Coffee and Tea
Many of us can’t imagine an early morning without a cup of coffee, but find it much harder to stomach the thought of that caffeine jolt leading to environmental degradation and social ills. Enter organic, shade-grown, and Fair Trade certification to ease these fears. Organic coffee is produced without the use of pesticides, which helps improve working conditions for growers. Shade-grown coffee, which requires a canopy of shade trees in order to grow, promotes better bird habitats, soil quality, and less water pollution. And Fair Trade coffee means better prices for producers, as well as longer-term and more meaningful trading relationships. Of course, how your coffee is presented matters too, and we check out which brands offer more java in less packaging.
23 Degrees Roastery
Dec 2011
This company decided early on in its existence to sell only fair trade and organic coffee; they felt that the social and environmental benefits associated outweighed the benefits that access to a broader variety of conventional coffee offered. They roast their coffee at their St. Regis Crescent North location in Toronto and retrofitted their roasting More >
Merchants of Green Coffee
Dec 2011
Merchants of Green Coffee specializes in the sourcing, importing and marketing of the highest quality certified green arabica coffees. It is a widely held belief that anything but freshly roasted coffee is not worth drinking and the Merchants help people drink freshly roasted coffee by providing home and industrial roasters with certified organic and fair More >
Camino Medium Roast Coffee
Dec 2011
This coffee, which is available at many specialty and health food stores, comes from the Camino Co-operative collection of small farms that produce only organic and Fair Trade coffee. The higher price that Fair Trade receives allows farmer to re-invest in their farms, making environmental, wage and educational improvements. It is roasted in Montreal at More >
Salt Spring Coffee
Jul 2010
Available in most chain grocery stores, this coffee is produced under Salt Spring’s own “Fair to Farmer Direct” philosophy, which involves paying a minimum above the fair trade base price. The company has a boatload of certifications, including being a B Corporation (a for-benefit corporation) and bullfrog powered. However, like most bagged coffee, the beans More >
Choice Organic English Breakfast Tea
May 2010
While only available in specialty stores and via the producer, Choice Organic teas are certified fair trade and organic. The company also has an Alternative Energy certification. Its tea bags made of unbleached natural fibres, but do come in individual envelopes. Choice Organic Teas are manufactured in a certified organic facility where Green-e Certified renewable More >
Starbucks Organic Shade Grown Mexico
May 2010
This coffee, available at Starbucks locations and in most major grocery stores, is certified USDA Organic but not fair trade. As a requirement of this certification, the beans are shade grown. They are grown near the El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve, one of the last remaining cloud forests in Southern Mexico. Starbucks claims that its farmers More >
