Tony Thornby, Sheena, and Mike King visited Wayne and Sarah, owners of the RoastLab micro-roastery near Gerrards Cross: RoastLabs are specialists in sole origin coffee using high quality beans, ethically sourced and artisan roasted.

The main purpose of the visit was to taste various sample roasts of green coffee beans previously supplied by CoopeVictoria, a Fairtrade coffee producer located near to the High Wycombe’s Fairtrade partner Town of Grecia, situated in the Central Valley of Costa Rica. The sample green beans had been ordered from the Export Sales Manager at CoopeVictoria just before Christmas. The sample light-medium roasts displayed excellent subtle flavours of caramel and honey, while the darker and more bitter expresso roast had an aroma and taste of dark chocolate.

The RoastLab owners kindly bagged the test run roasted beans for Wycombe Fairtrade steering group members and supporters to sample.

Mike King was able to provide RoastLab with a batch of sample beans from the CoopeVictoria  harvest of November 2022 for some further testing. It was agreed by all parties to move on the next stage of providing a single origin Grecia – High Wycombe Fairtrade Towns Partnership Celebration Coffee by late March or early April 2023. RoastLab and Wycombe For Fairtrade agreed on 250g white foil-lined bags with a RoastLab front label indicating the type of coffee, roasting date, aroma and flavour details, and country of origin. Wycombe For Fairtrade in cooperation with Grecia and CoopeVictoria are working on a rear bag label showing images of Grecia and High Wycombe historic buildings and a short description for the reason for producing this coffee.

While awaiting the test roasting results of the 2022 green coffee bean harvest samples, Mike King agreed to progress with the ordering of 2 quintels, 2 x 46 kilos of “Monte Camejo” green beans and investigate the most economic way of transporting and delivering these beans to the UK, either directly from CoopeVictoria in Costa Rica with shipment via air or sea, or indirectly through any mainland Europe importer or wholesaler with recent stocks  We would order the necessary amount of green coffee to fill around 200 bags of roasted whole bean or ground coffee. While we want to keep transport and delivery costs to a minimum, Wycombe For Fairtrade will act on the advice of the Export Sales Manager at CoopeVictoria given the late March – early April 2023 deadline for the expected launch of this coffee locally in High Wycombe.

Confirmed events, activities, and presentations wholly or jointly organized by Wycombe for Fairtrade , or invited to attend by external organizations.

Mike King

Chairman, Wycombe for Fairtrade

As a result of international connections formed by Wycombe for Fairtrade, its member (Jhon Munoz) and its steering group chairman (Mike King) have been invited to a reception on Wednesday 9th February 2022 to celebrate the opening of Orchids at Kew Gardens. This is being held in the Princess of Wales Conservatory within the Royal Botanic Gardens.

The event will explore the incredible biodiversity and rich culture of Costa Rica at their 26th annual orchid festival. It will showcase stunning horticultural and artistic installations and reveal how Kew scientists are collaborating with experts in Costa Rica to understand the country’s wonderful plant life.

See more details at https://www.kew.org/kew-gardens/whats-on/kew-orchid-festival

For the last few years, High Wycombe Fairtrade has been forging links with the Fairtrade town of Grecia and neighbouring Fairtrade coffee and sugar producer, Coope Victoria, in Costa Rica.

The linking stemmed from a conversation which took place at the International Fairtrade Town Conference in Madrid in 2018. Three members of Wycombe for Fairtrade attended the conference and whilst there, happened to meet Maria, the Sustainability Manager from CoopeVictoria. From this initial dialogue, a very productive and active link has been established.

In 2019 Maria visited High Wycombe on route to the International Fairtrade Towns Conference in Cardiff. Whilst with us, she visited a number of shops and cafes in the town selling Fairtrade products including Hills Community Cafe in Micklefield, Ruby Moon, Oxfam and the Air Raid Shelter Cafe to name just some. She had a meeting with Maz, the Mayor, and also visited Bewley’s (a large wholesaler of Fairtrade products) on the Cressex Industrial Estate. At the International Fairtrade Towns Conference she, along with Matt (our deputy mayor), Mike (chairman of our group) and Jhon (also a member of our group with Spanish as his first language) led a workshop entitled “Town Linking: A story of friendship ” at which they shared their experiences of forging links with each other.

The Costa Rican ambassador kindly agreed to present High Wycombe’s Fairtrade Town renewal certificate to the Mayor of High Wycombe in a meeting which took place in January 2020 and a document establishing the Fairtrade High Wycombe/Grecia agreement  (including the CoopeVictoria cooperative) has now been signed by the Mayors of both towns, the Director of CoopeVictoria and Wycombe for Fairtrade Chairman, Mike King (a copy of the document is also on display at the Costa Rican embassy in London). Plans are currently underway to establish dialogues between schools in the two towns, so that students can derive benefit from communicating with each other. This joint venture will provide opportunities for students to develop Spanish/English language skills, to develop and compare the economics of Fairtrade and the links with environmental projects being carried out in both countries.

It is also hoped that coffee from CoopeVictoria can be marketed by a company in the UK, particularly as this producer has recently been awarded First Place in the annual prestigious Costa Rica Fairtrade Gold Cup competition for the quality of their coffee, for the third consecutive year!

It is very worthwhile to have developed this direct link between consumers and producers in the Fairtrade system and many further fruitful discussions and developments are expected to spring from this in the future.