We are a small family business with big ideas. We may not be able to make a big impact on the coffee industry, but we can make a significant impact for the farmers we work with.
We’re committed to sourcing high quality speciality coffee, making a difference in coffee producing countries, and serving our customers with excellence.
And we’re enjoying the journey!
We have a lot to say about this and you’ll find a lot of it around this site, but anything you don’t find but want to know – just ask!
We don’t hide behind labels and slogans but invite you to be a part of what we’re doing. Engage in the process, join our journey, but also ask us hard questions to hold us accountable to what we say we’re doing.
What do we do different? In short, we buy direct from the farm returning a much larger proportion of the price to the people who do the work to produce our great coffee. It fulfills two key beliefs we hold that ethical business does not have to compromise on quality, and doesn’t have to be significantly more expensive for the consumer. It does however mean harder work for us and sticking to our principles.
Orera Village is located on Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. The villagers have been selling their coffee to Ethical Addictions since 2010. In these short interviews the villagers explain the difference that working with EA has made to their lives.
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Our passion is coffee and the farms we work with at different origins. We set up in 2006 and in relationship with farms and villages soon realised the poorest and most vulnerable were the ones most easily slipping through the system. We work directly, and buy directly from these farms and villages. We offer complete transparency of the whole process, not just traceability. It is easy to trace a source but information on how much producers are paid and what conditions they have is elusive. We know the names of the producers we work with, and can tell you exactly how much they are paid.
Unfortunately this is not possible through the Fairtrade certified system.It really depends on whether the heart of fair trade or the brand is most important. Not to say the Fairtrade Foundation don’t do good work, far from it, but often there are better options if consumers will discern for themselves and hold other companies accountable. We started off convinced by Fairtrade ourselves until we got on the ground and had to make a decision to either appear to be making a difference, or really making a difference to people who need it.
Some of the producers we work with, Fairtrade will not work with (they are too small, and too poor to pay fees – so they’re the very people who need help the most, ironic!) If you really want to help the poorest producers and transform lives of families then direct trade* is the best approach.
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As you may have already gathered Ethical Addictions is not just about high quality coffee sourced direct, taking care to ensure producers are paid well and cared for, we are also concerned about the care shown to the environment, to preserve our great planet, natural habitats, and a future for us all.
You can find out more about how each farm is helping the environment by going to their farm pages. Below is a brief list of what we are doing as a business in the UK to support our planet.
