Our Ethics
At Zombie Coffee we recognise that a significant proportion of the world's coffee is produced unethically in terms of adverse impacts on the livelihood of coffee farmers and processors as well as on the environment.
The good news is that there are many ways to find coffee that we know to have been produced ethically!
We believe that the future of ethical coffee is direct trade.
Direct trade is a grass-roots method of sourcing coffee straight from farmers and co-operatives. By cutting out the middleman, we are able to reward farmers for great coffee with a much higher price. Direct trade also gives us access to exactly the kind of coffee we're after. Everyone wins! Coffee sourced using a direct trade relationship will be marked "direct" on the Coffee page.
We also aim to support formally certified beans (Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, Utz Certification etc.) wherever possible. More information can be found on these certification programs below.
Fair Trade (FT):
This is an official certification program aiming to achieve better outcomes for producers of various goods in developing countries. See www.fairtrade.co.uk for more info.
Organic (O):
Indicates that the beans were certified as being grown organically by one of many organic certification bodies. This method of production vastly improves the industry's impact on the environment.
Rainforest Alliance (RFA):
A certification system which aims to improve the industry's impact on the environment as well as on the lives of coffee farmers and processors. See www.rainforest-alliance.org for more info. RFA-certified beans are readily available in our experience.
Co-operatively Produced Coffee (Co-op):
Denotes that this coffee was produced by a co-operative, generally resulting in better prices for the farmers. Not all coffee processing co-ops have been Fair Trade certified, but they still aim to benefit the farmers on the ground. Zombie Coffee supports these coffee co-ops!
Utz Certified (Utz)
Utz certification is a relatively new initiative aiming to promote practices that benefit coffee growing communities in an environmentally responsible manner. See http://consumer.utzcertified.org/ for more info.