I’m a Starbucks addict. Or, at least I was.

Though it’s difficult to stay away from the friendly green sign on every major street corner, some recently acquired knowledge helps me do just that.

Starbucks, for most of its items, does not practice fair trade.

Fair trade is a system of exchange that pays producers a fair price for the goods they sell. It avoids exploitation by eliminating some of the middlemen that major corporations like Starbucks use, which minimizes the gap between producers and consumers.

The cost for fair trade coffee is comparable to coffee at popular cafés like Starbucks and Dutch Bros., sustainability sophomore and ASU affiliate for United Students for Fair Trade Kim Pearson said. The floor price for a pound of fair trade coffee right now is $1.26, she said, as opposed to the just under $1 major corporations pay.

Furthermore, local coffee shops that practice fair trade, like Fair Trade Café and Cartel Coffee Lab, either go directly to the producer or use very few workers in between to cut down on the cost for us caffeine addicts.

Why is fair trade important?

“Fair trade addresses the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the poorest, weakest producers. It enables them to improve their position and have more control over their lives,” according to the Fairtrade Foundation Web site. The site continues on to explain that especially in times of recession, fair trade offers a better life for these producers. But until consumers demand other choices, corporations will continue to take advantage of these farmers.

As if greed weren’t enough, there is also a link to coffee prices and drug production.

In 2001, when coffee prices fell to 43 cents a pound, many Columbian coffee farmers traded the aromatic beans for coca, the derivative for cocaine. Still today, in other parts of the world, farmers who can’t make a living from growing coffee beans switch to an industry where the price meets the demand — the drug trade.

According to Pearson, both Starbucks and Java City usually offer only one roast of fair trade coffee, while Dutch Bros. offers none.

Starbucks prides itself in being one of the leading purchasers of fair trade coffee. Yet, the numbers are deceiving. Out of its dozens of roasts only one, “Café Estima,” is purchased through fair trade practices. Most days it is not even brewed ready for customers who want it. However, because the company is so widespread, it can advertise itself as a leading purchaser of fair trade coffee.

As a consumer you can make a statement by only purchasing coffee that it is fair trade certified, or from local cafés that buy the beans themselves. If you simply cannot give up Starbucks, ask for them to brew you some “Café Estima.”

Nicole is brewing a cup of fair trade-certified French roast. Contact her at ndgilber@asu.edu