Frequently Asked Questions

Do you only roast organic coffee?

Currently, more than 95% of all the coffee that we roast is organic.  All of our blends are 100% organic.  We are trying to be as organic as we can.

 

If you roast organic coffee mostly, does it mean that the quality of your coffee is not as high as that of the other speciality roasters?

No, we source our coffees from the highest quality speciality grade lots only.  Needless to say, being mostly organic we approach the sourcing of coffees differently, but we are as focused on quality and taste as any other speciality roaster should.

 

Are your organic coffees fairly traded?

Yes.  Organic standards across the globe are aligned with and regulated by the key principles of International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (“IFOAM”).  The third of IFOAM’s ‘Principles of Organic Agriculture’ is the principle of fairness. In accordance with this principle:

  1. Organic Agriculture should build on relationships that ensure fairness with regard to the common environment and life opportunities.
  2. Fairness is characterised by equity, respect, justice and stewardship of the shared world, both among people and in their relations to other living beings.
  3. Those involved in organic agriculture should conduct human relationships in a manner that ensures fairness at all levels and to all parties – farmers, workers, processors, distributors, traders and consumers.  Organic agriculture should provide everyone involved with a good quality of life, and contribute to food sovereignty and reduction of poverty.  It aims to produce a sufficient supply of good quality food and other products.
  4. Social justice and social rights are an integral part of organic agriculture and processing. 

It is not surprising that organic certification goes hand in hand with fairtrade certification in the majority of cases of small farmers’ organisations such as growers’ cooperatives.  In effect, compliance with organic standards effectively insures compliance with fairtrade standards and turns the process of obtaining a fairtrade certification into a technicality.  All of the cooperative organic coffees that we have offered to date, have been fairtrade certified at origin.

Coffees that come from a single coffee farm or estate tend not to be covered by fairtrade standards in the same way as small farmers’ organisations are and therefore the fairness and social justice are guided mostly by the organic principles as devised by IFOAM.  Finally, as we are dealing with decommoditised speciality grade coffees only, the single estates and farms that grow our coffees are paid international premium prices for their produce as they tend to sell directly to international specialist green coffee buyers and roasting organisations.

 

How expensive is delivery of your coffee?

We fully recognise that postage may form a noticeable portion of cost when buying coffee online.  This is why we have introduced free shipments on all UK orders above £25.  For purchases smaller purchases of upto £25, we only charge our customers a subsidised rate that is lower than what Royal Mail charges us for those shipments.  Detailed pricing information is provided as part of our Terms & Conditions.