Having visited a Costa Rican coffee farm this past January, Boulder resident Cristina Aguilera will think twice the next time she takes a sip of that warm, brown nectar of the gods.

“(The trip) really gave me an appreciation for when I drink coffee, the amount of hard labor and sweat,” she said.

Aguilera, who was born in Cuba but has lived in Boulder for the past 29 years, is channeling that cognizance into action as she volunteers with other locals to officially name Boulder a “Fair Trade Town.”

That designation comes through a five-step process that includes organizing a steering committee, making sure a certain percentage of the town’s stores carry at least two Fair Trade products, receiving media coverage, gaining the support of community organizations like churches and schools — and ultimately, convincing the City Council to pass the resolution.

So far, the Boulder group has accomplished step one. Now that committee is working to make sure that at least 20 local retailers vend two or more Fair Trade products and that organizations serve Fair Trade coffee and sugar after worship services and in school cafeterias. Aguilera is posting updates on the Boulder Fair Trade Town blog and reaching out to local radio stations and newspapers.

Howard Vickers, who’s the local Fair Trade coordinator, believes that Boulder’s designation as a Fair Trade Town is a natural progression.

“Boulder is interested in being a part of a broader community worldwide. I think it’s a really good fit,” he said. The Fair Trade Town designation emphasizes “this idea that you’re buying from people, and people need support and benefit from support.”

The Fair Trade Town concept started 10 years ago in Garstang, Lancashire, in northwest England when Bruce Crowther got interested in how his community could make a difference.

There are now 500 Fair Trade Towns in the United Kingdom alone and numbers are approaching 1,000 globally. The United States lags significantly behind with only 21 declared Fair Trade Towns and 40 in the works.

As the national coordinator for Fair Trade Towns USA, Billy Linstead Goldsmith is working to change that. He notes that only about 30 percent of the U.S. population knows about Fair Trade.

“The big differences that are made in Fair Trade is when consumers are aware of the responsibility we have, ” he said. “Our market, our consumer base, has the opportunity to make an enormous impact on impoverished communities in the world.”

Consumer awareness is key. A study by research company GlobeScan shows that eight out of 10 people who know what Fair Trade is, buy it, recounts Katie Barrow, a spokeswoman for Fair Trade USA.

Goldsmith calls designation as a Fair Trade town a way to interweave socially conscious efforts, something Boulder has in abundance.

“There’s a lot of opportunity for coalition building, connecting with all of those different, multi-faceted parts of our local social justice movements,” he said.

Barrow adds that the Fair Trade effort does not conflict with the push to buy locally produced goods, a popular drive in Boulder, because they are rarely the same product.

“Buy local when you can, and when you can’t, buy Fair Trade because you still have that community connection,” she said.

For Fair Trade farmers, that connection is cemented through the formation of cooperatives.

Because money traditionally filters down from merchants to a middleman (or men), the farmer often only sees cents on the dollar of profit. When the farmers work together in a cooperative, Fair Trade officials said, they can omit the middleman step and have a larger market share.

Some of the money that comes back to the co-op as profit, then goes toward community projects. These endeavors may entail building the foundations of an educational system, digging wells, refining growing techniques or buying weedwackers, as was the case in Indonesia. It depends wholly on the community.

“We feel really good about how they’re using the money,” said Wendy Ball, owner of The Cup Espresso Cafe, a downtown Boulder shop that serves Fair Trade, organic coffee. “It’s helping their society; it’s helping to feed their families.”

Some may wonder whether a moniker like Fair Trade Town is necessary for Boulder. Goldsmith believes the name is more than just a notch on the town’s proverbial belt.

“Fair Trade Town campaigns are meant to raise awareness, leverage the power of person-to-person advocacy in communication and inspire our fellow consumers to make those choices,” he said. The crusade is about “building a platform in the community that everybody recognizes.”

Boulder volunteers are currently working to organize a “crawl” where participants will visit local businesses that sell Fair Trade products. The event is scheduled for World Fair Trade Day on May 14.

The crawl will highlight the wide range of products beyond coffee — bananas, chocolate, rice, even sports balls — that can be bought with a clear conscience.

“We really want to show that there are a bunch of Fair Trade options,” said Boulder Fair Trade Town Volunteer Ashley Rein, who works for Bead for Life.

Aguilera, the Cuba native pushing for Boulder’s recognition, added that this event will garner community support.

“We really need more community organizations to be buying or serving Fair Trade coffee, and we need consumers in Boulder to get behind us by buying Fair Trade items,” she said.