Oxfam's response to my Costa and Fairtrade piece

This just in from Oxfam in response to my email to them about the Costa and Fairtrade issue I blogged about a few weeks back:

Dear Luke,

Thanks for the email. I'm sorry we have taken so long in replying , as you can imagine we have been very busy responding to the generosity of the British public over the Tsunami appeal.

It was very interesting to read your experiences. You're right , it is a process to get Fairtrade on the menu, then on to the menu at the same price, then into the script the Barrista uses and it is only customer pressure and demand that will drive the corporate chains down this path.

You have probably seen the fairtrade foundation website which details where you can get fairtrade coffee in cafes:

http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/products_coffee.htm

You may also be interested to know we have just started a new joint venture of coffee bars Progreso which will also sell 100% fairtrade coffee:

http://www.progreso.org.uk/

There are currently two Progreso shops in central London , one in Earlham St near Covent Garden and one in Portobello Road , but we hope to expand nationwide as we can.

You can see and take part in our current coffee campaign here:

http://www.maketradefair.com/en/index.php?file=action11.htm&cat=1&subcat=5&select=5&special=yes

This is targeted at coffee manufacturers but you're also right to consider that the volumes of coffee purchased in outlets like Costa etc are becoming more and more important in overall coffee sales.

With best wishes,
Ken Smith
Supporter Relations
Oxfam
Direct tel: +44 (0)870 333 2700
Switchboard tel: +44 (0)1865 311311
Fax: +44 (0)1865 312452
E-mail: campaigning@oxfam.org.uk
Website: http://www.oxfam.org.uk

Nice email. : )

Incidentally, an update on Costa: I talked to another barista in the King's Road branch yesterday, and he said they typically sell less than a cup a day of Fairtrade—so they ended up throwing away the beans, and didn't have any to serve me with. I thought the cup I had last time tasted really stale, and now I know why. The beans were old, old, old!