Fair Trade in the Shade: Now That's Using the Ol' Bean!
And shade-grown coffee? That blends in a bit more sensibly. Shade-grown beans typically have a more robust taste because they are protected from direct sunlight and are not trampled by animals who enter the coffee plantations. Shade-grown coffee tends to be more expensive because where coffee is grown, shade is a precious thing. Most growers prefer bulk to best brew, so they crowd the plants together as closely as possible. This means most plants get the direct sunlight because there is insufficient shade to shelter them all.
Now for the absurd part. If voters accept this proposal, a vendor in Berkeley who sells coffee that is not fair trade or shade-grown, the vendor will go to jail for committing a crime. Since few coffee growers fit these categories of compliance, Berkeley would de facto limit coffee vendors to buying from only three or four suppliers. Is that an example of fair trade or shady dealing? Hmmm...
Berkeley isn't the only city to target coffee drinkers on the election ballot. The other source of the anti-coffee-drinker referendum is Berkeley's rival for the title of Coffee Capital of America. Voters in Seattle, Washington will be asked to accept or reject a special tax on espresso. The revenue from the tax will go to fund education programs. Some obvious questions come to mind for this tax: Why espresso only? Why not all coffee blends? What aspects of education will benefit from the tax? Will it raise teacher salaries and end the teachers' strikes in three school districts in King County and several districts in Snohomish County? The referendum campaigners really haven't addressed these questions. Nor have they dealt with the realities of the market: Slap a 1.5% sales tax on a $3.50 cup of espresso, and consumers may decide Capuchino is just as enjoyable.
And that is how coffee drinkers are rapidly on their way to gaining status as America's newest discriminated against, over-taxed, wish-they-were-a-minority group. Imagine the public response if the proposals in Berkeley and Seattle would penalize or tax vendors and/or consumers of soft drinks sold in cans or cups not made from 100% recicled or recyclable materials. Coca-Cola drinkers of America, unite! Some publicity-seeking referendum gurus will have their eyes on your cans. They already have their hands on your coffee stir.
The issues underlying the fair trade, shade-grown coffee referendum are important and warrant discussion and debate, but for the city whose activists seem to
Latest Articles