Coffee ABC - L is for Labels (and Certifications)
Did you know that coffee was the first product to be certified, marketed and sold under the "Fairtrade" label (then named "Max Havelaar"), back in 1988? Nearly 40 years later, we have a mind boggling amount of different labels for the products we use in our daily life and many of us have come to rely on it without actually knowing anything about the label / certification. We as a roastery get asked about the subject frequently (Is this coffee fair trade? Is your coffee organic?) and although we are by no means experts in the field, it's a great topic to dig a bit deeper into.
We'll go over some of the most prevalent labels and certifications in our market, touch on some of the lesser known labels, look into more recent policies and self-labelling and make sense of what it all means for the players along the value chain. Finally, we'll also talk about the role labels play within Specialty Coffee and their pros, cons and challenges.
Becoming certified
Obtaining a label includes not only the production of the respective goods according to standards defined by the label / organization - every producer or handler along the value chain also needs to be controlled and checked (i. e. certified) by the organization issuing the label or by a third-party on their behalf. In the case of coffee, this means not only does the producer need to be certified, but all parties handling the goods (and adding value or making any changes to said goods - like packaging and re-packaging) need to adhere to the policies and also become members of an organization or at least pay a fee to use the respective label on their product. This is similar for most labels / certifications which are recognized the world over, like Fairtrade, Bio, organic, Bird Friendly or Rainforest Alliance (which now includes the UTZ certification btw).
Most common labels
Bio or organic is probably the most common labels we see in our day-to-day life. In supermarkets, in restaurants, in hotels, in clothes / apparel, in skincare - you name it: This word is literally everywhere. When it comes to coffee (and other agricultural products), it's all about avoiding harmful substances in pesticides and fertilizers, omitting genetically modified organisms and promoting good practices when it comes to human and animal care in work and life. The exact guidelines as to which substances and practices are allowed under which circumstances may differ from country to country but are defined in a respective policy document. For Switzerland, this is the "Organic Farming Ordinance". It is the Swiss Federation who passes the law but the certification of producers, manufacturers and companies is issued by a handful of (private) certification bodies, these being the likes of bio.inspecta, Ecocert Swiss, ProCert and BTA. It's interesting to know that to qualify as "Bio" in Switzerland, not only does a roastery need to have separate storage for the organic and non-organic products and "cleanse" the production tools - the roasting machine - with organic coffee (not being able to sell this as "Bio") before roasting the organic coffee to be sold as such. Considering these organizational challenges, it's no surprise that many small roasteries forego the "Bio" label or then go all-in and handle only organic coffee which makes the separation redundant. This means that a roastery may purchase organically produced green coffee but not sell it as such.
By the way: While some markets use the term "bio" for recognizability, most english speaking markets will use "organic". Aside from using "bio" as a name, the principles of "organic" and "bio" are mostly the same and could be used interchangeably in the respective markets.
Fairtrade - initially known as Max Havelaar - is the other major label certifying goods. From bananas, to cacao/chocolate, to gold, to flowers and - you guessed it - to coffee, and many more, the standards set by Fairtrade focus more on the financial livelihood of the producers and the workforce. The organization works with a guaranteed price floor, a flexible minimum price plus a premium, for the goods produced. The minimum adjusts according to the commodity price while the premium stays the same and the price floor ensures that the goods are not sold below cost. While there are certain ecological sustainability standards set, the main focus is on economical stability and wellbeing.
Max Havelaar actually started out as an initiative by Mexican coffee farmers teaming up with a Dutch pastor to ensure they received a fair, stable price for their coffee beans. It has since evolved into a world wide network spanning all kinds of products and eventually coining the term "fair trade": Meeting at eye level when it comes to negotiating price and valuing work.
Bird Friendly and Rainforest Alliance (which now includes the UTZ certification) are both certifications which are a bit less known or prominent. They both focus on the holistic approach to cultivating cash crops, ensuring a balance between agriculture, nature and community.
There are more labels out there vouching for various causes and standards, ensuring the consumer can make a confident purchasing decision at a glance. So in this day and age, if you're basing your buying on the convenience of labels, you will need to ask yourself which cause you want to support and which factors in a product are important to you.
"Direct Trade" is a kind of label which is often used but really isn't one. It is more of a description of how a roaster buys their green coffee. It is defined by the user of the label (not by a third party) and they can often use the term very loosely. There is no clear definition how direct Direct Trade needs to be and which middlemen and facilitators are allowed to help with finance, administration, logistics and customs and which middlemen need to be cut out. It can literally mean anything from "the buyer knows who the producer is and the producer knows who the buyer / roaster is but a third party does all the organizational work" to "the buyer / roaster manages everything from financing to administration of exporting to booking a container and vessel shipment to importing and warehousing at destination".
To be labeled or not to be labeled
As many products in our everyday life have become "labeled" in some way or another to make our decisionmaking easier, it can still be overwhelming: What started as a way to declare intentions and showcase practices has become almost inflationary and can feel more like you need to choose causes than simply what you like.
It's important to notice that adding a label doesn't necessarily mean that a specific product is better. It just means that the company selling / marketing the product has a third party check on their practices and put a seal on it (and pays them for doing so). That means a label saves you the hassle to check on the producer personally if you want to know how they work.
Think of it this way: If you grow carrots from the seed in your garden and simply water them with plain water, those carrots will probably have as little "-icides" on them as the "organic" ones you can buy at the supermarket. But for your carrots to be sold as "organic" you would need to pay a third-party audit to confirm that you added only water. Even without that confirmation, you can confidently enjoy your tasty carrots, knowing exactly how you grew them - even if it's not certified. You can probably also gift the carrots to you neighbour who knows how you care for your produce and they'll be confident that they're not ingesting any bad pesticides. So in the end it is a game of trust.
Specialty Coffee and the labels?
I'm not speaking on behalf of the entire Specialty Coffee movement but it's fair to say that for the most part, handlers of Specialty Coffee regard their work as going beyond what the labels ask from each player. It starts with the traceability of the value chain: When each step of production is transparent, there is no need for an external certifier to put a stamp on the goods. The main focus of Specialty Coffee is the quality of the product, not the quantity and price. And to ensure a certain sustainability in quality, it seems like a no-brainer that the best possible practices are implemented - promoting biodiversity, applying agroforestry and regenerative agriculture wherever possible, applying pesticides only when absolutely necessary and investing in best labour practices and the community. Producers of Specialty Coffee are well-educated and know the value of their work and will ask for the right price. And with the competition amongst the buyers of green coffee, they have the power to say no to a certain price because if the quality is right, there is always someone next in line happy to pay.
When quality is the defining factor, the cost and effort may not be worth the hassle to obtain a certain label. With a solid network of longtime buyers, a producer may not need a certification to market their coffee. There are also organizational and financial factors to consider with certifications: Some labels limit their certifications to certain types of organisation - Fairtrade for example will not certify individual farmers but require them to join a cooperative for the respective label. This limits the economical freedom of a producer and may be a reason to turn down a label. Small quantities of produce may also be a reason that the cost for a certification may not be worth it for smallhoder farmers who's coffee cherry delivery to a nearby washing station is more a side hustle than their main focus.
That said, there is a place in the world of goods for every label. Especially in industries that are struggling for transparency it can be a game changer for producers as well as consumers. But as with everything, there are two sides to the coin (at least!) and knowledge is key. Thinking back to the example with your carrots: If you know the practices and trust your supplier, you can make an informed and confident decision when buying your next bag of coffee beans - certified or not.
