Bird Friendly, Shade grown coffee is simply the best tasting coffee because it is grown using traditional arabica bean rootstock. It is grown without chemical herbicides, pesticides, artificial fertilizers or with minimal inputs. These chemicals are largely unnecessary because shade grown organic coffee is sustainable coffee. The tremendous biodiversity of the coffee plantation provides an environment where the use of these harmful products are not needed. The biodiversity of the plantation provides the nutrients and natural pest controls needed by the coffee trees. Shade grown organic coffee produces fewer cherries and ripens slower than "sun technified coffee". This allows a concentration of nutrients in shade coffee relative to sun technified coffee.

Caffe Ibis offers several Double Certified and Specialty Conventional varieties of Non-Smithsonian Certified Shade Grown coffees. The lack of a Shade Grown certification could be for several reasons. Farms which cannot devote time and money to achieve a Shade Grown certified status does not diminish their coffee's quality. Many of the farms we get coffee from are Shade Grown qualified but lack the certifications.

Shade grown coffee plantations provide habitat for over 150 species of North American Songbirds. They also provide a diversified economic basis for small family farmers. Shade grown coffee provides the best possible scenario for a sustainable coffee future.

Sun technified coffee plantations are, by comparison, "a biological desert". Sun technified coffee plantations using hybrid commercial rootstocks, herbicides, pesticides, and artificial fertilizers are extremely exploitive of the environment and the people who live and work in and around the plantations.

For more information about shade grown coffee including photos and growing conditions, please visit Sustainable Harvest or Coffee & Cuisine. Additional resources include the following

Denver Post
Sunday, February 2, 1997. "Songbird decline tied to coffee growers' tactics"

Tallahassee Democrat
Monday, February 10, 1997. "Traditional coffee plantations are something for birds to sing about"

Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center
1997. "Why Migratory Birds Are Crazy For Coffee"

The New York Times
Sunday, July 27,1997. "Songbirds' Plight Starts A Buzz in Coffee Circles"

The Salt Lake Tribune
Friday, February 14, 1997. "Coffee Generation Is Killing Off Songbirds"

 

Certified Organic Coffee | Certified Shade Grown | Certified Fair Trade
Mountain Grown Specialty Grade