Where does your coffee come from?

The current ‘bad eggs’ scandal reminds us all that we often have no idea about where our food comes from and under what conditions it is raised.

Until about forty years ago, we did not have to worry about where Latin American coffee came from. It was grown in a sustainable and earth friendly way for centuries. And coffee often provided the cash crop small family farmers needed to ‘stay on the land’. All the coffee we imported from the Americas was once shade grown and organic. But that is no longer true.

The movement to engineered coffee on massive sun farms requiring fertilizer means that most of the coffee we drink in the US today is literally killing songbirds. It is not very good for people and the planet, either.

In the world of coffee commerce it is common – and easy – to mark a coffee as ‘shade grown’. The ongoing greenwash of ‘shade’ coffee continues and this term is becoming acceptable as a proof that coffee is sustainable and organic. But a great deal of coffee marked as ‘shade’ is ‘fake’ shade – grown under a few non-native, fast growing trees that also need chemical feeding. When shade is faked not only birds suffer. Workers and their families in ‘chemical’ mass coffee farming are frequently exposed to conditions that are unacceptable by any standard.

We can only be absolutely certain that coffee comes from the rich, chemical free, traditional ‘rustic canopy’ coffee farms that birds and the planet need to be truly sustainable if it is certified ‘Bird Friendly®’.

The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center’s independent ‘Bird Friendly® program provides us with the security we need to be sure we are buying ‘good coffee’. The SMBC’s independent certification is based on over 15 years of scientific research and over 100 inspectors have been trained by the SMBC to certify that ‘Bird Friendly®’ coffee comes from farms that provide migratory songbirds with winter habitat. These coffee farms provide a ‘last refuge’ against habitat loss as tropical forest destruction and ‘sun/chemical/monoculture’ coffees take over.

Birds & Beans® is the only coffee brand in the entire country which solely roasts ‘Bird Friendly®’ certified beans. We roast and sell only Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center certified coffee. Our roasts are also Fair-Trade and USDA Organic certified. Great for birds, people, the Earth. (Great tasting coffee too!).

By providing consumers and retailers with ‘triple certified’ coffee we are beginning to make a difference. Zealous adherence to ‘Bird Friendly®’ standards and passionate advocacy to our families, friends and retailers will take us to the level of volume that really matters for bird conservation and our mission.

Please join us in our mission. ‘Be Certain. Buy Certified®.’