Coffee certifications explained: Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance and organic

Fairtrade

Fairtrade certifies organisations of small producers, such as cooperatives, and guarantees a minimum price plus a premium. Since 1 August 2023 the Fairtrade Minimum Prices for coffee, per pound FOB, are:

When the market price is higher, buyers pay the market price instead. On top, buyers pay the Fairtrade Premium of USD 0.20 per pound, which the cooperative invests in community or business projects, and certified organic coffee gets a further USD 0.40 per pound differential. Fair Trade USA is a separate organisation with its own standard and pricing.

Rainforest Alliance

The Rainforest Alliance certifies farms and groups against its Sustainable Agriculture Standard, covering forests and biodiversity, climate, human rights such as child and forced labour, and farm management. Under its 2020 standard, buyers paid a Sustainability Differential and Sustainability Investments on top of the market price. From October 2025, with version 1.4 of the standard, these are being replaced by a single premium paid by buyers of certified coffee.

Organic

• Organic coffee is grown without synthetic fertilisers and pesticides and certified by an accredited control body, usually through annual inspections of the farm or group.
• For the EU, coffee must be certified under the EU organic regulation (Regulation (EU) 2018/848), and every shipment needs an electronic Certificate of Inspection in the EU's TRACES system before release.
• For the US, coffee must be certified to the USDA National Organic Program. The US and EU have an equivalence arrangement for organic products produced in the US, but coffee from producing countries is normally certified to each market's rules directly.
• Organic coffee often yields less, so producers usually need a price premium to make it pay.

Other labels you will see

• 4C: a baseline sustainability standard widely used by large roasters.
• C.A.F.E. Practices: Starbucks' own sourcing verification programme.
• Bird Friendly: the Smithsonian's shade-grown and organic standard.
• EUDR is not a certification: it is an EU law requiring proof that coffee is deforestation-free and legal. A certificate can help, but it does not replace the EU due diligence statement. See our EUDR guide.

Checking a certificate

• Ask for the certificate and its ID number, the certificate holder's name and the products and volumes covered.
• Check it on the certifier's public database, not only from a PDF: Fairtrade's FLOCERT, the Rainforest Alliance certificate search, or the control body's register for organic.
• Make sure the certified volume is enough for your lot, and that the documents for the shipment, such as the organic Certificate of Inspection, are issued in time.
• Write the certification, premium and who pays any certification costs into the contract. See how to buy green coffee directly.

Certifications on Coffee Parchment

Sellers can list certifications on each lot, and you can filter lots by certification. Treat a listed certificate as the seller's claim and check it before you agree a price; our price guide explains how premiums and differentials add up.