Choice organic free trade Green

The free trade process is a great idea for a commodity item, in that it makes sure the grower gets paid a reasonable amount for his work.

BUT, it turns anything that is made into a commodity item, because the grower now has no real motivation to grow anything better.

Free trade coffees and teas tend to be lowest common denominator types; you aren't going to see high grade specialty materials made that way.

--scott

Yep, I think what I want in a breakfast tea is a commodity item. Something like the second sweeping off the tea assembly floor, mixed in with a little cigarette butt tobacco. So far, the nearest I've found is something called Irish Breakfast. Any further suggestions here? I'm hunting for a little more delicacy and nuance for the rest of the day. Toci

Yep, I think what I want in a breakfast tea is a commodity item. Something like the second sweeping off the tea assembly floor, mixed in with a little cigarette butt tobacco. So far, the nearest I've found is something called Irish Breakfast. Any further suggestions here? I'm hunting for a little more delicacy and nuance for the rest of the day. Toci

Well, by all means you should try Bewley's. It has a higher cigarette ash content than the others, and also more rat excrement. Or at least it tastes like it does.

After a cup of that stuff, _everything_ seems more delicate and nuanced in comparison.

--scott

ultimately

Hehe.... I can probably help you guys out, but its too much to go into at the moment and I have to get back to work. Read my reply to Gills' post today to see what I mean. L8rs.

Scott Dorseyd93qvc$49h$ snipped-for-privacy@panix2.panix.com6/19/05 09: snipped-for-privacy@panix.com

Scott,

I'm not disagreeing with you, but re your final observatipn above,why not?

Michael

Because if the grower _does_ have something special, it's probably going to be more profitable for him to sell it as such, rather than selling it as free trade. And if it _is_ sold at the free trade price, and the broker has any idea how good it is, _he_ will tend to sell it at a higher price.

The only time this changes is if there are production quotas (cf the "communicating vessels" of Bordeaux wine in which high grade wines are sold as lesser types because an estate can only sell a certain amount at a particular grade). Or if the local market is really, really flooded. Or if someone somewhere along the chain is not checking for quality at all.

--scott

Hi All,

I have been lurking for a while. The discussions are usually very interesting. But this is the first one that makes me feel like I must weigh in.

First off, the term is "fair trade" and is totaly different from "Free trade". The two are typically opposites, as without fair-trade there is no guarantee that the growers of the tea (or coffee or chocolate or bananas) get a fair price for their product. The markets tend to be structured in ways that allow big retailers to pay very low price to the growers. For more info, see here:

The assertion that "fair trade" products are of low quality is completely inaccurate. Without fair trade, a retailer can still charge a few hundred dollars for a 1/4 lb of tea but still pay a few pennies to the growers. All fair trade does is ensure that the people who are growing the products are making a living wage and are not starving. If anything, fair trade products are better on average because a) they tend to be produced by smaller coops that have more personal investment in producing higher quality products, rather than by people working in near-sweatshop conditions, b) the coops tend to be in better position to invest in high quality growing. At worst, fair trade does nothing harmful either to the quality of the product or to the lives of people who produce it.

Unfortunately, unlike coffee business, tea business has not yet embraced fair trade. Rishi offers a few fair trade certified items. In Pursuit of Tea espouses a philosophy that is akin to fair trade. But their teas are not formally fair-trade certified. I think also fair-trade certification is a bit more common in Indian teas than in Chinese or Taiwanese ones. But in the coffee world, fair trade has become very widespread.

Cheers,

Maxim

Scott Dorsey wrote:

Scott Dorseyd96o76$8n7$ snipped-for-privacy@panix2.panix.com6/20/05 11: snipped-for-privacy@panix.com

Sorry Scott,

I misread. I had my mind on "fair trade," which is another thing. Disregard all my previous correspondence. Michael