☕ When Fair Is Not Enough — Why We Now Speak of GOOD
By Alfred Gitau Mwaura, Founder, GOOD Trade Certification™
If you truly desire and appreciate a well-crafted cup of coffee — one born from the careful hands of an experienced farmer, perfected by a skilled roaster, and presented with grace by a trained barista — then you must also appreciate the truth behind it.
For decades, the world has spoken about fair trade.
Fair prices, fair wages, fair treatment.
But for the farmer, fair has never truly been enough.
🌱 When “Fair” Becomes the Floor
The word fair was meant to symbolize balance. Yet, in the lived reality of the smallholder farmer, “fair” has too often meant barely survival.
Fair covers costs — sometimes.
Fair avoids exploitation — maybe.
But fair does not build prosperity. Fair does not educate the farmer’s child, or protect the soil from exhaustion, or reward the roaster’s artistry.
Fair, in truth, has become the minimum threshold of decency — not the standard of dignity.
💎 The Rise of GOOD
At GOOD Trade Certification™, we believe the time has come to replace fair with GOOD.
Because GOOD demands more:
- GOOD Pricing — where the farmer earns not just a margin, but a living and a future.
- GOOD Quality — where value creation is shared across the chain, not hoarded at the top.
- GOOD Practices — where climate, community, and education are part of the trade equation.
GOOD is not a slogan. It is a new philosophy of coffee trade — honest, transparent, and farmer-centered.
☕ The Coffee We Desire, the System We Deserve
Every great cup starts with a farmer’s decision to care — to prune, to pick, to process with excellence. That care must echo all the way up the chain.
If we can taste the difference in a cup, we must also account for the difference in the price.
If we celebrate the roaster’s precision and the barista’s craft, we must also celebrate — and compensate — the farmer’s excellence.
GOOD Trade Certification™ calls the world to move beyond sympathy economics and into shared prosperity economics.
🌍 The GOOD Economy
In the GOOD model, coffee is not just traded — it is honored.
Every actor in the chain — farmer, roaster, barista, and consumer — participates in a transparent system that rewards quality, uplifts people, and protects the planet.
GOOD means that value does not trickle down — it flows both ways.
It’s time we stopped asking if something is fair enough,
and started asking if it is truly GOOD.
✍🏽 By Alfred Gitau Mwaura
Founder, GOOD Trade Certification™ | Kenya Coffee School | Barista Mtaani
Because fair was never the destination — GOOD is.