Coffee thou art complicated
I love coffee. Especially on those rare mornings when I can actually sit on my balcony, sip it slowly, listen to the birds, and relax. However, the vast number of options these days kind of makes my head hurt. Light-Medium-Dark? Fair trade? Shade grown? Rainforest Alliance? Bird Friendly? Organic?
I started this blog post about a week ago, got totally overwhelmed, and ran away from my computer. I'm coming back to it now to see if I can make sense of this a little, to help inform purchases in the future.
Light vs. Medium vs. Dark roast?
Light/Medium roasts are probably healthier. A 2017 study of arabica coffee from multiple countries found that lightly roasted coffee had higher polyphenol levels. Polyphenols have been found to play an important role in human health. Some other not-so-light reading, if you are research-inclined:
- The impact of roast levels of coffee extracts on their potential anticancer activities.
- Cellular antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of coffee extracts with different roasting levels.
- Understanding the effects of roasting on antioxidant components of coffee brews...
Light vs. Medium vs. Dark roast?
Light/Medium roasts are probably healthier. A 2017 study of arabica coffee from multiple countries found that lightly roasted coffee had higher polyphenol levels. Polyphenols have been found to play an important role in human health. Some other not-so-light reading, if you are research-inclined:
- The impact of roast levels of coffee extracts on their potential anticancer activities.
- Cellular antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of coffee extracts with different roasting levels.
- Understanding the effects of roasting on antioxidant components of coffee brews...
Fair trade?
A search of PubMed and Google Scholar demonstrates that while there are benefits, it may not specifically be related to income. For example, a 2010 study found that "...women's organizations [had] greater control over farm practices," but a 2011 study concluded that "[o]ver a ten year period...organic-fairtrade farmers [became] poorer relative to conventional producers."
In 2016, Huffington Post published an article by Bruce Wydick - USF professor of economics & international studies - discussing 10 reasons why fair trade coffee doesn't work. So the jury may still be out on this one. On the plus side, the University of Greenwich examined fair trade coffee farming in Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, and Tanzania, and their results helped to inform the 2016-2020 fair trade strategy. So hopefully the concept is evolving and improving.
In short, probably a good thing but don't buy it thinking you are done helping your fellow man.
In 2016, Huffington Post published an article by Bruce Wydick - USF professor of economics & international studies - discussing 10 reasons why fair trade coffee doesn't work. So the jury may still be out on this one. On the plus side, the University of Greenwich examined fair trade coffee farming in Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, and Tanzania, and their results helped to inform the 2016-2020 fair trade strategy. So hopefully the concept is evolving and improving.
In short, probably a good thing but don't buy it thinking you are done helping your fellow man.
Rainforest Alliance
Rainforest Alliance (RA) standards require 40% minimum canopy cover and 12 native trees per hectare. Their certification used to be based on Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) standards; however, in late 2017, SAN abandoned the certification process in favor of what they call a more inclusive, outcomes-based framework.
This echoes some of what I had been reading in the peer-reviewed literature. For example, a 2016 study found that "[RA-] certified and non-certified farms had comparable density of shade trees." The benefits of RA certification in this study ultimately related to price premiums, improved management systems, and worker safety. So again, good to buy but maybe more for the humans than the trees.
Bird Friendly
If you really want to try to save the trees, you probably want to opt for Bird-Friendly because their standards are more stringent. BF certification requires least 40% foliage cover, a canopy 12+ meters high, the backbone of which must be native species, at least 10 woody species, etc. The full list of requirements is in the link above. The farm must also be certified organic. Smithsonian offers a long list of articles to read about the benefits of BF coffee, so I'll just refer you there.
If you really want to try to save the trees, you probably want to opt for Bird-Friendly because their standards are more stringent. BF certification requires least 40% foliage cover, a canopy 12+ meters high, the backbone of which must be native species, at least 10 woody species, etc. The full list of requirements is in the link above. The farm must also be certified organic. Smithsonian offers a long list of articles to read about the benefits of BF coffee, so I'll just refer you there.
Organic?
My brain hurts.
Some more "light" reading:
- Shade Grown Coffee put to test (NPR)
- Shade, fertilization, and coffee leaf rust (World Coffee Research)
- The coffee-songbird connection (Scientific American)
- Really long summary about all the ecological benefits of shade grown coffee (Smithsonian)
Some more "light" reading:
- Shade, fertilization, and coffee leaf rust (World Coffee Research)
- The coffee-songbird connection (Scientific American)
- Really long summary about all the ecological benefits of shade grown coffee (Smithsonian)
Update (6/8/18):
It took a 3 minute google search to find bird friendly coffee in Atlanta (despite there being nothing listed on the Smithsonian website). I ended up getting mine at Javavino - family farm, locally roasted in Atlanta, super friendly, super helpful, supporting small business. A win in my book. And if you know me, you know I want to save all the trees, so yes, I opted for bird friendly coffee.