Coffee is the world’s favourite drug. It is the world’s seventh largest agricultural export by value. The facts are staggering: on average coffee ingestion is about a third of that of tap water in North America and Europe. Between 1998 and 2000 6.7 million metric tons of coffee was produced.
What all this points to is that the world is using too much of its limited natural resources to grow a drug with no recognised medicinal benefit or nutritional value. All that land and all that water could be used to grow rice or beans or manioc or whatever ever else is suitable to the terrain and climate. But no, coffee is big business, much bigger business than growing food.
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All this makes industrial coffee production a force which is placing an undue strain on the environments of developing countires and makes the peddling of caffeine a serious contender for the least eco-friendly business in the world. And combine this with the fact that most coffee is grown in the developing world (Brazil is by far the biggest producer) where growers are often exploited by the companies marketing and distributing the final product back in the developed world. It wasn’t until 1988 that the Max Havelaar organization started giving coffee farmers a fair price for their valuable product. Since then green business has gone from strength to strength and various Fair Trade Organisations have been established to not only put more money in the farmers’ pockets but also set up educational and environmental programs for those in the coffee growing communities.
At this point it is necessary to briefly examine how coffee is grown. Coffee is a bushy tree that produces berries. Originally coffee was ‘shade grown’, which means the coffee was grown in forest areas in the shade of bigger trees. This is a much more environmentally sound practice because a variety of plant and tree life are growing together providing not only habitats for animals but also maintaining a diverse eco-system.
In the 1970s many coffee producers shifted from ‘shade grown’ to sun grown coffee. As you might expect this means chopping down the trees and clearing the land and planting coffee in rows. More coffee trees can be planted and the sun ripens the beans quicker. Because the world loves coffee this made perfect business sense. More coffee per square meter and reduced times from planting to harvesting. The downside, as with all of these agro-business ideas was environmental degradation. Not only were forests cleared for the coffee crops but those crops were more vulnerable to attack by pests. This meant more and stronger pesticides were developed to protect the coffee harvest and more water was needed since there was no shade to keep the moisture in the soil. According to the New Scientist industrially grown coffee uses 140 litres of water to produce one cup of coffee. And the irony being that coffee is often grown in areas where there are frequent water shortages such as Ethiopia. Deforestation, water and soil pollution, habitat loss and reduction of land and water available for food production were the unintended consequences of changing from shade grown to sun grown coffee.
What should you do? Well stop drinking coffee, or cut down your consumption at least. And, very importantly if you do drink coffee make certain of three factors:
1) Drink shade grown coffee. The berries ripen slower and give a fuller flavour and it is by far the most environmentally sound way to grow coffee.
2) Drink organic coffee. That way you are not contributing to the poisoning of the planet with pesticides.
3) Buy coffee from companies that belong to a fair trade organisation. This means more of your money is going to the farmers and their families.
Caffe Appassionato Coffee Company Shade-grown Organic Espresso Roast Whole Bean ticks all of these three vital boxes. Caffe Appassionato is certified by Trans Fair USA. Click on the picture link to order your shade grown organic and fair trade coffee beans today.
