No, this isn’t going to be one of those sordid tell-all posts that ping-pong across the blogsphere. I’m not confessing anything here that my friends and family don’t already know. They’ve seen the signs: The heightened anxiety, the snappishness, the darting eyes examining passing street corners when we’re out and about in unfamiliar territory. Every afternoon at about two o’clock it sets in: Caffeine withdrawal.

I’m addicted to coffee.

But not just any coffee, mind you. I’m partial to the espresso-and-foamed-milk variety that I started drinking as a teenager in Florence, Italy, continued drinking as a barista during high school, and now make once daily, using a cantankerous elderly machine, in my Los Angeles kitchen.

I’ve tried other varieties of caffeine infusions. Brewed tastes bitter and tends to give me a stomachache. I can do tea, in a pinch—I drink it at breakfast every day. But after a few days of afternoon tea I’m more depressed than an Englishwoman in February. (Trust me, I’ve lived through a U.K. winter—it isn’t pretty.)

My drug of choice is espresso. Preferably organic, prepared with steamed organic milk.

And Fair Trade. Huh? Bear with me.

Manufacturers of Fair Trade sugar, cacao (chocolate), coffee and other products typically work in third-world countries to forge economic partnerships that can alleviate poverty, reduce inequality, and create opportunities for farmers and artists—especially women, who produce 76% of Fair Trade goods. These businesses combat human trafficking by creating opportunities for parents, so that they don’t resort to selling their children or their children’s labor.

According to TransFair USA, coffee is the world’s second largest traded commodity. A full 90% of the world’s coffee is grown by large corporations, which clear cut forests in order to expose the plants to full sun, and then spray them with pesticides and fertilizers.

Forget cream: Can I get a side of benzine hexachloride with that macchiato?

Of the remaining 10 percent that’s grown for the specialty market, an even smaller percentage is Fair Trade certified, which means that the coffee is shade-grown by small family farms and cooperatives which receive fair payment for the beans, as well as access to health care, sustainable and organic farming education programs, education and more.

So my beans at home are Fair Trade and organic. But what to do when we’re out and about and the craving hits? If you’re in L.A., visit a local chain like Urth Caffe, which uses only organic, Fair Trade coffee and solar-powers many of their locations, to boot. Then take the advice of the Organic Consumer’s Association and ask for the Fair Trade blend at any Peet’s, Seattle’s Best or Starbuck’s (shame on Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, which has no Fair Trade options). And if you like it brewed, Dunkin’ Donuts is all Fair Trade, all the time. Who knew?