Our ability to differentiate between dark and medium roast may be a mark of our growing coffee culture, but it has done nothing to help the mostly small, independent producers who grow the coffee in developing world countries, a seminar on how to become a Fairtrade town has heard.
Our failure as consumers to ascertain how much the grower gets for his crop may have contributed directly to families being forced out of their only chance of a livelihood in some third world countries such as Guatemala, the seminar heard.
This year coffee prices paid to producers are at a 100-year low.At the same time prices have risen on the commodities market because of rumours of a crop failure in Brazil.
As city traders in stock markets speculate on demand and yield and shift around pension funds, farmers take what they get from middle men, the seminar at the Institute of Technology in Tralee, organised by the Kerry Action for Development, (KADE) heard.
"At one end of the world you have people enjoying a sophisticated beverage. At the other end you have people being beggared by the same industry," said Mr Peter Gaynor, co-ordinator of Fairtrade Mark, Ireland.
Surveys carried out by Fairtrade Mark Ireland show 44 per cent of people knew what the logo meant in 2004.
But market share for products remains at 1 per cent.
Mr Gaynor warned of the danger of associating awareness with action.
People might be aware, but that does not mean they use their buying power to support fair trade.
"Fair trade is really simple. The mark is the international logo and currently it is the only independent guarantee of a better deal for people," Mr Gaynor said.
Ireland is recognised as a generous nation, but paying just 5 per cent more for a Fairtrade product can have a greater long-term effect than a cash donation in time of disaster.
In deals with producers and companies during the past 30 years of its existence, Fairtrade has worked out decent minimum prices for independent producers, far above market prices.
It works on deals for human rights benefits, such as the right to join a trade union for workers in African and Indian tea estates for instance, as well as ensuring their co-operative gets funds to improve their living standards and education.
In return, what has now become a highly respected logo is displayed on products ranging from muesli to marmalade
The Fairtrade Ireland website is www.fairtrade.ie