Call it coffee with conscience.

New to Columbia dining services and coffee bars this year, what’s in your cup is fair trade, organic and supplied by a local vendor -- all of which reinforce the University’s commitment to environmental sustainability and development of global markets.

Dallis Coffee, with headquarters in Ozone Park, Queens, imports, roasts and distributes beans that are custom-blended for Columbia. The blend is "well-balanced, roasty, with a hint of spice and dark berry," says Jim Munson, Dallis vice president. He says the blend comprises beans from Central America, East Africa and Indonesia.

The initial conversations about replacing vendors New England Coffee and Starbucks began a year ago, says Christine Torio, assistant director of retail operations in Dining Services. Although the coffees from these vendors were fair-trade but non-organic, Torio described "a general dissatisfaction with New England Coffee’s taste" and "a lack of marketing support from Starbucks."

The environmental issues around the recent change of vendors were significant, dating back to spring 2000 and spurred early on by Students for Economic and Environmental Justice. Scott Wright, associate vice president, Student Services, recalls an "exhaustive search" for fair trade coffee, then not widely available. "Green Mountain Coffee had five fair trade coffees at that time, so we signed them up for fall 2000 because they could supply the volume we needed," he says.

About that time, Starbucks made its first commitment to fair trade, Wright says, so they were also signed up in fall 2000. At that point, all Columbia venues had fair trade, some with Starbucks, some with Green Mountain. In fall 2003, largely for taste reasons, New England Coffee replaced Green Mountain Coffee.

Last spring, as Dining Services began to look around for possible new vendors, Dallis Coffee came to their attention through the University’s supplier of eco-friendly food containers. "Dallis is really big into fair trade and organic coffee. They like to know they’re doing the right thing -- and they wanted to make an impact on Columbia University," says Torio.

It was also important that the company is located within the five boroughs, that the coffee is roasted here and that they are employing locally," says Wright.

Fair trade-certified coffee means that its farmers around the world are paid a living wage for their harvest. Fair trade roasters and distributors such as Dallis Coffee purchase directly from coffee farmers in contrast to buying from a commodity exchange. According to Munson, "the difference Columbia University is making by buying this coffee is tremendous to farmers: a 30 to 40 percent premium over the commodity market price -- a difference that means money for education and medicine in these developing countries."

Better prices for their coffee help support sustainable farming, cooperative ventures among farmers and the production of organic-certified coffee that’s pesticide-free and often shade-grown. This means the coffee is grown under a canopy of shade trees rather than in open fields, thus creating a friendly habitat for migrating birds.

The cost of a pound of fair trade-, organic-certified coffee to Columbia has been five to 10 cents more than a pound of New England Coffee. The cost of a 12-ounce cup remains the same: $1.25.

"Dallis has been welcomed for greater acceptability than any previous vendor," says Wright. "I’ve had almost no negative feedback beyond one faculty member who e-mailed to say, ‘I don’t like it; I’m going to Starbucks.’"

Torio says this semester she anticipates working with Housing and Dining marketing representatives and Dallis to tell the Columbia community "what organic and fair trade are all about."

For the present, Munson says that "Columbia is raising the bar for top-notch educational institutions as the only university in New York City to go 100 percent fair trade and organic."

(Photo: Carmen Alegria, Blue Java employee, first floor cafe of Butler Library. Photo by Jo Lin, Columbia College)