Fairtrade

A formal certification model with standards around minimum pricing, labour conditions, and community investment, designed to support safer working conditions and economic protections for producers.

Filed under

Claims on the bag

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Claims on the bag

What it means

A formal certification model with standards around minimum pricing, labour conditions, and community investment, designed to support safer working conditions and economic protections for producers. It gives buyers a recognisable ethical framework — but a logo does not automatically reveal whether every aspect of a coffee's journey was handled well.

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Where this leads

Each one pushes this into the cup, compares it, or helps you act on it.

Claims on the bag

Organic

One formal farming framework.

Separate certification value from cup quality. Both matter, but they are not the same claim.

How coffee gets bought

Direct Trade

Compare certification with relationship-led sourcing.

When you see direct trade on a bag, ask what the buyer is actually doing, not just what phrase they chose.

Which world you're in

Specialty Coffee

Then ask where cup quality actually sits.

Treat specialty as a quality ambition that still needs to be proven in the cup.

Before roasting

Arabica

Widen out inside coffee without leaving the same problem space.

Read arabica as a clue, not a verdict. Species matters, but origin, varietal, processing, and roast still decide the cup.