ColumnYour cup of coffee deserves your respect.

Coffee.

The dark drink is such a part of most of our everyday routine that we often forget to think about it. The act of drinking coffee is automatic, a routine process of grinding beans, putting in one brew method or another and waiting until our favorite of drinks is ready to be poured into our favorite coffee cup and consumed.

But as part of our everyday routine for the last few decades, coffee has become banal, easily letting us forget that our cup of coffee is actually a luxury product and not a staple.

While the idea may sound deadly, you will not die without coffee. Live without fruit, vegetables and water however, and you will. And yet we treat coffee just like we do our staples. It’s such a part of our everyday that we forget to honor it, forget to think about where it comes from. And when that happens, it’s no surprise that we expect it to be cheap and fast.

I watched “A Film About Coffee” this week. Yes, an entire documentary devoted to coffee. Taking a look at the specialty coffee industry, if you’ve ever wondered why you should pay more for your beans, this film tells you exactly why.

“A Film About Coffee” // Theatrical Trailer from Avocados and Coconuts on Vimeo.

“How did something that’s so exotic become such a mainstay of our culture?” asks the trailer.

It’s a good question.

These days more and more of us are becoming conscious about what we eat. But food and coffee are a bit different, in the sense that if you really want to know where your food comes from, how it was grown and how it was processed, you can go track down the farmer.

Even if we don’t live on a farm, most of us have at one point or another gotten our hands dirty in a garden. We’ve pulled a carrot from the earth, picked an apple from the tree.

Coffee is different. For most of us, it comes from the other side of the world. We have no clue what a coffee plant looks like, how it goes from fruit to coffee bean, and even if we wanted to, it would be hard for us to have a direct relationship with the coffee producers. If you want to get to know a farmer, you go to the farmers market. If you want to get to know a coffee producer, you need to buy an expensive plane ticket.

The simple fact that coffee is produced so very far away, yet is readily available on grocery store shelves has made it so that we are entirely removed from the production process. We have little to no connection to it. And that makes it easy to mindlessly consume cheap coffee, or coffee that in a smart marketing move is branded as quality, but is no better than the mediocre grade stuff out there. I’m looking at you coffee pods.

But a bag of coffee beans involves a lot of hard work, and a lot of hands. There are the people that maintain the coffee plants, there are those who pick the coffee cherries, there are those who process the cherries once they have been picked, there are those who spread them out to dry, there are those who bag them up and get them ready to export around the world. Just the simple fact that coffee makes it from exotic locations to our own kitchens is an amazing feat.

Start to think about the number of people involved, and the number of miles traveled, and you start to think a little differently about your cup of coffee. It’s a luxury product above all else, and we should treat it that way.

True locavores will tell you to give coffee up. They have a point – the footprint of coffee is big. But some of us aren’t willing to skip that daily cup of coffee, and if we’re in that category, then doesn’t it make sense to buy the best quality product available? Ultimately it’s not about what’s in your cup, it’s about the people on the other end. It’s about supporting a system that promotes fair wages and sustainable growing practices.

You may call it coffee snobbism, I call it conscious consumption. Something that we all could be doing a little more of, be it food or coffee.

Related on EcoSalon

The Hidden Costs of Fast Coffee

Your Addiction with Coffee Pods is Destructive, Expensive and Lame

Coffee Rust Means Coffee Beans Are Screwed, Thanks Climate Change

This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’ weekly column at EcoSalon: Foodie Underground, an exploration of what’s new and different in the underground movement, and how we make the topic of good food more accessible to everyone. More musings on the topic can be found at www.foodieunderground.com.

Image: 5chw4r7z

The post Think About Your Cup of Coffee Like You Think About Your Food: Foodie Underground appeared first on EcoSalon.

Sustainable and Fair Trade coffees are many, but do you know what matters most when making your coffee purchases? Learn what to look for when seeking out an environmentally friendly & ethical cup of joe.

Coffee is a beverage that many of us enjoy on a daily basis (considering the U.S. is the world’s top consumer of coffee) without considering its impact on the Earth or the route it takes from the farm to our morning mug. The detrimental effects of many large scale coffee growing operations is evident from the destruction of tropical ecosystems. And the fact that most of the developed world’s coffee is grown by poor farmers in the developing world, presents a moral dilemma. To add to the alarming complications, coffee is part of the commodity market, basically meaning that Wall Street controls the featured blend of the month more than any farmers ability to produce it. So what do you do to find a sustainable or Fair Trade cup of coffee? Know what to look for, and keep asking questions until you find it!

