Nobody knew coffee farming was a slave trade

In March, Denmark-based media organization Danwatch issued a report outlining deplorable treatment of labor on coffee farms in Brazil. The world's largest coffee grower by volume, Brazil produces six billion pounds annually, equivalent to the next three top growers combined. The report cites "working conditions that are analogous to slavery, life threatening pesticides and scarce protective equipment."

On March 28, local coffee advocate San Diego Coffee Network gathered a group of coffee industry veterans to address the report. The panel discussion touched upon conscious coffee principles — the efforts of coffee buyers and consumers to ensure workers are treated justly. Coffee Network CEO Jessica Percifield Henry said, "Our aim with this panel discussion is to help listeners understand the specialty coffee industry and why it’s important to buy coffee from socially conscious companies.”

Café Moto owner Torrey Lee says, after reading the Danwatch report, "I definitely go back as best I can and look through my supply chain for Brazil." However, he points out that such reports have been ongoing for decades. It's what prompted him to start paying more for fair-trade-certified coffee as it became available, even at a time when customers may not have been willing to pay the difference.

At first, he recalls, Café Moto didn't even tag that coffee with fair-trade labels, "because we didn't want to make a quality issue with people." Eventually, he says, Café Moto customers came to appreciate and even seek out fair-trade beans.

Bird Rock Coffee Roasters owner Chuck Patton makes annual visits to many coffee farms it sources to negotiate direct trade agreements. Like Lee and Café Moto, Patton said that, beyond purchasing beans, his company tries to actively contribute to the communities on the other end of the coffee supply line.

However, tricky ethical questions can arise. When Patton first offered coffee grown in Uganda, some customers expressed concerns about doing business with a country in the news for enacting harsh antihomosexuality laws. In that instance, Bird Rock continued to work with Ugandan farms because, he says, "We're not supporting the government but supporting the people."

However, after five years Patton stopped doing business in Bolivia due to its government legalizing coca, the plant used to make cocaine. Each return visit, he found more workers had left coffee farms for higher pay at coca farms, and less farmland dedicated to coffee. "We were getting to the point," Patton says, "where we couldn't really do as much good as I wanted to do."

Karen Cebreros cofounded of the International Women’s Coffee Alliance, a network of coffee professionals advocating on behalf of female farmers in 20 countries. She suggests specialty coffee's emphasis on a coffee's origin can drive growing awareness, not just of flavor profiles, but economic injustices.

Before the '90s, she says, "Nobody knew it was a slave trade." Today, a rising portion of the coffee industry is taking notice. "Given the dramatic changes that occurred in less than three decades, we're moving as fast as we can … the consciousness just keeps building."

Audio of the panel discussion will be available on the San Diego Coffee Network website April 11.