{"id":2224,"date":"2014-07-24T09:20:20","date_gmt":"2014-07-24T16:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freshcup.com\/?p=2224"},"modified":"2014-09-29T14:20:22","modified_gmt":"2014-09-29T21:20:22","slug":"direct-trade-defined","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freshcup.com\/direct-trade-defined\/","title":{"rendered":"Direct Trade Defined"},"content":{"rendered":"

[E]ight years ago, Chuck Patton made his first trip to origin and bought his first direct-trade coffee. Well, back then he thought he had. \u201cI probably thought that I was doing direct trade,\u201d says the Bird Rock Coffee<\/a> owner. \u201cHow I define direct trade now is different than what I called direct trade then.\u201d On that trip, he met the farmer he bought from, sure, but the purchase was made through a local exporter. For him, now, that bank shot disqualifies the beans from the label direct trade<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The concept of direct trade is still new and mushy. If Patton, one of coffee\u2019s biggest direct-trade evangelists, has shifted his definition, it\u2019s unsurprising that his customers and even wholesale clients often don\u2019t understand the term. Plenty of other roasters report that same confusion and blame it on the lack of an established definition, let alone oversight organization, certification process, label, website or any of the other trappings of modern ethical-trade concepts. (Not that many are clawing for yet one more.) Most often, Patton says, his customers and clients confuse direct trade with Fair Trade, a designation they recognize even if the details are fuzzy.<\/p>\n

To explain the difference, Patton created this infographic<\/a>, which is displayed around his caf\u00e9:<\/p>\n

\"BRCR_Infographic,suppliers_v2.4_B\"
(Courtesy Bird Rock Coffee Roasters.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If any part of it strikes you as biased, well, the graphic is making a case, and Patton will resolutely argue that direct trade, when done right, is better than Fair Trade. If the graphic seems incomplete, Patton isn\u2019t too concerned. \u201cYou can\u2019t go into too much detail. The point of an infographic is simplicity.\u201d He goes deep into the weeds regularly with his blog posts recounting trips. To go along with the infographic, Bird Rock made a seventeen-minute video<\/a> explaining its stance on direct trade.<\/p>\n

This by no means settles the question of what, exactly, direct trade is. But Patton has plunked down his white paper on the debate, and it\u2019s worth a look.<\/p>\n

So what does Patton call those first coffees he bought at origin? Those are tagged \u201cfarm to cup.\u201d We may need more infographics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Cory Eldridge is <\/em>Fresh Cup\u2019s editor.<\/em> He\u2019d love more infographics.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chuck Patton\u2019s infographic argument.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2230,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"limit_modified_date":"","last_modified_date":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}},"beyondwords_generate_audio":"","beyondwords_project_id":"","beyondwords_content_id":"","beyondwords_player_style":"","beyondwords_language_id":"","beyondwords_title_voice_id":"","beyondwords_body_voice_id":"","beyondwords_summary_voice_id":"","beyondwords_error_message":"","beyondwords_disabled":"","beyondwords_podcast_id":"","beyondwords_hash":"","publish_post_to_speechkit":"","speechkit_hash":"","speechkit_generate_audio":"","speechkit_project_id":"","speechkit_podcast_id":"","speechkit_error_message":"","speechkit_disabled":"","speechkit_access_key":"","speechkit_error":"","speechkit_info":"","speechkit_response":"","speechkit_retries":"","speechkit_updated_at":"","_speechkit_link":"","_speechkit_text":""},"categories":[25,18,24],"tags":[66,67,261],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDirect Trade Defined - Fresh Cup Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/freshcup.com\/direct-trade-defined\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Direct Trade Defined - Fresh Cup Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chuck Patton\u2019s infographic argument.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/freshcup.com\/direct-trade-defined\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fresh Cup Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FreshCupMagazine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-24T16:20:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-09-29T21:20:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/freshcup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Infographic-Small-e1406151996735.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"772\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"394\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cory Eldridge\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@FreshCupMag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@FreshCupMag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cory Eldridge\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/freshcup.com\/direct-trade-defined\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/freshcup.com\/direct-trade-defined\/\",\"name\":\"Direct Trade Defined - 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