Organic
This is fairly obvious to most of us by now, as organically grown plants are far better for the planet and people. Non-organically grown coffee plants and beans are heavily treated with pesticides, which workers–and eventually coffee drinkers–are exposed to. Always choose organic coffee (and other products)!

Shade grown
Coffee is a food product that most of the Western world consumes on a daily basis, regardless of the fluctuations in season, weather patterns, pollination and environmental conditions affecting coffee crops. The high demand for this commodity has turned it into a money making scheme for many large brands, who don’t mind cutting down large forests to grow this “black gold”.  To avoid this ecosystem destroying cultivation method, choose shade grown coffee that is grown under intact forest canopy. Although there is no specific certification for shade grown coffee, you’ll likely find information by contacting the company or asking at coffee shops.

Fair Trade
Probably the most common certification you’ll find amongst coffee distributors, the Fair Trade symbol indicates that the farmers involved in growing the beans are part of a democratically run coop. This means that they receive fair wages, use no child labor and use a limited amount of pesticides. Although a Fair Trade coffee certification indicates a step toward more eco-friendly cup of coffee, it alone is not enough to call the coffee sustainable, so definitely look for organic certification alongside it.

Bird-friendly
This is a less common certification, but ensures that the coffee has been grown in a method that hasn’t disrupted the natural environment of native birds, and so is shade grown.

How was it brewed?
Brewing your own cup of morning coffee at home is far greener than driving to the coffee shop, grabbing a take out cup and tossing it once you’re done. However, hitting your favorite coffee shop on a break or outing with friends shouldn’t be out of the question, just make sure you’ve got your travel mug on you. While you’re at the counter, don’t be afraid to ask about the origin of the coffee you’ll be drinking so that you can seek out cafés that offer organic, shade grown and Fair Trade coffee. There’s a noticeable difference in coffee that has been ethically and environmentally sourced and brewed, so choose wisely to make a difference!

Brands to try:
Verve Coffee Roasters: Santa Cruz, CA
Blue Bottle Coffee Co.: Oakland, CA
Counter Culture Coffee: Durham, NC
Just Coffee Cooperative: Madison, WI
Jo Coffee: Waconia, MN
Caffe Britt: Miami, FL
Tiny Footprint: Brooklyn Center, MN

Related on EcoSalon

The Hidden Costs of Fast Coffee

11 Ways the World Drinks Coffee

Natural Beauty: What a Coffee Facial Can Do for Your Skin

Images: Kilo 66, rport

The post Sustainable and Fair Trade Coffee: What to Look for In Every Sip appeared first on EcoSalon.

This isn’t your after dinner coffee drink with a shot of brandy in it. No, this is alcohol that’s actually made from the coffee bean…as in I’m-too-young-to-die-but-if-this-is-heaven-I-guess-I’m-ready.

Perhaps it’s the fact that I haven’t had coffee or alcohol in the last 8.5 months (you’re welcome, unborn daughter), or maybe, this is just a really, really cool idea that’s making my mouth water. Either way, scientists have indeed discovered a way of using the coffee bean to create an alcoholic beverage.

According to Science, researchers collected dried coffee grounds, performed some super sciency-alchemy on them and let it all ferment for a while. The result? “Used coffee grounds produced a new alcoholic beverage with 40% ethanol, comparable to other hard liquor such as vodka and tequila.”

Eight “trained testers” sampled and rated the product, saying that it smelled like coffee with a bitter and pungent flavor. “Researchers noted that the taste could be improved with age and concluded that the quality was good enough for consumption.”

What’s also cool about this is the potential for coffee grounds to find a new use besides compost (although that’s a step up from the landfill).

While the brew is made from the coffee bean, the caffeine is essentially absent from the alcohol. And as for the recently discovered health benefits of coffee? (Yes, I said health benefits of coffee.) They’re not likely there any more either. Still, it’s kind of a perfect cycle: Drink enough of the coffee alcohol, and the next morning you’ll certainly need a good strong cuppa guaranteed to give you the jolt and benefits only the coffee bean can offer.

Keep in touch with Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

Image: Samantha Celera

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