OR
You can spend $300 on a burr grinder $150 on one of those neat vacuum brewing devices, and who knows how much for fair trade single source coffee beans roasted in your back yard
Or you can find a balance that gets you things you care about (fair trade beans, good roast, a nice grinder for flavor, whatever your taste might be) at a lower price than going all out
When it comes to underwear or other clothing items, I'm generally willing to pay a bit more if I know that I'm avoiding plastics and pollution and the workers who make the items aren't working in sweatshop conditions
Why do you have so much faith in these new startups? Sure their marketing copy says they're all ethical and great and stuff. But the legacy guys have a reputation and experience. I've been buying their stuff for decades. They've been around for 100 years and will probably continue to be around for another 100 years. Who knows about these new guys? They don't have a reputations. And the new guys don't make their own stuff. You can't even find out where they're made or under what conditions. They probably won't exist in 20 years, let alone 100. They're mostly a bunch of MBA grads that came up w/ this idea a few years ago. You really think they have a better handle on working conditions than the people who have been doing this for 100+ years? I don't buy it
I'll also say that I think nothing really matters, so that might explain some of it.