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.
Our aim is to do whatever we can to support ethical coffee trade in its many forms - through formal certification systems (Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, Utz Certification) as well as through unofficial means such as farmers' and processors' co-operatives and organic or environmentally-sensitive farming techniques.
While sourcing beans that we know to have been produced ethically can be a challenge for a small roaster, we aim whenever possible to source ethically produced beans. These will be indicated as follows:
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. Fair Trade beans can be difficult to source, but we will aim to provide them where possible.
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 will still 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.
As well as aiming to source beans that we know to have been ethically sourced, our commitment is to donate 5 percent of all Zombie Coffee proceeds directly to projects helping coffee farmers in developing countries. We will do this through an initiative called FairCrack.
Started as part of the online coffee forum CoffeeSnobs, FairCrack collects 50c per kilo of coffee sold through the site and has so far raised over $15,000. This money is donated to worthy causes with the aim of improving conditions for coffee workers. From CoffeeSnobs: "with FairCrack
we have a goal of zero administrative overheads and will do our best to
ensure that 100% of the money raised or materials purchased ends up on the
ground at coffee origin". The first project funded by FairCrack was to help purchase some coffee processing equipment for use by farmers on the Southern slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. FairCrack is a great initiative and we are more than happy to donate 5 percent of all Zombie Coffee proceeds directly to the FairCrack fund.