By: Nancy La, Staff Writer

It is a universally acknowledged truth that many students wishing to perform their best require caffeine’s help. Coffee is one of the most popular caffeinated beverages, yet it is a product that leads to dangerous worker exploitation. This is due to its colonial history and the way it is produced today. This important staple makes our day much better, but we must also educate ourselves on its controversial past and present in order to make the most ethical consumer decisions.  

For the most part, coffee can only be grown in what is called the “Bean Belt,” an area spanning 25 degrees north and 30 degrees south of the equator. There are some exceptions to this — I’ve tried coffee from the Yunnan region of China — but in general, it is the Bean Belt that supplies the majority of the world’s coffee. 

Coffee was already popular in Middle Eastern countries, such as Turkey and Yemen, before the Europeans got hold of the bean in the 17th century. The Dutch were the first to start commercializing coffee beans through slavery in their colony of Java, and the British and the French soon followed the colonial coffee production model. The use of enslaved or low-cost human labour for this special bean never went away; it continues to be a part of the coffee trade today.

Due to the inherent capitalistic nature of modern consumerism, coffee bean farmers have to sell their beans at incredibly low prices. Major companies that hold large market shares in the coffee trade have great leverage against small coffee farmers. Nestlé and Jacobs Douwe Egberts, for example, take up 40% of the world’s coffee market with brands familiar in North America and Europe like Tassimo, Maxwell House, Coffeemate, and Nespresso. 

Companies with large market shares can suppress prices and pay farmers poorly. On top of the extreme environments coffee requires to grow, such as high altitudes and rocky volcanic soil, the working conditions of coffee farmers that trade with large brands have been reported to be “slavery-like” and “life-threatening.” 

Because major corporations such as Nestlé buy mass quantities of coffee beans at such low rates, they can afford to sell their products at cheaper prices than ethical coffee roasters who import beans at fair market prices. The two different models dictate whether or not farmers and workers can earn livable wages. This is why a large container of Maxwell coffee comes in at 75 cents per 100 grams at Walmart, but a bag of coffee beans from a local roaster, like Pallet, who gets their beans from a traceable and ethical source, comes in at around $6.17 per 100 grams. 

Another reason for the higher price tag is the range of complex flavours available and the option to try coffees from various locations. Personally speaking, the experience of brewing specialty coffee is otherworldly and irreplaceable. 

Am I happy to spend more than eight times the amount of money on coffee when I can get away with spending less? Absolutely not. But am I going to allow myself to participate in a production that uses child labour and slavery to give me my daily caffiene boost? Also a resounding no. 

While it is incredibly messed up that the burden of moral consumption is placed upon the shoulders of small consumers, I do believe in fairly paying workers and maintaining a fairer coffee trade. Of course, I am financially at a place where I can afford ethical consumption, and others might not have the choice to do so. It is a huge fault within our society that only those who have money can consume products ethically, and those who cannot have no choice but to pay large corporations and fuel the vicious cycle of global capitalism.