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1. The local brew
Seek out the coffee and tea that have traveled the least distance to reach you and also aim at supporting local, independent farms, cafés, and roasters.
2. Mug shots
Go ahead, find that perfect mug and make the investment. Not only is a reusable mug more pleasurable to sip out of than a paper cup, but it will replace an untold number of disposable cups, plastic sippy tops, “java jackets,” and other disposable paraphernalia. If you’ve got a thing for paper cups and Greek art, try a more durable “We Are Happy to Serve You“, the handy-work of TreeHugger founder Graham Hill. Make a quick tally of how many disposable coffee or tea cups you use in a month…yeah, it’s probably a lot.
3. Organic
Coffee and tea that bear organic certification are more eco-friendly because they are grown and processed without toxic chemicals, are cultivated and harvested in ways that protect sensitive ecosystems, and spare workers from exposure to harmful pesticides and herbicides. Shade grown coffee is another important category that preserves habitats for migratory birds on coffee farms, also letting beans mature more slowly and creating richer flavors.
4. Fair Trade
Not only does certified fair trade coffee and tea help ensure living wages and safe working conditions for farmers, but TransFair and Rainforest Alliance both include rigorous environmental standards in their certification criteria.
5. Home brew
The local café is great. It’s got your friends, good food, free wireless. But if you think you can be greener in your own kitchen, give it a try. When you do it at home you know where the beans and leaves are coming from and also where they go when they’re spent. Plus, you can’t forget your mug, you can choose organic milk, and never toss out another paper sugar packet. Try a bit of quick math on the cost savings of making your morning cup-o-joe at home.
6. Loosen up
Tea bags and coffee filters can be useful but are mostly unnecessary. Great coffee can be made at home with a reusable filter or a stovetop espresso maker. A quality tea infuser can last a lifetime and replace an untold number of (questionably compostable) tea bags. If you do use filters and bags, look for biodegradable and unbleached ones.
7. Milk and sugar
Most people put one thing or another in their hot beverage of choice. Don’t foul up your organic, fair trade, bird friendly, solar roasted brew with chemical and hormone-laden milk and sugar from a little paper packet. If you don’t do the cow thing, look for organic rice, soy, or almond milk to yin up your yang. In the US, TransFair also certifies sugar, so even your sugar can be fair trade. (Maple syrup in coffee is another well-kept secret.)
8. “Press” the issue
If the local coffee shop you love doesn’t carry coffee and tea that meet your standards, start asking politely. Starbucks has a universal policy under which they will brew a French press of fair trade coffee for anyone who asks. Take the Starbucks Challenge and see if your barista knows what Starbucks has committed to.
9. Compost the roast
Tea leaves and especially coffee grounds make outstanding compost. Coffee’s high nitrogen content has made it a fertilizer of choice since days of yore. Composting leaves and grounds helps keep organic waste out of landfills, makes great soil, and keeps waste baskets dry. If you don’t have a heap to toss it on, just spread coffee grounds on the top of your plants’ soil.
10. Gift the good stuff
Organic coffee and tea make superb gifts for friends and coworkers, as well as effective peace offerings for estranged family members and ex-lovers. It’s also a great way to get people appreciating the many benefits of a “greener” coffee or tea habit.
(A solar coffee roaster used by Solar Roast Coffee)
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1. When it comes time to clean and polish the kettle, look for safe and chemical-free methods. You can take that calcium carbonate (from hard water) out with lemon juice or white vinegar. See How to Green Your Cleaning for more.
2. Since there’s no point in using energy to boil more water than will get used, fill the mug you’ll use with water and pour that into the kettle.
3. Since man cannot live on coffee alone, God created hot chocolate. Find some certified organic and fair trade certified hot chocolate and start time traveling.
4. A sleek and well-designed reusable mug makes a great gift for anyone, caffeine addicted or not.
5. Get your workplace hooked on the pleasures of reusable mugs (ingredients: mugs, a place to wash them, and a place to keep them).
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1. According to the World Bank, 17 to 20 million families grow coffee around the world. (link)
2. Coffee is the second most valuable commodity in the world after petroleum, and the U.S. is the world’s biggest coffee importer.
