Batdorf and Bronson Coffee Roasters, a Coffee Kids supporter. Machine Hero did a great job of capturing the nuances of our mission and we’re proud of the results.

The DVD is available for $10, please visit our online shop and scroll down to the propaganda section or send an e-mail to

Monday, October 20, 2008

Marketers Taking an Interest in Fair Trade

Anyone who’s been around coffee for, say the last 10 years, is quite aware of the fair trade movement, which is why it surprised me to run into this article in BrandWeek, “Marketers Eye Fair Trade Certified As the New ‘Green’.” Fair trade is the next big trend?
It seems to be all everyone talks about. But I suppose that’s for folks in the industry. It’s interesting that paying a fair price to farmers should be some kind of market niche.

Reading the article, it seems organic is yesterday’s news, the green idea is hitting its stride and now fair trade will be the new in-thing for big businesses. But what it all boils down to is that unless farmers and their families have economic options outside of individual products like coffee, tea or chocolate, their problems will continue. It’s great to see the movement getting the attention of marketers and brand folks as more consumers demand it, but there’s a lot more to equal treatment than the bottom line.