[I originally posted this piece on my personal blog on January 11th 2005; I'm cross-posting it here because of its London focus and in the hope of getting some momentum behind a "bloggers for Fair Trade in coffee shops" meme.]

So Costa Coffee coffee shops now offer Fairtrade coffee at the same price as their standard (Unfairtrade?) coffee. This is great news—until a couple of months ago, it cost 20 pence extra per cup. Well done Costa.

However, you still have to ask for it—the barista will offer you a selection of sizes and extra marshmallows, but not Fairtrade.

It’s a bit like when the council official informs Arthur Dent in Hitch Hiker’s Guide that the plans for the demolition of his house had been available for public inspection for months in the room in the basement of the council offices with a sign “Beware of the Tiger” on the door (and then the Vogon guard tells him similarly that the plans for demolition of the Earth having been on show on a planet in a very nearby star-system).

Why don’t they offer you Fairtrade? Well, I’ve just had a very informative chat with Michael Rogers, the manager of the King’s Road, London branch about this, and the answer is pretty much what I expected.

Baristas are assessed from time to time by plain-clothes Costa management. Part of that assessment is on how well the barista sticks to the carefully-constructed script he has been trained to deliver. Michael told me that while baristas were not explicitly instructed not to offer the Fairtrade option, the fact that it is not in the script effectively means they could anticipate that offering Fairtrade would be “noted” if they were assessed.

Michael told me he had asked central management why Costa did not provide Fairtrade coffee only, and was told that it was a question of economics. Well, yes, but isn’t it also a question of leadership from the top and organisational transparency?

If Costa is really behind Fairtrade, then why not add the following line to the barrista’s script: “would you like Fairtrade coffee or coffee produced by exploiting poor people [so our shareholders can make bigger profits] madam/sir”? Then about a week later quietly discontinue selling Unfairtrade coffee amidst customer outrage.

The current situation smacks of Doublethink.

What Costa have done in making Fairtrade coffee the same price is a big step forward (as I suspected, hardly anyone was actually asking for it at the premium price). Let’s help them to take another one by asking them to explain the rationale behind those scripts. In the absence of an email link on the Costa homepage, I have sent a mail to the address Michael gave me of Clair Beer, Retail Development Manager for West End and Expos, asking her to explain the script policy.

Incidentally, Starbucks take a different approach to Fairtrade (and organic) coffee, including it range of “speciality” beans used according to a rota to brew their filter coffee. But they also make a far bigger noise about Fairtrade than seems justified by their actual retail strategy.

AMT Coffee (the coffee points at rail stations and airports etc.) show the way forward. I saw this sign proudly displayed on their kiosk wall: “Due to customer demand, our coffee is now 100% Fairtrade. If you’re going to do anything, do it 100%.”

Let’s peep through Costa and Starbucks’ corporate Emperors’ New Clothes and gently point out some naked truths. Let’s take a look at these coffee chains’ real Trade practices and help them to make them really Fair. And oh yeah—how about organic? : )

[UPDATE: February 2nd 2005. I received this helpful and positive email from Ken Smith of Oxfam]

Check out this link and add it to your related blog posts (including the rel=”tag” bit) to take part in the Costa and Fair Trade discussion: Costa+Fairtrade