Enjoy Sustainable Coffee

Roasted Coffee Beans

I love coffee. I love the person who discovered how to make rich, dark, delicious coffee. When I open my eyes in the morning, my excitement builds just thinking about flipping the switch on my coffee maker and listening to the elixir drip, drip, drip into the carafe. The aroma swirls around me as I pull my favorite mug from the cabinet and wait.

Kona Coffee Plant - Kona, Hawaii

Earlier this month, my husband and I traveled to Kona, Hawaii – one of the places where some of the best coffee in the world is grown, harvested and roasted. We visited a number of farms and tasted many rich brews. The secret of 100% Kona coffee is that it is less bitter than other coffee beans that are typically used for commercial production. Because we used the last of our tourist supply this morning, I had to create a post in its honor. But it also got me thinking about sustainable coffee practices.

Sustainable coffee growing is that which is done on a farm that conserves resources, uses limited (if any) chemicals, protects the environment, and is efficient. Shade-grown coffee typically comes to mind for consumers wishing to purchase an ecologically sound cup of joe. The unique quality of shade-grown beans is that they are harvested from coffee plants grown under the canopy of native, tropical plants (coffee is a crop found in over 60 tropical countries). Organic coffee is another component of the “green” coffee choices on the market. In order to protect birds and fragile environments, fertilizers and pesticides are not used in growing organic coffee. For more information, see the Smithsonian Migratory Birds page on sustainable coffee.

Flickr Image - Courtesy of Adactio

Another key component of sustainable coffee is whether it is “Fair Trade” certified. This part of the equation is a little more difficult to define than shade-grown and organic. The primary question is whether smaller farms/farmers are protected from being squeezed out of production by large corporations. It includes issues of payment for the product and environmental preservation. October is Fair Trade month in the United States. For more information, I recommend this New York Times article from 2007 on the subject.

Take some time to educate yourself on sustainable coffee practices. Be sure to check the label of your favorite beans to see if they are Fair Trade certified, shade-grown and organic. You can make a difference in choosing products that are grown in an environmentally-sound manner and decrease the pressure to raze delicate rainforests and douse them with chemicals all in the name of commercial coffee. And that is something to jump out of bed for!