jpender wrote:it is far easier to simply try the product and see how it tastes. And then vote with one's wallet. That's the reasonable approach.

And that is what keeps people coming back. Marketing only gets them in the door. At the end of the day utility/value is what sets a market price, not how much it costs to produce.

Milligan wrote:Marketing only gets them in the door.

Or sends them away. For example, I looked at Onyx's website and was quickly turned off by their aesthetics.

Almico wrote:Do beer consumers demand to know how much their local micro brewery pays for hops?

Your example crop is mostly grown in developed countries, on a few thousand farms. Coffee is grown on millions of farms where about half or the farmers live in poverty. I really don't think this is about the consumer.

Jonk wrote:Your example crop is mostly grown in developed countries, on a few thousand farms. Coffee is grown on millions of farms where about half of the farmers live in poverty. I really don't think this is about the consumer.

Agreed, that's partially my point. "Transparency" is not being driven by consumer demand.

Most coffee drinkers couldn't care less about the farmers that produced the coffee in their cup and even less would make buying decisions based on green pricing transparency. Just like many EV owners don't know, or care to know, about the slave labor conditions in the Congo that is responsible for 70% of the cobalt required for their batteries and all the fossil fuels required to charge them. They take comfort in believing that their friends and neighbors think better of them for their sacrifice. And how many so-called influencers consider the brutal conditions for the workers that made their iPhones and fancy designer clothes while they're making their Tik-Tok and instagram videos?

This is either about importers and roasters genuinely trying to do their part to improve a bad situation, or about trying to feel better about themselves for participating in it, or most likely a little of both. They have been trying for a while now. Certifications like Fair Trade and RFA were tried, but without a grand public education campaign, they never caught on enough to justify significantly higher prices in the consumers mind. So I can't see how pricing transparency amongst a relative few small to mid-sized importers and roasters is going to put the tiniest dent in the global coffee market, but if they feel better trying, go for it. It would be great to be able to pay producers 10X the going rate for their efforts, but are consumers ready to pay $150 for a 12oz bag or $20 or $30 for a cup of coffee?

My part is to source green coffee as ethically as reasonably possible, so if a customer asks me about where I get my coffee, we both can feel good about my answer. I realize it might be an unpopular sentiment these days, but there are many problems in this world and not all of them are mine. I just try to make the world a better place, in my tiny sphere of influence, one good cup of coffee at a time...and by voting with my wallet.