Fair Trade

So tonite, I went to one of my favorite Madison coffee shops--Java Escape.

At the coffee shop, I bought a 1lb bag of coffee.

• This coffee was roasted by a small roasting coop in Madison, Just Coffee.
• It is 100% fair trade (all Just Coffee is Fair Trade certified, plus they frequently travel to coffee growing countries to build relationships with their farmers).
• Just Coffee employees make 12-16$ per hour (and the full time shareholder/employees get benefits) according to their website.
• The coffee is small batch roasted by people obsessed with coffee.
• AND I got a free small latte from the coffee shop for buying said bag of coffee.

Oh And:

• The coffee shop is huge with multiple rooms
• Still has free wifi
• Doesn't seem to mind you buying a cup and studying for 4 hours.

And the total price for this was $9.50 (including tax).

• My first point in mentioning this is to reinforce my prior feeling that Starbucks is a complete ripoff.
• My second point is that companies can take care of their employees, their suppliers, the environment and still provide a quality product at a great price. Any company that says otherwise is just being greedy.
• My third point is that a coffee shop doesn't need to be small and have a quick turnaround to thrive.

Mike