Seattle Post-Intelligencer
August 18, 2001
By Kathy Mulady

The Seattle Coffee Co. has agreed to begin selling Organic and Fair Trade Certified coffee in about 1,400 Safeway stores throughout the country.

The agreement paves the way for the biggest distribution yet of Fair Trade Certified coffee in the United States.

Starbucks offers Fair Trade Certified coffee in its stores and to business accounts, but not in grocery stores.

Safeway is selling Fair Trade Certified Organic French roast in most of its stores. The coffee is harvested in the highlands of southern Peru and is grown on a collection of small farms.

Seattle's Best Coffee, which is a division of AFC Enterprises, the same company that owns Seattle Coffee Co., Cinnabon and other restaurants, has long offered organic coffee in its stores, but has been slower at offering Fair Trade Certified coffee.

"After some investigation we found a good coffee connection in Peru, it turned out, just by coincidence, that the coffee was TransFair certified," said Lauren Formicola, a spokeswoman for Seattle Coffee Co.

At the same time, the coffee company was working on a deal with Safeway, which was interested in carrying an organic coffee, but also wanted a Fair Trade coffee, said Formicola.

"It all came together," she said.

TransFair USA is a non-profit certification agency.

"I'm thrilled to see a company the size and stature of Seattle Coffee Co. embrace the principles of Fair Trade -- particularly at this time of historically low coffee prices, when farmers all over the world face serious threats to their livelihoods," said Paul Rice, TransFair executive director.