Eat & Drink

The closest thing to European Coffee I’ve had

This place honestly has the best cafe au lait, aka lattes I’ve had since I’ve moved back to the U.S. Living in Europe, you get spoiled by rich espressos almost everywhere. It was truly a joy to discover this place.

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[...] Silver Lake Intelligentsia. Sunset Junction. 3922 W Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90029. *free wi-fi available* Intelligentsia offers’s Direct Trade coffee, which pays farmers 25% above even Fair Trade prices. Learn more here. [...]

The Truth is

“Going beyond Fair Trade?” Ha! As California coffee professionals, we are extremely dismayed by recent, vicious attacks on the Fair Trade system here in the states by Intelligentsia and others’ sham “direct trade” propaganda. Many in the sustainable coffee industry, have questions and serious concerns about the alliance between the Bush state department/USAID and a roasters and journalists, as well as the current leadership at The SCAA, who have embarked upon an all-out campaign to discredit both Fair Trade and Organic movements within Coffee while claiming to offer a ‘superior’ version that really only represents a return to the bad old days. Companies like Intelligentsia are currently waging a disinformation campaign against FT Organic certification and disseminating the propaganda via the conduit of fawning hipsters who know little about the big picture or history of the business of coffee, who mindlessly repeat the misinformation they are fed by these cooler than thou roasters. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Few ever read between the lines and ask “Who benefits?” or “Why would the Bush/Rice State Department care about driving up the price of Specialty Coffee, when it’s Mission is to promote US Agribusiness interests and US Political agendas abroad?” (All US grown coffee is highly valued already & US Agribusiness clearly has no interest in driving up the price of Specialty Coffee as it doesn’t trade in specialty, so the obvious master here is: US POLITICAL AGENDA, though some speculate GMO COFFEE AGENDA may also be in operation–draw your own conclusions.)

Here in the U.S. so called “Direct Trade” gimmick(actually nothing of the sort) has emerged as nothing short of green cloaking, or sustainable skam, a spin job on relationship models that really don’t exist (everybody real in coffee has a relationship with & visits thier suppliers folks, sorry) and that serves to break down Cooperatives (key word there is COOPERATIVE folks) and pits Coops & Coop members against each other in pursuit of the highest (up front) bucks from the smallest segment of the global coffee market. Geof Watts, Doug Zell (who proudly calls himself the “Sug Knight of coffee”) & the other self proclaimed “George Jung” coffee treasure hunters are looking after their own business interests (and tiny market share); they will stop at nothing to find the “best” and pay the highest prices for the smallest lots (?! red flag), even if it means separating farmers from their family and community. These rbuyers are not content with their Finca This, Hacienda That, Fazenda Over There Estate coffees; they want to globalize the smallest producers and pit them against one another just like mini-plantations. These buyers actively work to disconnect the growers from the ONLY two truly effective programs to EVER IN HISTORY improve the lives of Coffee Growers and empower them within the supply chain: Fair Trade and Organic Certification. These elitist hipsters pay big for only the top 5-10% of beans available, and only 10% of what they purchase, and leave the coop with no option for the bulk/rest of thier crop (second quality) which they are forced to send into the “comodity” market at sub-standard/base prices, where these very same Companies buy the very same coffees to blend with the “Top Micro Lots”, unbeknownst to buyers paying $45 a pound or $10 a cup who never wonder how a “limited, exlusive micro lot lot of only 20 bags (3000 Lbs)!!!” can be sold daily for six months in 3500 locations. Were these companies, (who built thier reputations on the sustainable certifications and supply chain they now eschew in favor of thier own phoney look a likes), Fair Trade Certified, or 100% Organic Certified, these gimmicks would be transparent and traceable for all to see, but outside of certification, there really isn’t anyone to stop the fraud. Colonialism and exploitation hasn’t faded away from the coffee business, it just got “Third Waved” and tatooed!
For the people who grow coffee, and we in the industry who sincerely wish to better thier lives and empower our supply chain, it’s a very dangerous & dirty game these companies are playing, and many of us insiders know that Intelli, like Starbucks, scrambling to salvage failing companies by any means neccessary, and failing that, make thier companies more attractive for acquisition by agribusiness. We hope that the citizens of LA will choose to not be taken in by “The Suge Knight of Coffee” and his nasty slacker minions posing as ‘experts” seeking to discredit the best hope for a safe, healthy, fair and equitable coffee supply chain: the certified Organic and Fair Trade Cooperative coffee movement.

Danielle Davis

Thank you for leaving your thoughts here. This is the first I’ve heard of a problem with direct trade.

I found an article from the NYT and a letter written by a key player at Intelligentsia that may be of interest:

http://greenlagirl.com/2006/06/19/an-intelligentsia-email/

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/06/21/business/coffee.php

just-wanting-a-better-world

Wow, so nice to se people getting a clue about the big DIRECT TRADE hogwash. These guys, Intelleigentsia, but not just Intelligentsia, think they are so important that if they just SAY they are helping we will believe the hype, they think we are sheep. My friend is a coffee trader and summed it up this way:
Those people are just trying to sell coffee, they have no ‘relationships’, buy from importers like every body else, once or twice a year they go down to the farm and donate $500 to the school project, take pictures, then put out a Direct Trade Press Release…. because they are not certified they can say whatever they want and nobody will prevent them from lying. this is why certifiction works. this is why we are certified. otherwise, this kind of gimmickry is what you get. Why do people fall for this b*sh**?

otown

i don’t drink coffee

why not just buy direct from farmers?

Thank you for the thoughtful article highlighting fair-trade and direct-trade coffee. Those responding have made some good points there. But what everyone has failed to notice is that coffee farmers themselves are now roasting and selling there organic coffee direct to buyers here in the United States – in fact, based out of California. Consumers buying roasted coffee direct from farmers – now that is truly “direct trade”.

Pachamama Coffee Cooperative is a business owned and controlled by fair-trade certified producer groups of small-scale farmers in Peru, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Mexico and Nicaragua. In all, the co-op is owned by more than 150,000 coffee farmers. Now we can buy their fresh-roasted coffee under the Pachamama brand, found at your local food co-op or online at http://www.pachamama.coop.

Please consider including this unique business model in your next analysis of the ever-changing specialty coffee industry. Thanks.