Here in the West we are massive consumers of coffee. And many of us think nothing of spending four or five dollars at Starbucks for a gourmet espresso, latte or cappuccino.

What few of us think about as we sip our favorite brew is that coffee is grown by small farmers in developing countries. Most of these farmers are paid less for the coffee beans they grow that it costs for them to produce and pick them.

In other words, for every gourmet coffee you and I enjoy, the grower of the beans used is descending into a deeper and deeper cycle of poverty and desperation.

It was in recognition of this cycle that the certification process for fair trade coffee was introduced in 1998.

When you buy a pound of fair trade coffee, $1.26 goes directly back to the coffee growers who grew it.

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