FAQs

If you have questions or would like to place an order, you can contact us by phone, email, fax or mail. We are in the office Monday - Friday from 9am to 5pm EST. Our contact information can be found here.

Our web store only contains records of accounts that have ordered on the store before, so if you have never placed an order this way you will need to sign in as a new customer. When we process your order we will link your web account with your existing one in our system so that we know you are not a new customer. While only your web history will show up on the web store itself, we will be able to see the connections between your accounts in our system if you ever have to call us with questions.

A 12oz bag will make between 40-50 cups in a drip brewer. Our 1lb bags will make between 80-90 cups in a percolator. Please keep in mind that this is not an exact measurement, as how much brewed coffee you can get from a bag also depends on the quantity of ground coffee you use in your brewer. Brewing tips can be found here. Equal Exchange's brew guide in a downloadable PDF format can be found here.

While Equal Exchange is not Shade Grown certified, the majority of our coffee is shade grown. For more details, go here.

Equal Exchange has been working for over two decades to transform the coffee, tea and chocolate industries. Now we're setting our eye on the world of Bananas as well! Learn more about the banana revolution Beyond the Peel.

Different coffees are roasted for different amounts of time. Equal Exchange's lightest roast coffee is a Medium Roast, and our darkest is a French Roast, with a whole range of roasts and blends in between. Learn more about the different roasts here.

Learn more about the benefits of fair trade, including providing small farmers with a more stable income and pre-harvest financing, here.

Of course! You can download a copy of the of that order form here.

Check out our Interfaith fundraising page, where you can download materials, order forms, and ideas about how to host a successful fundraiser.

Equal Exchange now partners with twelve different religious relief organizations. Just click the Coffee Project you're interested in learning more about at the top of our main Interfaith page.

Learn more about Equal Exchange's unique capital structure and investment opportunities here.

You can learn more about the how coffee is grown and the work that takes a coffee bean from a cherry to your morning cup here.

Nutritional info can be found in the product descriptions on our webstore. Just click the link the says Nutritional Info and make sure your computer is set to allow popups.

Organic means that the product was grown without harmful chemical pesticides, as per standards set by the USDA. Most of our products are certified organic. A large number of products that are not organic come from farmers currently working towards organic certification.

At this time, our web store is not able to handle billing customers for their orders. We will be exploring this as a possibility in the future, but for now, if you would like to be billed for your order, please place the order by phone (774-776-7366), by mail (Equal Exchange, 50 United Dr., W. Bridgewater, MA, 02139), by fax (508-587-5955) or by email (interfaith@equalexchange.coop).

Each faith group we partner with has its own Small Farmer Fund – a resource that allows you to give even more back to farmers when you use Equal Exchange products. For every pound of coffee, tea, chocolate, and snacks you purchase, Equal Exchange donates a set amount to your denomination’s fund; annually, this can add up to thousands, or even tens of thousands of dollars. Our partner organizations then donate those funds to development projects worldwide. Through the Small Farmer Funds, farmers and others in struggling communities have planted trees, improved their access to water, and expanded educational opportunities for their children. This added benefit to farmers, which goes beyond the traditional benefits of fair trade, is unique to Equal Exchange’s interfaith program.

Equal Exchange currently has partnerships with twelve different faith groups. They include: American Friends Service Committee, American Jewish World Service, Catholic Relief Services, Church of the Brethren, Disciples of Christ, Islamic Relief USA, Lutheran World Relief, Mennonite Central Committee U.S., Presbyterian Church USA, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Committee on Relief, and Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. If you don’t see your denomination represented, you are still welcome to participate through our general Interfaith Program.

When you select your denomination on our web store (or inform us of your denomination over the phone, by mail, fax or email), we automatically donate a portion back to your denomination for every package/pound of partnership approved products. This fund is done in partnership with our Interfaith Partners (see above). For more specific information regarding the Small Farmer Fund, please feel free to contact us at 774-776-7366 or your denomination’s partner organization.

-Buying Club: Form a Buying Club for use of products at your home and office.
-Alternative Gift Market: Host or visit an Alternative Gift Market.
-Fundraising: Use products as a fundraiser for your youth group, school, or other organization.
-Farmers Market: Buy from your local farmers market and also set up a booth to sell there.
-Stores: 10,000 Villages, find other Fair Trade stores in your area.
-Co-operatives: Look up your local co-operatives and support them.
-Online: Go online to find fairly traded, sweat-free, and co-operative-made items. Ten Thousand Villages, SERVV, and Global Exchange are good places to begin.
-One Step at a Time: If Fair Trade is expensive, then decide to buy one item of Fair Trade per set period (like a month or week), or for just one or a few of your gifts.
-Expand your Fair Trade Realm: Before you buy anything, even something you think might not be available in Fair Trade-form, double check first. There are many new small farmer and fairly traded items out there.

You may purchase Equal Exchange products at wholesale pricing for your store or business by calling our sales customer service team at 774-776-7333.

If your store or business is connected with a faith based organization you may also order wholesale through our Interfaith Program online at http://interfaith.equalexchange.com, by phone at 774-776-7366, by fax at 508-587-5955, by US Mail at 50 United Drive, West Bridgewater, MA 02379 or email interfaith@equalexchange.coop.

Congregations that buy products from Equal Exchange use them in a variety of ways. The most wide-spread use is for a “coffee hour” or “fellowship hour” after worship. Customers often use our coffee, tea, sugar packets, and occasionally some of our snacks to provide refreshment and “a taste of justice” for their members and guests while they socialize after the weekly service. In conjunction with the coffee hour, some congregations also sell our products at or near cost on one or more pre-advertised days in a month simply to provide a source for fairly traded, organic products to their members. In many areas of the country, these churches may be the only local source for these products.

Another very popular use for our products is for fund-raising. Using the same model of selling Equal Exchange items after worship, congregations mark-up the goods by an amount they deem appropriate, instead of passing on the wholesale prices to customers. Equal Exchange can provide you with examples of common mark-ups if you would like them. Other congregations sell our products to raise money at certain designated times of the year, like during rummage sales, craft fairs, holiday festivals, or town celebrations. We even have a small but growing group of customers who serve our products at “Coffee Houses” that are open to the community, thus raising money and increasing local awareness of fair trade. Finally, our congregations sometimes join together with their local council of churches or other organizations interested in social justice to hold a “Fair Trade Fair” to increase awareness in their communities.