Coffee with a shot of conservation, Part 2

Which coffee to choose?

Bird Friendly. Fairtrade. Shade Grown.  Rainforest Alliance Certified. Coffee comes with a bewildering array of labels and I’ve never been sure exactly what they mean. What I do know is that how coffee is grown matters to the environment—and more. To help my decision about what coffee to buy, I decided to look into what those labels mean.

Was my coffee grown in a “desert” or in a rainforest?  

Coffee isn’t really grown in deserts, but clear-cut coffee plantations can be biological “deserts” in the sense that many species usually found in rainforests are missing.
To supply the world’s coffee habit—over 2 billion cups per day—more than 27 million acres of land are cultivated worldwide.  Much of this land is completely cleared before coffee is planted. That’s a lot of lost habitat.

But increasingly, farmers are leaving forest tree canopy intact and planting coffee in the shade of the understory.  Shade coffee is much kinder to the environment in which it’s grown and to birds in particular. Bird species abundance is higher in places where coffee is grown under the shade of rainforest canopy trees. In my family of bird-watchers, that’s important.

Coffee certifications reveal the environmental conditions in which the coffee was grown.  Here are some of the main certifications to watch for on coffee bags.

Bird Friendly  

This certification signifies that the coffee is both shade-grown and 100% organic. Developed by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, Bird Friendly is the most rigorous environmental certification for coffee.  

Bird Friendly beans are produced organically and grown in the shade of rainforest trees—and specific species of trees at that!  Bird Friendly coffee preserves the tropical havens of migratory birds, including the birds that pass through my backyard.  I consider that a very good thing. Since I garden to help migratory birds here in the Chicago area, I think it’s important that my purchases don’t hurt the same migratory birds in other parts of their ranges.

I don’t think that “shade-grown” is a certification. I’ve seen coffees labeled as shade-grown, but that are not Bird Friendly certified. The advantage of choosing a certified label is that I know the products carrying it receive regular audits and oversight.

Rainforest Alliance Certified

You’ve probably seen the Rainforest Alliance Certified logo; it has a little green frog at its center.  

Rainforest Alliance certification is found not only on coffee, but also on an assortment of products, including chocolate, tea, fruit, flowers, paper, furniture, and tourism lodges. Rainforest Alliance Certified means that the product or service meets a range of social and economic—as well as environmental—criteria. According to their website, Rainforest Alliance Certified products meet social and environmental standards set by the Sustainable Agriculture Network.

I admit I find some of the standards on the Rainforest Alliance Certified website to be a little non-specific. For example, the site says that Rainforest Alliance Certified tourism businesses meet climate change mitigation standards. That can mean a lot of things. But at least they’re aware of, and working to address, climate change issues. That’s more than most businesses are doing!

Fair Trade

Not an environmental certification, Fair Trade certification seeks to improve the treatment of farmers and communities, guaranteeing farmers a minimum price for their crops. Fair Trade does encourage farmers to use environmentally friendly practices.

Besides visiting the websites associated with different certifications, I found an NPR report helpful in thinking about coffee certifications—Coffee For A Cause: What Do Those Feel-Good Labels Deliver?

Lastly, I’ve learned that brands don’t receive certification; instead, individual coffee varieties within brands get certified. For example, I sometimes buy Allegro brand coffee.  But only one of the varieties of Allegro at my local Whole Foods—Organic Early Bird Blend—carries Bird Friendly certification. Most of the other Allegro varieties carry Rainforest Alliance Certification, but not Bird Friendly. So I look at each bag to make sure which certifications it has.

By watching for specific certifications on coffee, I can make purchasing choices based on how the coffee is grown and be confident that someone is monitoring the farming practices. I look mainly for Bird Friendly or Rainforest Alliance Certified coffees. When these aren’t available, I go for those with Fair Trade and/or USDA Organic certifications. While coffees with certifications may cost a little bit more, the farmers also receive a better price for their coffee—and I get the assurance that I’m supporting more sustainable agricultural practices.