My wife and I were very poor while I was at university. \u00a0My joke is that we didn’t eat Kraft Dinner; rather, we ate the store brand, since it was about 25% less. \u00a0It’s a joke, but nonetheless true.<\/p>\n
I got out of UVic in ’95; finding a good job was tough. \u00a0 However, by the end of ’96, life was looking up. While we were earning more money, we lived in fear of being poor again, so continued to consume generic brands. \u00a0Despite my love of coffee, I wouldn’t buy “the good stuff”, though I noticed more and more new kinds on store shelves.<\/p>\n
Sometime in 2001, I’d guess, my wife brought home a few parcels of the new coffee. \u00a0“It was on special,” she explained, so it hadn’t cost much more than our normal kinds. \u00a0The packages were bright and attractive, displaying words like “ethical” or \u00a0“fair”.<\/p>\n
After we put the groceries away, I opened one of the packages and ground some up. \u00a0It was a cautiously festive occasion: \u00a0how good was the “fair trade” coffee that I’d been rejecting?<\/p>\n
I poured our cups and put cream in them (and sugar in my wife’s). \u00a0What happened next was a revelation and a revolution.<\/p>\n
The coffee in our cups was obviously much better than the “standard” kinds we’d always drunk. Half a cup in, I knew I couldn’t go back. \u00a0The “fair trade” coffee was so good, I’d have to join my politically correct cohorts. \u00a0Since then, I’ve paid the premium for the “fair trade” coffee, and been happy to do so.<\/p>\n
I don’t buy “fair trade” coffee to be a good person; I buy it because I like it. \u00a0Is it “fair trade”, or just fair trade?<\/p>\n
I drank two cups of coffee while producing this article:)<\/p>\n