as I know, they are not.
however, you can email to [email protected] Kevin is the owner. and he is pretty good guy, so he should be able to give you any information you want to ask him.
good luck.
well, prior to doing more research into it, i was told it pays the farms fair wages and would in turn assume better quality, however im learning otherwise
you are right. Actually fairtrade coffee beans are inferior (not all, but generally inferior) than regular specialty beans.
fairtrade beans get paid about $0.20 above coffee "C" pricing. As of today, "C" price is $1.22 per pound. so, fairtrade beans might get around $1.42 per pound.
on the other hands, if the beans are pretty decent, between 80 to 84 points (85 and above is considered specialty / micro lot, so that is different story), right now, in Guatemala, you can get around $1.70 to $2.00 per pound.
so, the farms with good beans never want to sell their beans via fairtrade organization.
they want to sell directly to exporters or to overseas buyers.
