Like many Americans, I am an avid coffee lover. My love for coffee is a part of my heritage, that is, from the German side. The German part of my family, both my grandmothers are German, are mad about coffee, and slurp it down, cup after cup, all day. My love for coffee came later, beginning two years ago. I discovered gourmet coffee, and the Arabica beans it comes from. No more crap from the can. Bye, bye went the several cups of tea I would consume.

Months ago it came to my attention that coffee farmers are not always paid a fair price for their crop. However, there are coffee companies, although they are no where near as large as whorebucks (oops, I meant Starbucks), that are deemed fair trade companies by the Fair Trade Federation. The FTF is an association of fair trade sellers, retailers, and producers who pay fair prices to farmers and wages workers in countries from economically disadvantaged countries. In other words, the partners in the FTF do not