The ubiquity of fair trade organic coffee is a bit puzzling. I guess coffee is something people take particular pride in? Regardless, the reason I find it strange is because the coffee tends to be the only thing available fair trade or organic in establishments that carry fair trade organic coffee. In this area, a couple of such places are City Cafe Bakery and the University of Waterloo coffee shops, but I’ve seen it elsewhere as well.

You’d think that at least the coffee-related things would get lumped in, but this is not the case. The sugar tends to be just regular refined sugar, or perhaps “raw” sugar; but never fair trade or organic. The milk and cream are usually the conventional stuff, with the latter also generally having all the thickeners and stabilizers. In my view, it is at least as important to support organic farming practices closer to home (i.e. for cream) as it is to do the same on the other side of the world.

The only place I have ever seen go all the way with coffee and its add-ins is eXhibit Cafe at the Children’s Museum in downtown Kitchener — though the name gives away that it may be trying to prove a point.