Being Green and Having Taste
When I first tried fairly traded coffee a long time ago, I wasn’t impressed.
I’ve always been a coffee nut – one of my early nicknames was “Brother Latte”. It’s important to me that coffee tastes good. That’s why I was really pleased to discover that Trade Aid are now selling quality coffee I can both really enjoy and not feel guilty.
My becoming a Fair Trade evangelist resulted from Brother Kentigern’s encouragement to Anglican Action (the Social Services and Social Justice arm of the Waikato Diocese) to take it on as a project. With serious coffee drinkers both at Anglican Action and at the Diocesan Office, we had a ready pool of consumers to support the work. Despite his recent investment in a Diocesan Office coffee machine, the Bishop recognised it was a matter of justice and enthusiastically supported the change. We were also able to give a presentation at Diocesan Synod.
Fair Trade Fans!
“Parish Liaison” is part of my job description. I do a lot of talking to church (and other) groups about Anglican Action’s work and about the church’s responsibilities for Social Service and Social Justice. Whatever I’m officially talking about, I’ll take a poster with me asking “In YOUR church, are you drinking tea or coffee that exploits the people who grow it?”. I also take a sample of Trade Aid coffee that we can share after the talk, and tea and coffee packs to sell. I’ll drop in to the local supermarket to see what’s available there, as fairly traded tea and coffee is not limited to Trade Aid’s own brand. Our own Hamilton roaster “Rocket” offers some excellent fairly traded coffee from Ethiopia and from Timor, and Waikato supermarkets have also been able to supply Scarborough Fair and Zigana. Typically these included not just ground coffee and beans, but instant coffee in powder or granulated form, and green or black teabags.
There is a lot of information available. The English Dioceses of Portsmouth (RC) and Gloucester (CofE) have good websites and I’ve had excellent support and encouragement from Trade Aid (both our local shop and the Christchurch head office) and from Oxfam in Auckland.
For those who find it hard to access the product, Trade Aid has been very helpful. Opening an account with their distribution arm in Christchurch means that we can buy at the website price and then hold the stock here at Anglican Action until someone is going out to the parishes to deliver. Archdeaconry meetings may help get product out to the remoter areas. The key is making the coffee and tea available at Diocesan or Hui Amorangi events, so that it’s always there in front of people reminding them of the choices they should be making. Awareness is everything.
The choice is there, folks! Go for it!!!
Brother Andrew
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