Ökotopia 35 years old – the name says it all

Based on the title of the novel by Ernest Callenbach, the name Ökotopia came about 35 years ago. The theme of the book, co-published by this Berlin company, is a society organized according to the tenets of environmental and social responsibility. This aim became firmly established in the corporate philosophy of this coffee and tea specialist. As a manufacturer and wholesaler it now supplies around 150 speciality teas and coffees from all over the world to the wholefood trade – fair trade and top organic quality.

Picture: The origin of Ökotopia can be traced back the alternative scene in Kreuzberg in Berlin, where they sold tea. Photo Ökotopia

The starting point of the firm was a student initiative in Berlin-Kreuzberg in 1980. In those days, organic quality was a secondary consideration. They were more concerned with creating a fairer world and economy. The name at that time “Ökotopia anders handeln GmbH” – Ökotopia, a different kind of trading - says it all. Alternative kinds of economic activity were to become reality in the first alternative commercial location in West Berlin. And this whole approach is still very much alive at Ökotopia today. You can experience it first-hand if you visit the firm in Moosdorfstraße in the Treptow district. You sometimes find employees from the administration doing jobs in the warehouse or filling bags of tea. “Our team of 18 people rotates round the various departments and this means everyone has an overview of what’s happening in the firm,” explains Franziska Geyer. She has been the managing director since 2005 and is very pleased that Ökotopia is living and implementing its values.

Picture: Franziska Geyer is the managing director of Ökotopi. Photo Karin Heinze

From solidarity coffee to a wide organic product range

The initial products traded by Ökotopia in the 1980s included the black tea Mehringhof-Mischung, a classic that is still there in today’s extensive tea and coffee range. The Berlin firm showed solidarity with the small farmers of Nicaragua, plagued by civil war and natural catastrophes, by importing “solidarity coffee”. Consequently, Ökotopia  became in1986 a founding member of  the Mittelamerikanische Kaffee Im- und Export GmbH, (Mitka)(Central American Coffee Import and Export Company), that today still imports both fair trade coffee and organic coffee from Latin America. The 15 Ökotopia coffee varieties (espresso and cereal-based coffee too) include an espresso with Robusta beans from Tanzania.

Picture: Ökotopia is very keen to maintain contact with its trade partners in Central America and it regularly brings together the representatives of cooperatives in different countries. In early summer in 2015 a meeting was held with coffee farmers from Central America. Photo Karin Heinze

Strict fair trade criteria and social responsibility in their own company

The small farmers in Latin America, Africa and Asia are Ökotopia’s most important trading partners. Franziska Geyer emphasizes the point: “We think it’s really important to take account of the initiatives of small farmers and also of how they practise social standards in the typical production structures in their countries. We want to enable the farmers to decide themselves how to improve their situation and that of their families long-term.” A personal relationship with the producers is a matter of course for Geyer. Several times a year   colleagues from Ökotopia travel to the tea and coffee gardens across the world to buy speciality teas and coffees and to maintain contact with their trade partners.

Picture: Picking tea leaves calls for dexterity. A tea picker in Darjeeling, India, shows Franziska Geyer how it’s done.  Photo Ökotopia

Geyer explains that the fair trade criteria that Ökotopia adheres to are stricter than the usual fair trade stipulations. For example, Ökotopia pays a higher premium than other fair trade companies and also grants loans. She states their case: “Our trade ethic is characterized by long-term business and relations based on trust with producers all over the world. Everybody involved should benefit from the added value generated by the circulation of goods.” Profits are invested in promoting organic agriculture and the social projects operated by their partners and in the development of the firm. “Ökotopia belongs to itself. No capital is supplied from outside the firm, so there is no obligation to pay shareholders and all the profit flows back into the firm,” Geyer explains.

The same social responsibility that Ökotopia applies to its small-farmer trade partners creates the basis of trust underlying the cooperation of employees in the Berlin headquarters. “From our point of view, trading cooperatively with our partners is also a question of the way we structure our firm,” Franziska Geyer maintains. “This involves fair pay and flat hierarchies plus active participation in the way we do things and co-determination on the part of every member of the team.” Every day all our employees come together round a big table for an organic lunch that we all take a hand in preparing. Franziska Geyer: “At Ökotopia we all feel we share responsibility and through our work input we strive to pass on to future generations the notion of trading sustainably and fairly here and elsewhere.”

Picture: Ökotopia is characterized by flat hierarchies and commitment to the common cause. Photo Ökotopia

The brand firmly embedded in the specialist trade

The wide product range is delivered to specialist wholefood stores and organic supermarkets across the whole of Germany. Ökotopia supplies the wholesale trade but is also itself a wholesaler. There’s its online-shop for end consumers too. At company headquarters – an old factory building near Treptow Park - Ökotopia’s many varieties of tea   are mainly packed by hand. Half of their offer consists of black and green teas from China, India, Nepal and Japan; the other half are fruit teas, tree and shrub teas, and herb and mixed herb teas. For these, the raw materials come from Europe, South Africa and Brazil. They offer regional specialities too, using mixed local herbs and plants from Berlin-Brandenburg. All loose tea varieties are blended in Berlin and packaged by hand. All packaging is 100 percent cellulose and quickly degradable.

Picture: The Ökotopia product range in the specialist organic trade – here in a Bio Company store in Berlin. Photo Karin Heinze

www.oekotopia.de