Useful environmentally friendly news and advice.
Enjoying a delicious cup of home brewed coffee is a perfect way to begin the day. But after making the coffee, what is the best thing to do with spent coffee grounds? Coffee drinkers go through a lot of coffee, and if you make it at home, then you end up with a lot of grounds to dispose of.
Continue reading “4 Weird Ways to Use Your Spent Coffee Grounds”
If you’re worried about pesticides, there are plenty of organic options for the foods we eat. Organic coffee is no exception. Â Organic coffee is grown in a healthy manner that is beneficial to consumers and to our precious ecosystem. Â Keep reading to learn about the various coffee certifications and what each one means.
Organic Coffee
Organic coffee is coffee that is grown according to modern organic farming standards. Â In order to gain organic certification, farmers must ensure that the land they are using has been free of synthetic pesticides and other prohibited chemicals for at least three years. Â This ensures that their organic crops will not contain potentially harmful chemicals from past crops, which may have used pesticides.
In addition to being chemical free, growers must have a plan in place for crop rotation. Â Crop rotation provides a way to keep the soil from degrading. Â It is also a sufficient means for combating pests without the use of synthetic pesticides.
Fair Trade Coffee
Fair trade coffee is a type of coffee that is purchased directly from growers.  Fair trade certification ensures that growers are protected and it gives consumers a way of knowing that they are supporting healthy business relationships.  Coffee that isn’t fair trade could potentially be produced in unethical circumstances, but isn’t necessarily.
For instance, some coffee plantations have used child labor.  Other plantations have paid workers unfair wages or didn’t respect human rights.  Buying coffee that is certified fair trade is a way to ensure that you are supporting positive community development and not encouraging unethical practices.
Shade Grown Coffee
Most of the negative environmental effects of coffee plantations are due to the practice of growing full sun coffee. Â In contrast, shade grown coffee can have a positive impact on the environment. Shade grown farms consist of coffee and an assortment of other trees. Â These other trees provide a canopy above the coffee plantation.
Shade grown plantations resemble a natural forest, and they may contain as many as 40 species of trees. Â The diverse ecosystem of a shade grown plantation helps to maintain soil quality and reduce pest problems. Â Shade grown coffee plantations also provide habitat for native species, especially birds, and they increase the production of oxygen and uptake of carbon dioxide, which is especially important given the current state of climate change.
Making a Difference When You Choose Coffee Beans
Over the last several decades, modern farming practices used without regard for the environment or health of consumers has led to disastrous consequences. Â Fortunately, as consumers we can make a difference by purchasing products which are produced in an ethical and healthy manner.
Organic, fair trade, and shade grown coffees might cost a little more, but by purchasing them you can help to make a difference and ensure that coffee cultivation is here to stay — and that’s good news for those of us who can’t go without our daily coffee.
I’ll admit that I don’t always stick to organic or shade grown or fair trade coffees. I’ve been using the Aeropress coffee maker at my house lately, and it makes totally amazing coffee. It only makes one cup at a time, but it’s worth it.
What’s your favorite coffee type? Leave a comment!