It is easy to believe that Coffee Circle is truly well-rounded; you can actually witness the daily development of the young Berlin company in (perceived) realtime on Facebook. Last Friday the three founders Martin Elwert, Moritz Waldstein-Wartenberg and Robert Rudnick left for the Ilketunjo coffee cooperative in Jimma (Ethiopia), where they are currently selecting this year’s best organic coffee and espresso beans. The beans are bought for a fair price and one Euro per kilo of coffee sold is donated. The donation is given to development aid projects that the trio and the coffee farmers choose together. Last year a water well for 2,000 people was built and books for a local school were provided through this charity. Every coffee customer in Germany may select his/her choice of project to support and in effort to realize the developments in Ethiopia, the Coffee Circle boys pitch in as well. By doing so, they avoid the money being spent on administrative business, as with many other Fair Trade projects, and also set up an example for a new kind of trading ethos: transparency promised, transparency complied. For those of you who still feel that the circle is broken, visit their website to learn how to prepare a perfect cup of coffee (in German). Their beans are roasted in Hamburg (video) and are available for purchase online and at LPG supermarkets. Advertisement? Yes, but with a good conscience.
Text: Verena Schwarz
Published in Cee Cee #28 on 27.10.2011
