In the interests of social justice and coffee drinkers’ taste
buds, Saint Louise Regional Hospital this week replaced the
frozen-concentrate coffee in its cafeteria with fresh-brewed stuff
that is certified
”
fair trade.
”
Gilroy – In the interests of social justice and coffee drinkers’ taste buds, Saint Louise Regional Hospital this week replaced the frozen-concentrate coffee in its cafeteria with fresh-brewed stuff that is certified “fair trade.”
Gilroy entrepreneur Mike Monroe, a catalyst behind Saint Louise’s decision, said the hospital is now “the biggest organization to go with fair trade coffee, so far, in Santa Clara County.”
Fair trade coffee companies purchase their beans directly from cooperatives of small family farms, rather than from large plantations staffed by day laborers. With a guaranteed minimum price for beans that is roughly double what the Central and South American growers would get from conventional coffee importers, fair trade firms and proponents say their method prevents exploitation by letting farmers, not corporate middlemen, keep more coffee profits.
It also ensures more environmental safeguards, sellers and proponents say.
Much fair trade coffee is organically grown, and the smaller farms require less rain forest cutting.
The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul operate Saint Louise as well as six other California hospitals, and the fair trade philosophy “fits with the Daughters of Charity mission and values,” hospital Food and Nutrition Services Director Angela Vasquez said Wednesday.
The new coffee, provided by the Equal Exchange company, also got favorable reviews from a hospital staff taste test Vasquez led in June.
“It’s very tasty,” Sister Mary Peter Diaz said while drawing a cup Wednesday in the cafeteria. Diaz, who visits patients through the hospital’s chaplaincy services, has cut back on her coffee drinking, but she said the new brew will probably tempt her more than the concentrated java did.
“It’s much better than the other stuff,” said hospital spokeswoman Vivian Smith, an avid coffee drinker.
“We’ve had some positive feedback, but it is new,” Vasquez said. “It takes a while for people to notice.”
Vasquez said she has heard no negative feedback so far, despite a near doubling in the charge per cup. Whereas the hospital formerly charged 40 cents for an eight-ounce cup, it now charges 75 cents. For 12 ounces, the price went up from 65 cents to $1.15.
Still, these prices are comparable to or better than those in cafes around town.
The demand for fair trade coffee is growing nationwide, according to Equal Exchange sales representative Ian Sitton of Boulder Creek, who was installing Saint Louise’s new brewing machines Wednesday. Equal Exchange, the nation’s oldest and largest fair-trade company, is seeing a 10-to-20-percent annual profit gain, he said, but its 66-percent market share is slipping every year – meaning the industry is growing even faster.
In Gilroy, however, it’s still a much more limited niche market than in cities like Santa Cruz and Palo Alto. Here, one can get a fresh cup of certified fair trade coffee at Garlic City Coffee and Tea on Monterey Street and now Saint Louise, but that’s about it – except for on the 20th of each month, when Starbucks stores brew their fair trade variety.
For home brewing, one can purchase fair trade coffee by the pound at Garlic City, Safeway and through Monroe’s business, Integrity Express. Prices range from $8 a pound, home-delivered by Monroe, to nearly $15 a pound at Safeway for the same brand, Equal Exchange. Starbucks stores sometimes have it in stock as well, but the First Street location did not Wednesday.
In March, Monroe expanded his delivery/courier business to become a seller and deliverer of fair trade foods – coffee, tea, chocolate and olive oil – as well as fair-trade-certified soccer balls and T-shirts made with organic cotton. He also sells environmentally friendly coffee accessories: cups made of recycled-paper, rather than Styrofoam, and flatware made of a biodegradable grain product, rather than plastic. He hopes to open a retail store someday.
The 18-year Gilroy resident said his motivation was twofold: part simple economics – diversifying his business to make more money – and part a personal mission “to create more justice in the world.”
Monroe thinks it’s good that large-scale retailers like Safeway carry fair trade coffee, but he wishes they didn’t mark up the price so much. That gives fair trade coffee an unnecessary “stigma” as an elite product, he said.
“It does create this perception that it’s kind of out of reach for most people,” Monroe said. “It’s a high-quality coffee, no doubt about it, … (but) Safeway and others would really help out with the fair trade issue if they would price in according with (brands like) Peet’s or Tully’s or Seattle’s Best.”
Monroe’s wife works in the hospital’s Education Department, and in April he approached Vasquez and asked her to consider switching to fair-trade coffee. The contract was too big for him, so he referred the hospital to Equal Exchange, one of two coffee brands he sells.
The Saint Louise cafeteria gets 150 to 200 customers per day, according to Vasquez. For Equal Exchange, the contract – its second in the county – “is not insignificant at all,” Sitton said.
“It is our mission to educate the staff here at Saint Louise that they are making a difference (in the world) … just through selling coffee.”
Both Monroe and Sitton said they rely heavily on churches and other religious organizations for their clientele. As part of the deal with Saint Louise, Equal Exchange will donate about 1.5 percent of its profits to Catholic Relief Services. Lutheran World Relief and the United Methodist Council on Relief are also major clients of the Massachusetts-based Equal Exchange.
