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The Organic Coffee Debate: Can Certification and Quality Coexist?

A recent article titled "But is it organic?" by Bentley Creative in the British coffee magazine Caffeine primarily explores whether "certified or organic coffee can balance deliciousness." The article quotes many ideas from local specialty coffee industry professionals and scholars in the UK.

After the third wave of coffee revolution, coffee professionals and consumers have become increasingly particular about coffee varieties, origins, processing methods, and more. This is evident from the growing presence of African or Central and South American estates on café menus. Let's first clarify several terms: "certified coffee, organic coffee, specialty coffee."

Defining the Terms

Certified Coffee: Coffee that has been certified by a credible organization, common certifications include organic certification and fair trade coffee.

Organic Coffee: Coffee produced through organic farming methods, regardless of whether it has been certified. It's worth noting that some farmers undergoing certification may sell coffee during the three-year organic transition period, which does not count as certified organic coffee beans.

Specialty Coffee: According to the definition first proposed by Ms. Erna Knutsen: "Special geographic microclimates produce beans with unique flavor profiles." Additionally, here is the latest definition from the Specialty Coffee Association of America.

The Challenge with Certification

In "But is it organic?" the author points out several interesting perspectives. Do "organic" and "certified" really hold up? Consumers typically buy certified coffee only caring about "certification" rather than quality. Certification has become nothing more than a marketing method for organic agricultural products. This creates an impact for specialty coffee industry professionals—that is, quality-oriented coffee professionals. Because once labeled as certified organic coffee, the price per pound is extremely high—10 cents above market price (approximately 454 grams of green coffee beans costs 3.14 Taiwan dollars above market price). Furthermore, so-called certification cannot guarantee its flavor because certification only means "meeting certain standards."

Difficulties in Organic Farming

Additionally, the author raises three difficulties regarding organic farming:

Obtaining Certification: The organic transition period takes at least three years, and farmers must also pay for certification and inspections. For farmers, this is a burden that could lead to financial crisis.

Distrust and Insufficient Returns: Another problem stems from farmers' distrust due to滥用认证 (abuse of certification) and income that cannot support the organic production model.

Lack of Knowledge: Most coffee-producing countries lag far behind traditional commercial farming in organic work research, promotion, and education. Farmers who cannot access organic methods can only choose commercial farming. Additionally, most organic farming research concentrates on temperate climate regions, which is not applicable to the tropical climates where coffee grows.

What Can Consumers Do?

Since certification has these problems, but I still want to drink good coffee, what should we consumers do?

What consumers can do is—ask more questions before purchasing and think for a few more minutes. We have the right to know what we're drinking and demand more information to resolve information asymmetry. Today, quality coffees all have comprehensive information indicating the batch name, region, sub-region, processing method, variety, producer or cooperative, harvest time, roaster, and flavor description, among other details. We must consider whether we only want "certification" or something more. If sufficient information cannot be provided to consumers, why does this batch of coffee deserve "certification"? Or is this certification trustworthy?

Quality coffees all have comprehensive information.

For Industry Professionals

For industry professionals, they are actually consumers on another level, just needing to consider many factors like cost and revenue. If they can change their consideration method when selecting or importing green beans—such as choosing quality green beans and conveying the philosophy to consumers—they can also create win-win situations. Many professionals now adopt "direct trade and technical support" approaches, working with farmers at origin to annually produce higher quality green coffee beans. On one hand, this can reduce unfair intermediate exploitation, and on the other hand, they obtain high-quality green coffee beans.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find both famous and lesser-known beans, while also providing online store services. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473