Dining Halls Will Serve ‘Fair Trade’ Coffee

After surveying the student body’s thoughts on dining hall coffee, Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) has decided to regularly serve organic coffee that is bought directly from farmers.

At the urging of Harvard Fair Trade Initiative (HFTI), HUDS tested out the new and old coffees over a two-week period last month and polled 1,300 students on their preferences between the two types.

After the results were in, HUDS announced that the new organic coffee—which, in addition to being “fair trade” coffee, is of a higher grade than the old blend—performed well enough to earn a regular place on Annenberg and House dining hall menus. The brew will be served twice a week beginning next semester

Members of HFTI said they were glad HUDS will offer the fair trade coffee regularly.

“I think it’s a step in the right direction,” said HFTI member Jordan A. A. Bar Am ’04. “I’m confident that HUDS will be willing to increase the days per week provided we demonstrate it’s an issue students care about.”

HUDS spokesperson Alexandra McNitt said surveys showed that students are primarily concerned with improving the taste of their coffee. Introducing flavored coffees and using fair trade coffee ranked as the next two highest priorities.

McNitt said that in addition to the twice-a-week fair trade coffee, dining halls plan to serve more flavored coffees, such as hazelnut, in response to the poll results.

HUDS has no immediate plans to serve fair trade coffee more than two times a week.

“We will see how the introduction of the fair trade coffee goes and then take it from there,” McNitt said.

According to HFTI member Aaron K. Tanaka ’04, HUDS Executive Director Ted A. Mayer said that in order for dining halls to serve the fair trade coffee more often, HFTI will need to demonstrate that students really care about fair trade issues and are not just concerned with taste.

Tanaka said the group hopes to continue tabling in dining halls and to bring fair trade farmers to campus as speakers in order to educate students.

“One of our main goals is that every student knows what fair trade is, like they know what the living wage is,” Tanaka said.

Survey results suggest HFTI is moving in the right direction.

McNitt said that when the survey was initially conducted, 40 percent of students were unaware of what fair trade coffee was, but after a week of promotion by HFTI only 23 percent of students reported being unaware and 51 percent reported being “well-educated” about the coffee.

McNitt said the best way for students to give their opinions about the fair trade coffee is to fill out feedback cards in the dining halls.

Fair trade coffee is already served in the Science Center Greenhouse and Loker Commons. HFTI hopes to have the campus restaurants serve fair trade coffee every day, and also to convince the restaurants to serve other fair trade products, such as chocolate and tea.

The group is also trying to persuade restaurants and stores in Cambridge to sell the coffee.

—Staff writer Orofisola Fasehun can be reached at fasehun@fas.harvard.edu.