3. According to the Organic Trade Association, sales of organic coffee amounted to $89 million in the US in 2005, a 40.4 percent increase over the previous year.
4. According to TransFair USA, “Small family farmers grow over 50% of the world’s coffee.”
5. “U.S. retail sales of Fair Trade Certified coffee grew from less than $50 million in 2000, to nearly $500 million by 2005” (TransFair)
6. Starbucks is North America’s largest purchaser of Fair Trade Certified coffee. In 2005, Starbucks purchased 11.5 million pounds of Certified coffee (compared with 4.8 million pounds in 2004). Although this is a small percentage of their sales, it represents approximately 10% of global Fair Trade coffee imports. (PDF link)
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1. What is fair trade certification?
Fair trade certification works to ensure that farmers get a fair price for their crops and good conditions under which to work. In the US, TransFair conducts certification and labeling based on standards established by Fairtrade Labeling Organization International (FLO), based in Bonn, Germany. These standards serve to protect farming traditions, make farming profitable for small and family-owned farms, prevent exploitation and forced child labor, guarantee freedom of association, and protect worker health and natural ecosystems. Farmers earn a premium for growing Fair Trade Certified coffee and tea, and get an additional premium for growing organic. (“Licensed Fair Trade importers pay $1.26/lb ($1.41/lb if organic) to Fair Trade coffee cooperatives.”) For more specifics on TransFair’s environmental standards, click here.
2. Rainforest Alliance Certification
Another trusted third-party certifier of sustainable agriculture is the Rainforest Alliance. Through their labeling program, a product can be certified if it meets their high standards of land conservation, integrated farm management practices, and fair labor conditions. In early 2007, McDonald’s restaurants across the UK agreed to exclusively sell coffee certified by the Rainforest Alliance. For more info on RA, click here.
3. Shade grown and Bird Friendly
Shade grown coffee is cultivated by allowing the presence of other beneficial plants and trees to remain, shading the coffee plants with a canopy of leaves and branches (some connoisseurs suggest that the longer maturation time for shade grown coffee brings out more flavor from the bean). Unlike this more traditional method, many larger coffee farms clear all vegetation except for the coffee plants, eliminating important habitats for animals, especially songbirds, and typically requiring more chemical inputs. Coffees that are organic and shade grown can also qualify for Bird Friendly Certification. For every pound of certified Bird Friendly coffee, 25 cents is given to Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center research and conservation programs. For more info, click here.
4. Decaf
Many conventional decaffeinated coffees go through a methylene chloride procress. To maintain organic certification, organic coffee must be treated with an approved method. Most common is the Swiss Water Method, which uses only water to remove caffeine. Tea and coffee can also be decaffeinated using supercritical CO2, which is the preferred method of high-end tea distributors.
5. Milk kills the benefits of tea?
While tea has been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke, a study conducted at the University of Berlin has found that adding dairy milk to tea eliminates these benefits. (link)
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(Shade grown coffee plants are part of a healthy and intact habitat. Image: Conscious Coffees)
Coffee
TreeHugger serves up nine Fair Trade blends from Mexico and where to find them.
For that fresh-ground flavor when camping, living off-grid, or waiting out a world war, try a hand cranked coffee grinder like this one or this one.
Coffee connoisseur and eco-urbanite Green LA Girl (aka Siel) offers up a six-step program to better, greener coffee drinking.
This reusable coffee cup comes with its own key and could be the perfect remedy for sticky-fingered coworkers.
A quick roundup of green coffee tech for the home.
A reader asks about less wasteful alternatives to single-serve coffee dispensers we see cropping up in so many offices.
Started by a group of your entrepreneurs, Simple Coffee is trying to expand the boundaries of fair trade.
There was a day when only the military had the pleasure of biodegradable coffee cups. Now Green Mountain Coffee Roasters has brought compostable coffee cups for to masses.
Kicking Horse Coffee is a triple kick: shade grown, fair trade, and organic.
Which is lighter on the planet: paper, styrofoam, ceramic? It takes a rigorous life cycle assessment to tell the whole story, and you might be surprised.
