An Ethiopian coffee farmer earns, on average, $2 to $3 per day during harvest season. A latte in London costs 4 to 6 pounds. Between those two numbers lies an entire global supply chain that most people — including most coffee drinkers — have never examined.
The Seven Hands
A coffee bean passes through roughly seven intermediaries between the tree and your cup: farmer, washing station, local trader, exporter, importer, roaster, cafe. At each stage, value is added and margin is extracted. The farmer — who does the most physically demanding work in the chain — receives the smallest share.
Approximate cost breakdown of a $6 specialty latte
Why "Fair Trade" Is Not the Answer You Think
Fair Trade certification guarantees a minimum price — currently $1.40 per pound for washed Arabica, plus a $0.20 premium. That sounds meaningful until you realize two things: the commodity price has been above $1.40 for most of the past decade (making the floor irrelevant), and the certification fee is paid by the farmer cooperative, not the buyer.
Direct Trade — where roasters buy directly from farms — has better optics but its own problems. It works for large, well-connected farms that can negotiate international sales. It does nothing for the smallholder with two hectares and no email address.
The Real Problem
The coffee supply chain is not broken because middlemen are greedy. It is broken because coffee is too cheap. The commodity price has been structurally below the cost of sustainable production for most of the past 30 years. When it briefly spikes, the benefits rarely reach the farmer in time.
The most impactful thing a consumer can do is simple: buy specialty coffee from roasters who publish their sourcing prices. Not because transparency solves the problem, but because it creates market pressure for the kind of pricing that keeps farms alive.
Explore coffee origins to understand where your beans come from, or read about Ethiopian coffee — the birthplace of it all.