Coffee Buyer to Pay More than Fair Trade Prices

Geoff Watts, the coffee buyer for Intelligentsia Coffee is featured in this article. He has told the coffee growers from whom he buys coffee that they can expect to be a hefty premium above normal Fair Trade prices for their coffee - the numbers in the article range from 50% - 200% above Fair Trade prices. Intelligentsia does this by dealing directly with the farmers and limits the role of the coffee cooperatives in the deals.

While this business model has been questioned in the past, Intelligentsia is now a profitable company.