Fair Trade Coffee...at an affordable price!

One of my favourite things in life is my daily cup of coffee! I have loved coffee since I was about age three or four, as a kid in Ireland, when my dad would save me some of his Nescafe instant coffee, (aka Nasty Nestle) made with milk, in his flask from his lunch at work. The flavour is still in my memory and I remember it as delicious!

Thankfully, those days are a happy memory only. For years, I have only ever used fresh beans, freshly ground each morning, using the best beans I could afford. I used to buy from a local coffee roaster here in my area called Java Moose. I love their products but I would at times find the roasting to be inconsistent and at the time, they did not offer Fair Trade.

I then moved onto Just Us Fair Trade Coffee purchased locally at our Superstore, but the price became to prohibitive, approx. $9-$10 per half pound bag. I then would purchase Starbucks version of Fair Trade coffee (approx. $13 per 1 lb bag) and that was great for a long time, though inconvenient as we had to go to Fredericton to buy our coffee, but we tied it in with a visit to my brother and sister in-law or begged them to bring us some when they travelled to Saint John.

Until....eureka, about three years ago we discovered that Costco not only sells Starbucks under their own brand Kirkland, but it is also Fair Trade and it only costs approx. $13 per 2lb bag!



Another one that they offer and also my favourite, is by a Canadian company called William Spartivento Coffee costing approx. $14 for a 2lb bag!


This is the most beautiful, smooth, rich, full bodied coffee that I love! I wish they offered in other locations closer to home, but I am just so happy to drink it!

So, now we trek to Moncton, which is the closest Costco to us and buy a two month supply of coffee which compared to what we were paying saves us half and we enjoy our day trip and we are supporting Fair Trade! Worth the drive!

But, my other amazing discovery is that Irving Convenience Stores offers a Fair Trade Coffee that is truly delicious! Instead of always hitting Tim Horton's for that quick cup of coffee, I will now go the extra distance to buy a cup of coffee there and support their good effort! I also discovered that they sell their cold slushy drinks or iced coffee's in cups that are totally compostable, made out of corn! If you recycle and compost as we do, you will appreciate that! So, for the first time in a very long time, I actually have to acknowledge these good efforts and the fact that their slushies are only a 99 cents!!!!