Why Shade Grown Coffee?

Why? Because you know that morning cup of coffee is going to be more full-bodied and flavorful! Because the shade grown beans that produced it were grown slowly, under lush tree canopies, giving them time to ripen, to develop a smooth rich flavor, full of complexities; because these beans did not have chemicals and fertilizers poured on them to stimulate rapid growth. Pesticides weren't dumped over them to chase away the insects. Besides getting a better taste, supporting shade grown coffee gives a boost to the environment.

The coffee plant first evolved in the rainforests of Africa and grows best in the shade. The traditional coffee farms in the highland hills and valleys were cloaked in thick forests, full of birds, a vast variety of mammals, reptiles and amphibians, insects and flowering plants. For generations, coffee shrubs were planted in the shade of tall trees, which made these coffee plantations excellent homes for birds and other wildlife. The shade cover is often 70% to 100% and comes from an average of 25 different species of trees and plants. It's no wonder a shade grown coffee farm looks like a wildlife refuge.

Things began to change - and not for the better. Beginning in the 1970's, the traditional shade grown coffee farms in Latin America were converted to 'sun coffee' farms to increase production. Shade trees were thinned or cleared and coffee plants were grown under full or nearly full sun conditions. Over 40% of coffee farms in Mexico, Colombia, the Caribbean and Central America were converted from shade grown farms to sun -grown plantations. Latin America now has the world's highest deforestation rate, partially due to this conversion to sun-grown coffee.

The Consequences of Clearing Forests To Make Way For Sun Coffee Farms

• Native rain forests and undergrowth were cleared to make way for dense plantings of coffee bushes.
• More sun tolerant coffee bushes were planted.
• Synthetic fertilizers were used to promote faster plant growth and to make up for the loss of nutrients due to erosion and because nitrogen fixing trees and plants had been removed.
• Chemical pesticides were used to control bugs and insects which had previously been controlled by the great number of birds that lived in shade forests.
• The number of species of migratory song birds has been greatly diminished because there is little refuge for them in a full sun coffee farm.

• Chemicals have contaminated the land, the water and the farm workers.
• The habitat for songbirds and other species such as iguanas, howler monkeys, ocelots, tree frogs, pumas and peccaries has been greatly reduced.
• When larger trees were cut down and removed, it led to erosion of the steep terrain.
• Erosion decreased the land's fertility as top soil washed away.
• Waterways were clogged and polluted with eroded topsoil.
• The ecological balance of the rainforests and the entire area was upset or destroyed.
• The market was flooded with coffee beans produced on the sun farms which depressed prices.
• The quality of the coffee beans and the resulting brew was reduced.

Today, a worldwide movement is slowly growing, urging the support of shade grown coffee, from the farm to the bean buyers and processors, to the markets and coffee shops and, finally, to your cup. Look for Shade Grown Coffee when you shop and get the best beans for your bucks!