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

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ColumnOur top columns on how to eat ethically.

Whether you’re new to Ecosalon, or just beginning to navigate the choppy waters of ethical eating, you’ll find the following 14 links instructive in helping you eat (and live) both well and deliciously.

1. How to Cook

Despite your best intentions, do you find yourself letting vegetables rot in the produce drawer while you rely on takeout? Learn how to integrate cooking into your daily life and you’ll find yourself eating in more frequently.

2. How to Eat Locally

Why does grocery store produce taste like an inferior imitation of that which you buy at a farmers’ market or grow yourself? It’s likely not in season, it was picked too early, and shipped from afar. With piles of produce from all over the globe, a trip to the typical grocery store is hardly instructive if you want to know what’s in season. Start here to learn.

3. How to be a Semi-Vegetarian

Not quite ready to go vegetarian, but would like to lower your consumption of meat for your health and the environment? Learn how you can have your chard and eat your chicken (once in awhile) too.

4. How to Shop at a Farmers’ Market

Have you ever headed to the farmers’ market with the goal of buying your weekly produce but become so overwhelmed by the crowds, the music, the tasty pastries, that you left with a jar of jam and a loaf of bread? Learn how to shop—really shop—at a farmers market.

5. How to Choose Sustainable Seafood

Part of the reason that our oceans are in trouble is because we’re stuck in our ways. We eat way too many of just a few types of fish, mostly from the top of the food chain. Mix it up with 11 sustainable seafood choices, which you may not have considered.

6. How and Where to Get Protein

If you’ve been trying to cut down on meat but are afraid you won’t get enough protein, learn how much protein you really need and how to obtain it from a variety of foods.

7. How to Source Ethical Coffee

You may chat up the farmers at your local market every week, but do you know where your coffee came from or who grew it? Ethical Joe is within your reach.

8. How to Clean your Kitchen Green

What do you do when icky raw chicken juice splatters on your counter? Do you stare at it in horror or douse it in toxic bleach? Learn tips for disinfecting your kitchen without bleach.

9. How to Choose Humane Meat

Concerned about factory farming? Learn who’s behind the different humane certifications for meat and eggs and how the standards are codified.

10. How to Choose the Right Cooking Oil for the Job

Oil, oil, toil and trouble. Peanut oil for frying? Canola for salads? Oh, wait! It’s toxic? Get the scoop on cooking oil here.

11. Why Bio-Plastics are Not Always a Green Choice

If you’ve been feeling good about your local casual fast food outlet or local food truck because of their use of compostable bioplastics, learn why you probably shouldn’t.

12. Why you Should Read Labels

Ever wondered what soy protein isolate is or what’s really in those fast food burgers? Find out if you dare.

13. How to Cook a Whole Chicken and Other Lessons

Innocuous boneless, skinless chicken breasts? Not so much. Discover why they’re not so benign and learn three ways to cook up a whole chicken.

14. How to Make a Sustainable Fish Taco

Did you ever wonder what type of fish is in those fish tacos that you see on menus everywhere? If it doesn’t say, you might not want to know. But then again, you should. Then go ahead and make your own.

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate,  on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

Images: Michigan Mom, Ron Dollete, Puuiki Beach, Andrea Nguyen, Wongaboo, Vanessa Barrington

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