10.12.12 | 12:59 pm Standing in front of the coffee selection in a grocery store or a cafe is often thrilling (so much choice!), but also perplexing: Which one do I choose? Such indecision is compounded by ethical concerns due to so much coffee being sourced from the developing world. Fair Trade aims to protect coffee farmers from being exploited but criticisms of it have led to alternative models emerging like Direct Trade. Austin coffee roasters such as Third Coast Coffee, Casa Brasil and Cuvée Coffee source coffees through Fair Trade, Direct Trade or a variation of either. Each roaster aims to offer coffees that taste good and that customers can feel good about drinking, confident in the knowledge that the farmers picking the red cherry that coffee beans come from are benefiting. But true transparency for coffee traded may ultimately lie with consumers themselves. “Every time you spend money, you’re casting a vote for the kind of world you want,” said Anna Lappé, a write