Fairtrade fortnight takes places each year for 2 weeks of the year, this year it is the 25th February to the 10th March. Thousands of individuals and companies across the U.K. come together to celebrate the individuals who grow our food. These individuals often live in some of the poorest countries in the world.
This year Fairtrade fortnight is focusing on people, but in particular women. The women who grow the cocoa in chocolate we love and eat almost every single day.
A cocoa farmer earns around 74p a day, but actually they need around £1.86 to achieve a living income. This is why Fairtrade are campaigning for a living income to become a reality. Living income isn’t a luxury is it a human right, it means these ladies would have enough money to feed their families, buy medicine when they need it and send their kids to school.
So you might be wondering how you can help? Well you can: sign a petition, host an event, fundraise for Fairtrade, share on social media making sure you #shedeserves.
We believe Fairtrade fortnight is so important and that is why we are getting involved. Not only are we here to spread awareness about #shedeserves but we also want to share with you so many other incredible Fairtrade brands.
Gusto Organic
Gusto Organic was one of the first natural energy drinks to hit the world market in the late 80’s. In 2017 Gusto Organic drinks were voted number 1 ethical cola in the UK. There are several flavours available including; Real Cola, Naturally Slim Cola, Lemon Energy, Real Cherry Cola, Fiery Ginger with Chipotle and Sicilian Blood Orange. You can find Gusto Organic Drinks in over 10 different countries from Holland to Japan and they are in over 200 UK stockists.
These went down an absolute treat when I handed them out to my cousins post Brighton half marathon! Our favourite flavour was the Sicilian Blood Orange it was soooo delicious!
Seed & Bean
Seed & Bean was founded in 2005, the owners wanted to create an ethical range of confectionery goods. They wanted to create flavours that you would rarely find in other chocolate bars and now sell over 20 flavours.
Seed and Bean are a Fairtrade, ethical and organic chocolate bar company. They sell dark, white and milk chocolate so they definitely cater for all chocolate lovers! You can find Seed & Bean at Wholefoods, Planet Organic, WHSmith, Amazon, John Lewis Food Hall and many more places.
We loved the chocolate bars were were sent to Sample, all but one were dark chocolate (our favourite). We are coffee lovers so the espresso flavour was definitely one of our favourite it was so tasty and we couldn’t stop eating it. We also love anything orange flavoured so we knew we would love the mandarin and ginger flavoured one as well. If we are honest we loved all of them, some more than others but that is always the way!
T2 Tea
T2 adhere to the utmost standards of ethical trade, and are set to be classified as B-Corp by the end of this year – very exciting! The tea that they currently stock that has a Fair Trade Certification is their English Breakfast Tea and their Turmeric Ginger Ninja.
We loved using the cute little tea pot to brew our teas and the english breakfast went down a treat, but then again who doesn’t love an english breakfast tea! The tumeric ginger tea is perfect for the winter and to fight those colds off, but certainly is an acquired taste!
Bird & Wild
Bird and Wild is on a mission to help protect migrating birds, support the RSPB and sell great tasting Fairtrade organic coffee- what an amazing company! The coffee is naturally grown under the rainforest canopy which is a haven for birds. Bird & Wild coffees are Fairtrade Certified, they ensure that producers in developing countries are paid a fair price for their work. They are also organic which means that no pesticides are added to the coffee whilst it is growing which is helping to support wildlife.
We tried the espresso blend and oh my gosh it was incredible. We have been so used to drinking instant coffee or cafetiere coffee that just doesn’t wow us or have a powerful flavour. This was was labelled strong and it certainly was, and that is just how we like our coffee. We believe there has to be some flavour to wake us up in the morning and this certainly hit the nail on the head. After sampling this we will sure be buying it, you can purchase on Ocado and also Amazon.
Karma Cola
Karma Cola believe that what you drink should not only taste good but should also be good to the land, good to the people who grow the ingredients and as good to the customer who drinks it.
Karma Cola found out that the world drinks more than a million colas a minute but none of the money went back to the people who originally discovered the stuff! So Karma cola decided to create a drink that does just that and we think that is pretty dam cool!
We have tried karma Cola previously and absolutely love it. It’s great to see lots of restaurants selling karma cola, I actually enjoyed One after my Brighton half marathon as served it in the Vegan Restaurant I was in! Karma Cola tastes just like a Coca Cola sweet, it is delicious and takes us right back to our childhood.
MIA Chocolate
MIA is an incredible chocolate brand that we have been loving for quite some time now. The name MIA stands for Made In Africa; everything the company produces is sourced and made in Africa. In addition the company believes in making delicious, unique and premium food fairly.
Each and every product that is made by MIA is entirely crafted by communities in Africa. They want to create more jobs on a continent where a single income can support an entire family.
We have written a post all about Mia chocolate before and it’s great to know that it is also Fairtrade. We love their chocolate, its great to nibble on and also to bake with. Here of their chocolate and here you can read all about when we ate in the cutest pub that use Mia chocolate in their desserts.
Abelha
Although Abelha is not Fairtrade we couldn’t not mention them in this post. They are doing some incredible things and truly do believe in providing jobs and paying fair wages to their suppliers in the villages.
Abelha Organic Cachaça was created from such a simple idea: they wanted to use the best possible all-natural ingredients and the most traditional artisan methods of production at source. The cane used is grown 100% organically in the beautiful protected national park of Chapada Diamantina in Bahia, Northern Brazil, where the high, dry climate and sandy soils yield excellent cane for making Cachaça.
The team at Abelha believe that quality and soul come from doing as much as possible in the traditional way, by hand and in small batches. You can get the Albelha Cachaça Silver which is rested for a few months in an open steel tank which allows for some of the unwanted compounds to evaporate. Albelha Cachaça Gold is aged for 3 years in wooden barrels!