The Toddy cold brewer takes the slow and steady (and energy-free) path to brewing coffee.
TreeHugger’s Warren McLaren tackles the conundrum of the potentially toxic reusable coffee mug.
This Ontario coffee company does some of the greenest beans around, all the way from the solar drying to the carbon neutral roasting.
Even coffee giant Nescafé has something to offer in the fair trade department.
John Laumer loves his French press coffee. He chronicles his search for a new brewing devise here.
TreeHugger had the opportunity to chat with the producer/co-directory of Black Gold, a documentary about the worldwide politics of coffee.
Can the sun roast coffee? You bet. It just needs a little help from some mirrors.
Wildlife Organic Coffee from the World Conservation Society is all about Papua New Guinea.
Here’s a fair trade coffee press and mug for your fair trade roast of choice.
Vermont Coffee Company stokes its roasting engines with carbon neutral biodiesel.
CoffeeReview.com rates roasts and blends and makes fair trade coffees easy to find.
Thanksgiving Coffee from Uganda is the work of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish farming cooperative.
The GeoCup is a conceptual alternative to the single-serving coffee cup.
If sipping coffee is wasting valuable moments you might spend talking about global warming and rising sea levels, this mug can cover for you.
Tea
When “designers and connoisseurs meet for tea,” The Teastick infuser is born.
Today Was Fun offers a range of creative blended teas including Green Green Tea, which is both healthy and carbon neutral.
TreeHuggers get intimate with three world-class teas from The Groovy Mind.
TreeHugger rounds up a selection of choice leaves for brewing.
The simplicity of the reusable tea infuser as a product service system.
Treleela and Tea Forte make tea bags like the world has never seen, but are they infusion art or a packaging nightmare?
Organic, fair trade, and beyond, from Republic of Tea.
Teaology offers organic flavors like Jumpstart, Whip It, Stop the Clock, and Urban Defense.
Kicking Horse Coffee also does some kicking tea.
Organic Revolution Tea is as pleasing to look at as it is to drink, biodegradable pyramid bags and all.
Rishi Teas offers ancient varieties of artesian, hand-picked and hand-rolled teas.
Moby and his sweety operate Teany, a tea lover’s paradise in NY.
Guayaki organic yerba mate peps you up gaucho-style.
Dagoba Hot Chocolate is organic and sexy!
The Eco Kettle by Product Creation is a hot pot that heats just the right amount of water. British, of course.
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(Organic teas from The Great Lakes Tea and Spice Co.)
Coffee and tea are big subjects and we can’t hope to cover every aspect, but here are some resources and leads to help you dig deeper into your search for earth and people-friendly tea and coffee.
The 2006 documentary film Black Gold delves into the social and political tangle of coffee.
Bring Your Own is a site dedicated to the non-disposable, from mugs to shopping bags.
Coffee and Conservation is a site dedicated to “resources on the coffee and habitat connection for the conscientious consumer.”
Green LA Girl has been an authority as well as an agitator for fair and sustainable coffee. She is the spark behind The Starbucks Challenge and her blog is a trove of information.
Equal Exchange
Fairtrade Labeling Organizations International
Organic Trade Association
Organic Consumers Association
Rainforest Alliance
Smithsonian National Zoological Park and Bird Friendly Coffee
TransFair
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Coffee
Bird Friendly Coffee (and where to find it).
Birds and Beans
Blue Smoke Coffee
Bodum
Café Ibis
Cameron’s Coffee
Global Exchange Fair Trade Online Store
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters
The Groovy Mind
Grounds for Change
Kicking Horse Coffee
Merchants of Green Coffee
Newman’s Own Organics
Simple Coffee
Solar Roast Coffee
Sweetwater Organic Coffee Roasters
Today Was Fun
Tea
Blue Smoke Coffee
Choice Organic Teas
The Great Lakes Tea and Spice Co.
Harney & Sons
Numi Organic Tea
Revolution Tea
The Republic of Tea
Rishi Teas
Teaology
Upton Tea Importers
Dagoba Hot Chocolate
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