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e-commerce grocery product before 2020 and the prevalence
of subscription services and partnerships between delivery
services and high-street chains have ensured customers could
still get their hands on some. With people confined to work-
ing from home and with limited options to leave the house,
making coffee was one of few ways to take a break from work.

Paying Back

Before you buy your morning cup of coffee, there is a
big business process that needs to take place: harvesting
coffee, washing, drying, selling, shipping, re-selling, roasting,
selling again and finally griding and brewing. But what if this
long chain can be simplified for the better living of the farms?
We talked with Lewis Harding from Coffee Exchange to
discover how coffee chain can be shorten and made more fair
to all the participants.
Lewis is originally from London and growing up, sur-
prisingly for a British person, never drunk tea but was always
more interested in coffee. With the degree from Queen Mary
University in Business & Economics he first came to China
back in 2008 to work in finance. Back then there was very
little coffee except instant coffee and Taiwanese style coffee
chains that where more like diners so seeing first Starbucks
opening in China was very exciting for Lewis.

At an international level, coffee producers, traders, chains. Additionally, while the market price for coffee has
and roasters have already seen significant changes in coffee increased, prices for fair trade coffee have stagnated, creat-
markets. There have been increases in international coffee ing a risk of coffee producers abandoning fair trade schemes
prices, with a strong likelihood of continued increases as that promote decent working conditions. While there has
countries stockpile coffee in case supply chains are hit been an increased demand for coffee sold by supermarkets,
harder by COVID-19. This could have a positive effect for there have been steep decreases in demand for coffee sold
coffee farmers who have until recently faced record low at cafés, which is generally high-end or premium specialty
prices for their coffee, providing them with essential income coffee that brings much higher prices for farmers.
that could go toward improving working conditions to make Production is very dependable on the last part of the
employment in the sector more attractive. However, coffee coffee chain and its demand. That is why, when coffee shops
traders’ and roasters’ increased expenditures on coffee could close down even the best beans will stay in warehouses to
decrease the amount of resources they have available for rot. Luckily, online grocery retailers seem to have coped
monitoring and remediating labor issues in their supply well with lockdown. Coffee was already the number one

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