Notes: Fair Trade is not just a name but a passion with this company – Comprised of organic fair trade coffee from a cooperative in the Huatusco area near Chiapas and slow roasted, with fair trade sugar from Malawi, blended in Cognac, France by a master liquorist to produce this coffee liqueur.

Appearance: Pleasing clear gold color, a dark gold amber, on swirling leaves an even coat on the glass with some scalloping of the edgeline and some legs slowly developing followed by droplets.

First Impression: At first whiff, the coffee has a very Mexican coffee smell to it a nice, balanced earthiness to it, with touches of sweetness and almost no traces of the alcohol.

Taste: Sweet, slightly sappy entry with a nicely pleasant sugared coffee taste followed on with a pleasant caramelized sugar or molasses. Only mild alcohol aftertaste, extremely smooth and sweet without being syrupy or leaving a sticky aftertaste like so many others.

Drinks: We found all of their proprietary recipes to be excellent. However it is one of those rare coffee liqueurs that can enjoyed on its own Fair makes a very nice (and better frankly) substitute for the many other more corporate coffee liqueurs out there. Be careful with this in your coffee (especially your morning coffee) it is very easy to drink. It may totally counteract the caffeine resulting in relaxation.

Bottle: Cylindrical clear glass with heavy glass decanter bottom, silver and dark brown labels, dark silver neckwrap, composite cork and pleasing graphics overall giving it a nice upscale appearance.

Other: While outstanding in taste it does cost significantly more than the usual coffee liqueur. Take a look at our cocktail math section for a breakdown on the cost difference between using swill versus quality then decide.

Final Thoughts: Very much a newcomer to the coffee liqueur market but using many techniques long since abandoned by larger companies for the sake of cost and scale – at the price of taste- not to say integrity in various forms also. As a socially conscious fair trade company, we wish them well (but the above did not affect our ratings).

Like a few spirits – read damn few in terms of percentage of the spirits trade (see our natural section for more suggestions). They are a stand out from the corporate empires that are churning out oceans of soulless artificial taste and chemical laced liqueurs for the masses. Buying a bottle of this liqueur is not only a political/ideological statement but makes sense from taste point of view.Just so no artificial and buy a bottle of FAIR.

Website: http://www.fairtradespirits.com

Quick loading webpage with drinks recipes.