Just Coffee grows as Fair Trade soars

from The Capital Times

Lynn Welch

More people now wake up to the smell of fair trade coffee.

Consider recent events marking the growth of Just Coffee, Madison's Fair Trade only coffee roasting cooperative. A mention in this year's back-to-school issue of Woman's Day magazine more than doubled the number of schools across the country selling the co-op's fundraising coffee.

Just Coffee won the top two awards for best tasting coffee at last year's Madison Food and Wine Show, crushing the presumption that Fair Trade coffee brews a substandard sip.

This year, the roaster expects to top $1 million in sales.

Fair Trade certified coffee has been the fastest growing segment of the specialty coffee market, according to TransFair USA, growing as much as 90 percent annually within the past five years.

Just Coffee sees it as more than a sales opportunity.

"We don't want to be a huge, multimillion dollar business. We want to get people more deeply engaged in the issues," said Matt Earley, who co-founded the co-op with Mike Moon in 2002.

To do this, Just Coffee has designated October as "Deep Fair Trade" month. The 13-member co-op will celebrate with several events, including a 7 p.m. screening tonight of "Black Gold" at the Barrymore Theater. The film documents one man's fight for a fair price for Ethiopia's coffee growers. More information on this and other events is available at justcoffee.coop/.

It all underscores Just Coffee's mission: to ask more from consumers.

"We want to shore up the balance between producer, roaster and consumers," said Earley.

Fair Trade is more than just a marketing label or business model, Earley said. It's a way to change the global economy.

Just Coffee pays farmers a minimum of 25 cents to $1 above the world commodity coffee prices. Currently, the co-op pays $1.56 to $2 to 14 separate grower cooperatives for coffee. The coffee is imported to Madison where it is roasted and sold under the Just Coffee label mainly through small, independent coffee shops, restaurants and retail outlets, and via school fundraisers.

Moon and Earley formed Just Coffee after meeting a group of coffee producers in Chiapas, Mexico in 2000. The farmers, then paid 20 cents per pound by "coyotes" for their crop, wanted help getting their goods to market.

Cooperative Coffees, a Georgia-based green coffee importing cooperative, thought Madison would be a great spot to launch a fair trade coffee roasting business.

"People in Madison drink a lot of coffee," Earley said.

At the time, Madison did not have a dedicated fair trade coffee roaster. It did, however, have other thriving fair trade businesses including Equal Exchange and SERRV International.

Over the next year, Early and Moon developed a business plan.

But counselors at the Small Business Development Center at UW-Madison told them the 100 percent Fair Trade coffee concept wouldn't generate enough revenue to sustain an enterprise.

"We thanked them for their advice and like the hard headed people we are, we moved ahead anyway," Earley recalled.

They set up shop in the Madison Enterprise Center in fall 2002 and bought a 10-pound air roaster from Et Vous Pres owner Tracy Danner, who provided training.

Last year, Just Coffee moved into a 4,000 square-foot spot at 1133 E. Wilson St. Already, the space is cramped.

It's another sign of rapid growth in Fair Trade coffee.

Fair trade coffee imports grew 45 percent from 1999 to nearly 65 million pounds in 2006. Large specialty coffee sellers including Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts and Equal Exchange sell the highest volumes, according to a report by TransFair USA.

In addition to the big chains, every local roaster in Madison now offers some Fair Trade coffee.

While Earley said that this is a "tip of the hat" to Fair Trade, he believes that consumers really want to be able to do more.

"I honestly think that a big reason for our success is that people are looking for a way to make a difference in their daily lives," Earley said. "It makes people think they have some autonomy in a world that has gone crazy."