Organic and Fair Trade Coffees from Treehugger Dan's: Good Sense, Great Price

Our coffees are not just environmentally and socially responsible - they are also delicious and value priced!

How can we sell exquisite, hand-crafted, fair trade and organic coffees for the same or lower price than others in Budapest sell commodity beans or blends? We have no idea - but after your first cup you'll see that doing well and doing good at the same time has never been easier.

We currently offer two varieties of fair trade coffee at our District VI stores, one of which is also organic:

Natur Equa

Made from 100% Arabica, organic, fair trade beans from cooperatives in Columbia, Mexico, Guatemala, and Peru, it is a sweet and delicate blend with an intense scent of flower and fruit. This coffee won the silver medal in December 2006 among all Italian coffee roasters, and currently retails for Ft 6,000/kilo, either as whole beans, or ground to your specifications. It is also available in single-serving pods usable in all "free system" coffeemakers.

Kafequo

A blend of 55% Arabica/45% Robusta whole fair trade beans from Peru and Tanzania. Creamy and packing a nice caffeine punch, this blend is Ft 4,400/kilo.

Teas and Cocoa

In addition to our coffees, we offer a range of organic and fair trade teas and hot chocolate.

We wholesale, too.

Own a café or restaurant? Join the growing number of local restaurateurs who have discovered how organic and fair trade coffee are not only price competitive with other quality coffees, but can offer a unique selling point. Qualified NGOs can also get Treehugger Dan's organic coffee at wholesale prices.

What is "fair trade" and "organic," anyway?

Fair Trade generally means trading partnerships based on reciprocal benefits and mutual respect. This means that the prices paid to producers - especially small farmers - reflect the work they do; that workers have the right to organize; and that national health and safety regulations are enforced. We also believe it means providing equal employment opportunities for all people, particularly the most disadvantaged, being "transparent" and accountable to the public, and providing appropriate financial and technical assistance to producers whenever possible. To become fair trade certified, an importer must meet stringent international criteria, including paying a minimum price of $1.26 per pound for coffee (as opposed to the usual 50 cents or less). As a result, coffee growers can invest in health care, education, and their local environment. It also means knowing who grows the coffee you drink. In our case, we are getting our "morning cup" from producers like the Coffee Farmers Group Expocafé S.A., a public-private joint venture based in Bogotá, Colombia that wholesales beans from smaller cooperatives throughout the country.

"Organic" has come to mean different things to different people. But for us, it means agriculture that not involve the use of artificial pesticides, herbicides, synthetic fertilizers, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), antibiotics, irradiation or such potentially harmful "inputs" like sewage slurry. In other words, food, coffee and other things made in a way that, if you saw them being made, you'd still want to eat or drink them.

Who drinks this stuff?

The real question is, who doesn't? From the office of Hungarian President László Sólyom to the recently-opened Arriba Taquirea Mexican restaurant, our coffees are increasingly the choice of those in Hungary who care about the earth and its people - or who just want a great cup at a great price.