How does Counter Culture Direct Trade Certification differ from Fair Trade Certification?
Fair trade is a general term which describes the movement towards increased equity and fairness among the supply chain of a variety of products, including coffee. In coffee, the most widely used fair trade standard is created and maintained by the Fairtrade Labeling Organization, and their licensee in the United States, Transfair USA. Their “Fair Trade Certified” (FTC) seal is the most commonly seen fair trade certification in the market, and Counter Culture has been a proud licensee of Transfair since 2001. However, this seal is not available to all farmers: since the FLO standard includes only coffee producers who are organized into certain kinds of co-ops, independent farmers are excluded from the FTC system. Since maintaining direct relationships with independent farmers is one of our core principles of fairness and sustainability, we sought a fair trade standard that was able to include these farms, many of which are shining examples of sustainable, responsible coffee farming. Mea
