ASUCLA assesses fair trade coffee

Fair trade coffee may soon arrive in forms other than
cappuccinos and lattes as the Associated Students of UCLA considers
expanding its fair trade coffee selection.

ASUCLA has been offering fair trade espressos, lattes and mochas
since February, even after an initial six-month trial period for
fair trade regular brewed coffee ended two years ago.

Fair trade coffee, which is organically grown, is designed to
give coffee growers a majority of the profit from their goods.

Judging solely by coffee sales, the UCLA community has responded
favorably to fair trade coffee, said Roy Champawat, manager of the
operations division of UCLA restaurants.

Revenue from fair trade coffee originally consisted of 10
percent of the total brewed coffee sales. But in the last six
months, fair trade coffee sales have climbed to 15 percent of total
brewed coffee sales, Champawat said.

“That’s a thousand cups of coffee, and that’s
enough to keep (fair trade coffee) in place,” he said.

Currently, ASUCLA has been researching the feasibility and costs
of a complete conversion to fair trade coffee, or expanding the
range of fair trade coffee options, Champawat said.

The Environmental Coalition ““ a student group that’s
been spearheading the movement to fair trade conversion ““ is
pleased with ASUCLA’s consideration of completely converting
to fair trade coffee.

“We’ve been very happy with ASUCLA’s support.
… We’ve been very happy with how much and how quickly
ASUCLA has responded,” said fourth-year American literature
& culture student Mark Flowers, also a member of the
Environmental Coalition.

In February 2001, the ASUCLA board of directors voted to carry
regular brewed fair trade coffee for a six-month trial period in
ASUCLA food venues such as Café Synapse, Kerckhoff Coffee
House, and Northern Lights.

Though the trial period ended nearly two years ago, the
Association decided to continue offering fair trade Coffee at its
various coffeehouse locations because the consumer interest was
there, Champawat said.

Additional fair trade flavors like mocha and cappuccino were
then added in February.

Fair trade coffee, which is hand-roasted and organic, costs an
additional 3, 6, or 8 cents more than regular coffee, depending on
the serving size. Consumers on campus have the option of choosing
between fair trade and regular coffee.

Flowers said the benefits of fair trade Coffee extend beyond the
fact that it’s organic.

“It’s a social justice issue, Flowers said.
“It supports farmers who are being paid living
wage.”

With regular coffee, farmers usually earn between 50 to 60 cents
for every pound of coffee sold, as a result of dealing with
middlemen, who receive most of the profit.

But under the fair trade coffee system, farmers end up earning
$1.26 per pound of coffee.

Though the Environmental Coalition is pleased with the steps
that ASUCLA has taken to increase its fair trade coffee selection,
in an ideal world, ASUCLA would make all of its coffee fair trade,
Flowers said.

“Our goal is a hundred percent conversion to fair trade
for the whole campus,” Flowers said.

The Environmental Coalition has succeeded to convince the UCLA
Medical Center to exclusively carry fair trade coffee. Though the
on-campus residences haven’t converted to fair trade coffee
completely, the dining halls also started carrying some forms of
fair trade coffee

ASUCLA, Flowers said, is one of the last major sellers of
on-campus coffee that still carries non-fair trade coffee.

In the meantime, both ASUCLA and the Environmental Coalition
have been trying their best to spread the word about the positive
aspects of fair trade coffee, through posters and flyers
distributed in the union.

“Students who know about it are very interested … but I
don’t feel enough people know about it to make educated
decisions,” Flowers said.