How to Green Your Coffee and Tea

So You Wanna Do More

Not content with just getting by? Go hardcore.

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).

By the Numbers

Want the real deal? Here's where the rubber meets the road.

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 U.S. in 2005, a 40.4 percent increase over the previous year.

4. According to TransFair U.S.A, “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)

Getting Techie

Not content with the high level? Here's the nitty gritty.

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 U.S., TransFair conducts certification and labeling based on standards established by Fair-trade 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 process. 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)