Coffee, a simple morning caffeine boost, has a long chain of history you may want to hear. Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world after oil. But it’s about time we learn where our coffee beans are being harvested.
The US Department of Labour highlights how the coffee industry is saturated with child labour and forced labour from many countries, including Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica and more. It’s time to open our eyes to the coffee we are drinking.
Starbucks: More Reasons to Boycott
As if Starbucks didnt already have reasons to be boycotted. Starbucks has gotten a law suit for claiming it’s coffee is 100% ethical sourcing, the truth about many of the major coffee brands is that the sourcing is scattered with forced labour and child labour.
Starbucks has an even more disturbing lawsuit filed by 7 anonymous workers who claimed to have been taken at pre-teen ages and sent to coffee labour camps without any pay under the guise of being able to work for Starbucks supply chains, which ended up subjecting them to trafficking and slavery-like conditions.
Brazil, a country responsible for over 30% of the world coffee production, is known for its thousands of workers across the country known akin to slavery like conditions. Without proper oversight, the 100,000+ coffee plantains are subject to exploitation in Brazil.
Nestle Cafe-Plan: Not Very Effective
Nestle is commonly boycotted for its many violations, including questionable marketing practices, environmental deforestation and labour concerns, though Nestle has tried to solve the instant coffee labour concerns by implementing a NesCafe plan. This plan has proven to still leave workers below living-standard wages and a tiny fraction of the cost of the coffee despite the extreme difficulty of farming coffee.
Starbucks is a 1 billion dollar company, and Nestlé is a 300 billion dollar company. There is a world coffee crisis with 25 million farmers suffering, and the largest global roasters, including Nestlé, have been profiting at their expense. To combat coffee with unfair labour, the demand for ethical coffee and supply chain transparency and accountability must increase.
Fair Trade Coffee
A quick way to ensure that your coffee is at least as ethical as you can find in stores is to opt for fair-trade certified coffee, which ensures a regulated price for coffee farmers that covers their cost for production and protects them from inhuman and unliveable wages.
Every morning, we make a simple choice when we pour ourselves a cup of coffee, but that choice has consequences far beyond our own kitchen. Behind every bean is a farmer that deserves fair wages and basic human rights. We may not be able to change the coffee industry overnight, but we can change what we support. The next time you take a sip, don’t just ask, “How does it taste?” Think about who grew it, who harvested it, and whose hands brought it to your cup.