日常英语 付高价喝一杯“道德”咖啡

你会付高价喝一杯 “道德”咖啡吗？你知道什么是“道德”咖啡吗？它在原来“公平贸易”咖啡的基础上更重视咖啡豆的来源以及种植者的收入。根据联合国统计的数据显示，目前在很多西方国家，匠人咖啡十分流行，这也证明越来越多的人们愿意为“道德”咖啡买单。

 

Do you like to start your day with a cup of joe? Well, you wouldn't be alone. Millions of people from all over the world brew a cup of coffee first thing in the morning, or at any time of day, for that matter. Do you make it yourself, using instant coffee? Or, if you are a coffee connoisseur, perhaps you use freshly ground beans. Do you take it straight? With a dash of milk? Or maybe even some chocolate sprinkles? Or, failing all of that, maybe you'd rather pay a barista in a cafe to whip one up for you.

 

Cafes are everywhere these days, offering as many varieties of coffee as there are ways to have it served. And this leads to a range of prices, from cheap grab-and-go coffee, to the ultra-expensive artisanal coffee. However, an increasing number of Western consumers are happy to pay a little over the odds for their cup in order to ensure that it comes from an ethically produced and sustainable source.

 

At The Attendant, a cafe in east London, staff attempt to make customers aware of the story of the beans that they are drinking and the impact they are having by choosing to drink ethically. For a start, it can make coffee farmers up to three-and-a-half times better off, according to figures from the UN's World Intellectual Property Organisation (Wipo). Ryan de Oliveria, The Attendant's co-founder and chief executive, says the extra income allows farmers and their families to have a better quality of life. It also makes investing or reinvesting in their business possible.

 

Wipo's figures show smarter processing, branding and marketing make a huge difference to the growers and their communities. Technology now means that the beans can be tracked all the way from the farm to the cup. The research shows that for a pound (454g) of beans going to a supermarket, the export price is $1.45. Most of this goes to the farmer. The price almost doubles when the beans are headed for large western coffee chains. But farmers exporting their beans to artisanal cafes make over $5 per pound. That's because the coffee aficionados who frequent these places are happy to pay more.

 

It seems that it's a win-win situation for the farmers, cafes and consumers. So much so that more established coffee businesses are jumping on the band wagon by buying up artisanal rivals who have already embraced this way of doing things. If that's the case, then the future of coffee production looks a little fairer for all. And that's something that should get anyone up on the right side of bed.