The Story of Kenya Coffee Beans: Why Kenya AA Beans Are All Fair Trade Without Certification

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Understanding Fair Trade Coffee

Recently, several regular customers were very excited when they learned we started selling fair trade beans! However, this brought up an important question: when it comes to fair trade beans, are we pursuing the trademark certification or the spirit of fair care?

Generally speaking, the more popular fair trade beans on the market are mostly certified by fair trade organizations. This certification ensures that the coffee beans you purchase support small-scale coffee farmers in third-world countries, helping children in these nations access education and ensuring coffee farmers can make a living. Furthermore, it aims to prevent situations like those depicted in 'Luping Flower,' where talented children like those with artistic gifts are trapped by their father's tea production income, lacking sufficient profits to hire help, thus becoming generational agricultural slaves.

Certified by the Fair Trade Alliance, these products feature the Fairtrade mark from FLO (Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International), the world's largest fair trade alliance.

Besides this Fairtrade certification, there are other international certification bodies, including the International Fair Trade Association (IFTA), the European Fair Trade Association (EFTA), and other certification organizations.

Kenya AA Coffee Beans

Kenya coffee beans are not traditionally sourced through fair trade organizations. This bean is internationally recognized as a symbol of excellent coffee!

This bean features rich blueberry aroma and diverse, smooth acidity (not harsh, with不明显 sour notes). The sweet-sour front notes also enhance the mid-palate coffee bitterness, creating a more pleasant aftertaste. The finish is excellent, and throughout the tasting experience, you can feel the full body of this remarkable bean, which commands high prices internationally! Especially in recent years, its SCAA cupping scores have been consistently high, even winning a place on the SCAA Coffee of the Year winners list in 2010!

Kenya AA comes from the Kenya growing region in Africa, where AA represents its grade - only beans passing through an S-18 (7mm) sieve screen can be called AA. Kenya AA beans are round with thick pulp, but they heat evenly, making them less likely to roast unevenly. We've tested them with French roast levels and blended them into our signature house blend, and the results are excellent!

However, this bean is not a fair trade bean, so some have asked whether this coffee bean aligns with our philosophy.

The Story Behind Kenya Coffee

This brings us to the story of Kenya coffee beans. Although Kenya is located near the ancient coffee kingdom of Ethiopia, it wasn't as fortunate with rich coffee genetics or many excellent ancient varieties. The history of Kenya coffee beans is actually not long - coffee was first introduced in the 19th century, and it wasn't until the early 20th century that large-scale coffee cultivation began when British and French consortiums entered the region.

Kenya coffee beans are sold through a bidding system, which theoretically benefits farmers.

However, before 2005, the processing and sale of Kenya coffee beans could only be done through local coffee cooperatives, with cooperative alliances helping farmers participate in 'Kenya Coffee Auctions' for bidding.

These bidders must be licensed, and licenses are issued by the government. In the past, licensed bidders were mostly international roasters and middlemen.

After bidding, the cooperative alliance deducts processing, transportation, and service fees, then returns the remaining money to the cooperatives, which deduct administrative expenses before returning the rest to farmers.

However, members of these cooperative alliances and cooperatives were not elected by farmers but appointed by government officials. Buyers were also government-licensed merchants. This system - requiring cooperatives for processing (Kenya has some of the highest coffee processing costs in the world), cooperatives for sales, and government-controlled buyer licenses - created a system from processing to auction that easily exploited producers (farmers). This unfairness originated from the government itself!

If you were a buyer wanting to purchase directly from farmers to give them better earnings, this wasn't possible - the law required purchases through cooperatives.

Cooperatives controlled too many aspects where manipulation could occur, and farmers had to please these officials to sell their products. According to the book 'Urgent Letters from Coffee Regions,' many farmers lost money, and coffee beans were stolen from warehouses after delivery.

According to the World Organization, the time from auction completion to final payment to farmers could take up to 6 months!

So in 1970, coffee was Kenya's largest source of income, but due to corruption and fraud, many farmers abandoned cultivation, and production dropped by one-third.

Recent Improvements in Kenya's Coffee System

However, in recent years, the Kenyan government has made significant efforts!

Currently, the Kenyan government has broken the coffee processing monopoly previously held only by cooperative alliances. Coffee farmers are now allowed to handle processing themselves. For sales, coffee farmers can cooperatives market their coffee beans and seek buyers (without licenses), though they still must use the bidding system. This benefits farmers because buyers compete and drive up prices. Coffee beans are graded, samples sent to interested buyers, who then gather at the auction system to bid together, providing better profit guarantees for farmers!

Currently, Kenya also has Fairtrade Alliance certified coffee beans, but their quality varies. Previously, one batch had a defect rate as high as 26%.

Hypothetically: The inconsistent quality of coffee beans from farmers who sell independently outside cooperatives might be because Kenya's processing and production technology historically relied too heavily on cooperatives and government quality grading systems, so technical improvements may need time.

We currently don't work with Kenya coffee bean fair trade alliances, partly because Kenya coffee bean market prices are already terrifyingly high, and partly because Kenya's current auction system gives small estates strong production momentum and allows them to process independently, avoiding cooperative monopolies and preventing single buyers from monopolizing all production. This even drives up prices for buyers seeking high-quality Kenya coffee beans, allowing farmers to receive reasonable profits - which already represents a good spirit of fair production and sales for us.

Our Commitment to Quality and Fair Trade

However, we will continue to monitor the development of fair trade in Kenya coffee beans. Here, I sincerely explain to some consumers who are committed to fair trade efforts that some have responded that we should 100% insist on Fairtrade Alliance certified coffee beans to call them fair trade beans.

While I agree with the concept of the Fairtrade Alliance, products are ultimately meant for general public use. If the quality is not ideal, we find it difficult to use them. This is similar to how we all support domestic products, but if there are many quality issues - like early domestically-produced cars from the Feiling era - buying them would be torturous. It's better not to buy at all.

We have a similar philosophy: if certain fair trade beans are of poor quality, we would rather not sell them than let consumers drink them. After all, encouraging people to support fair trade must be built on products that consumers find acceptable. Only then will consumers be willing to spend a little extra money. Otherwise, spending money while torturing your taste buds isn't right, is it?

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, offering both famous and lesser-known beans, along with online store services. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

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