for the record

I meant to mention in yesterday's long winded blog on Starbucks that they have been working on projects with farmer to help them and teach them better growing practices. I think they have a specialty line of coffee that is geared towards fair trade or at least a better trade.

Also I know that the nice folks at Millstone have been trying to work on getting fair trade beans on to the shelves in Wal-Marts and other such large chain retailers. In our area it hasn't been a huge success as yet. But I know there are a few fair trader groups that you can find on the shelf typically in the organic, or health food aisles of your grocery (this all depends on the area of the country you live in).

I have nothing against the nice folks at Folgers. I love folgers coffee but in good conscience I don't think I can buy it anymore. Not with the amount of coffee I drink. But they have the coolest coffee container these days. Love that. It should be said that I came up on Folgers about 19 years ago. My grandma still drinks about 3 or4 pots of it a day (no joke). She drinks strictly coffee and water, fortunately she takes her coffee with a little cream. Its the only way she gets dairy beside cereal.

Just to be fair I thought I should have to give the big boys their due. I appreciate that they are trying. My newest dilemma is should I buy fair trade from Wal-mart to encourage them to get in the game more; or should I keep buying from the fair trade stores to help them with their business?