Is Nespresso Coffee Fair Trade?

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It would not be wrong to say a good part of the world is run by coffee — according to CoffeeDasher, more than 12% of the world's populace regularly fits a cup into their day. While coffee is considered by many as pure awesome in a cup, it does not really have a stellar reputation as a crop. The coffee trade is rife with stories of exploitation, unsafe working conditions, and poor environmental protection standards. If you care about where your coffee comes from, you can look at sustainable coffee labels like Fairtrade, which are essentially "stamps of approval" that the coffee has been bought from farmers with fair prices and that environmental standards are met. If you own a Nespresso machine, the big question immediately comes to mind: Are Nespresso coffee pods Fair Trade?

The answer is yes ... and also no. While Nespresso has been working with Fairtrade America since 2014, only certain lines — like the Nespresso Indonesia Master Origin variety — carry the official Fairtrade stamp. On most boxes, you will find stamps from other organizations and certifications instead. The Rainforest Alliance and Certified B Corporation tend to be the most prominent. All these labels serve a similar purpose as Fairtrade — but what's the deal with all these confusing certificates that appear and disappear seemingly without rhyme or reason on Nespresso's boxes?

Nespresso wants you to feel good about the coffee you buy. Instead of relying on an independent certification body, they have their own sourcing system called AAA, which they claim to use for sourcing 91% of their coffee. On the side, they also state that 57% of their beans are certified by either the Rainforest Alliance or Fairtrade organizations, too. These are some impressive numbers, but the reality on the ground paints a different picture. Nespresso has come under fire plenty of times in the past couple of years in incidents that made international headlines. In 2020, per Reuters, child laborers were found on three Guatemalan farms that supply coffee for Nespresso. The year before that, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre reported that a Brazilian supplier for Nespresso was caught illegally cutting workers' wages.

A huge part of the problem is the lack of transparency. In pretty much the same way we cannot tell for sure why some coffee is Fairtrade-certified and some are not, critics and activists have pointed out that Nespresso does not have clear explanations on what criteria or techniques they use to determine if coffee is sustainably sourced. Considering how Nespresso's parent company is Néstle, which has a questionable track record when it comes to ethical business practices,  people have a lot of reasons to be wary. So if you love the convenience of pod coffee but care about doing the right thing, this is a tough dilemma. Your best bet might be going old-school and brewing your own Fair Trade-certified coffee. Plus, let's be honest, you will probably get a better-tasting cup that way anyway!