Fairtrade products can be readily found these days stacked alongside regular products in our supermarkets up and down the country. But when there is so much choice out there, why buy Fairtrade products such as coffee?

One of the main reasons why many supermarkets and independent coffee retailers have decided to support Fairtrade is because it benefits the farmers who actually produce the coffee beans. This does not in any way compromise on the quality of the coffee beans grown.

If coffee carries the Fairtrade Mark it guarantees that farmers receive a fairer price for their coffee bean harvest. The coffee is also environmentally sustainable. These words may sound like a mouthful, but basically means that the farming methods used preserve the valuable land and wildlife for future generations.

It is important to know that coffee workers are not being exploited for their labour and the direct trade systems cut out the need for unnecessary middlemen and allow the farmers to compete for themselves. This fairer trading system allows for a more level playing field and reinvestment in community development and healthcare for local workers.

Fairtrade allows the farmers to invest in their future and organic farming methods; the supporters and retailers of Fairtrade products are aware about the impact this can have in guaranteeing quality coffee and a fair price for the coffee producers. Many coffee retailers have now decided to stock these products, which are becoming ever important to coffee lovers everywhere.

Over the last few articles, we have looked at a business whose roots began in a London coffee shop and then we considered a whole ‘lost generation’ of famous American writers who gathered in Paris coffee houses to gain inspiration for their writing. We will continue with this theme by looking at how the Beat generation, which came to prominence in America during the 1950s, made use of the cafes of San Francisco.

The Beat generation was the term used to describe a group of American writers led by Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac in the 1950s and 60s. These writers wrote about and were inspired by a rejection of mainstream America’s values.

The writers first met in New York but ended up together in San Francisco midway into the 1950s. The non-conformist major works of Beat writing during this period included William S. Burroughs’s Naked Lunch (1959), Allen Ginsberg’s Howl (1956) and Jack Kerouac’s On the Road (1957).

These talented writers met together in the North Beach cafés in San Francisco, such as Caffe Trieste, to drink coffee, socialise and fuel their spontaneous creativity. As we have demonstrated through these examples, coffee establishments have played their part in influencing history.

The Lost Generation was a term given to an expatriate circle of Americans living in Paris in the 1920s. This group included the famous American writers Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. The term was given to characterise disillusionment after military service following the First World War. These two writers met each other at the Café Falstaff in Paris.

The cafes of Paris became the most popular hangouts for this generation of American writers and during this period Hemingway wrote the novel The Sun Also Rises, as well as his memoir, A Moveable Feast.

Nowadays it is commonly known that wonderful cafés are easy to find in Paris. They can be the perfect places to while away the time and take a rest from the sightseeing activities Paris has to offer.

Back in those days, the Parisian cafe houses were the ideal places to meet and discuss ideas and find inspirations for writing, over the effects of a good dose of caffeine. Some of the most popular cafes the members of the Lost Generation frequented included Les Deux Magots which became the centre of the intellectual universe during the Twenties as well as American style cafes where everybody knew everybody else.

Thanks to these cafes, and the freedom they allowed, we got the great writings of Hemingway and a truly nostalgic account of his life living in Paris.