Coffee: The Good, the Organic, and the Microlot

What are you really saying when you let your dollar do the talking?

It’s early morning. I’m checking my social media feeds, casting a furtive glance out the window, contemplating, prioritizing, compartmentalizing my daily responsibilities, just so that I can feel a little bit in control of the onslaught of events. All this, while I’m holding a cup of hot roasty, toasty goodness that invades my senses and hits the spot.

Why I’m drinking these particular coffee beans barely registers in my morning routine, but I’m nearing empty and will soon find myself reading packets on the supermarket shelf, or the online blurbs from a few recommended roasters. The one thing that I do notice as I reach for the beans each morning is that I feel better in myself when I’m reminded that I’ve made good choices.

Familiar labels help, like “Fair Trade” and “Rainforest Alliance”. They both evoke images of happy farmers and tropical paradises. “Certified organic” too, ‘cause I want to be sure I’m not drinking remnants of nasty chemicals. But, what about Bird Friendly, Carbon Neutral, and Direct Trade? Should I know what they are? And why is shade-grown coffee a thing now?

To answer all these questions in detail would mean writing a book or a dedicated website. But that’s been done. A little bit of research goes a long way. Just search “ethical coffee” and you’ll find a rabbit hole that will eventually point you to a decision, in terms of where to spend your hard-earned coin and what you’re supporting when you do.

What the Labels Mean

Each label does have its limitations worth also exploring, but here’s an overview to make quick sense of what’s what:

Fair Trade is primarily concerned with alleviating poverty through fair prices and is designed to minimize exploitation of coffee farming communities.

Rainforest Alliance (ie. the one with the green frog) is not an exclusively environmental certification, in addition to helping protect forests and maintain responsible land management, it also addresses community relations and fair treatment of workers.

Direct Trade is not an official certification, but rather serves to denote a direct relationship between the buyer and the producer, cutting out the traditional middleman traders, as well as the organizations that control certifications. To make up for the lack of official certifications, roasters will usually seek to be more transparent in the way they do business, so that consumers can be assured of their good business practices.

Shade-grown is a descriptor used by roasters, rather than a certification, and it does not address labor standards or fair prices. It refers to coffee trees that are grown the traditional way, under the forest canopy.

Another environmental choice: carbon-neutral coffee means ensuring a balance between emitting carbon and absorbing carbon from the atmosphere, so that there are net zero emissions. But since there are no internationally recognized standards for determining carbon neutrality, businesses must be transparent enough to back up claims of being carbon neutral with solid data.

However, none of the above imply organically farmed beans.

One label that does address organic growing practices, as well as caring for the growers, is Smithsonian Bird Friendly. As the name suggests, their focus is on preserving bird habitats, but one could argue that if in doubt, this would actually be the most sure-fire certification to go for as a consumer, because it covers all the bases. It is the only certification that is 100% organic and shade-grown guaranteed, while ensuring fair trade practices as well as premium prices paid to producer groups. The Bird Friendly certification is not as popular, or well known as “organic”, mainly due to the ambiguous name that gives consumers the impression that it’s just good for the birds, not the people as well.

To Be or Not to Be Organic

The organic certification is arguably one of the two most easily recognizable by consumers, but does not make for a clear-cut decision. For a coffee to be certified organic it means that it must be grown without the use of prohibited substances such as most synthetic pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers, on land that has not been tainted with these substances for at least three years. That’s all good. However, the burden of obtaining the certification is on the producer, and this is not always a financial possibility.

Evan Howe is Director of Coffee at Passenger Coffee, one of America’s conscious coffee suppliers. Howe recently spoke to BetterWorld about the intricacies of sourcing coffee.

According to Howe, “in many parts of the world, it is completely untenable to produce coffee in a fully organic way. And in many, many parts of the world, a small producer is choosing between organic certification, or having no crop”. It takes years to develop compliance with international standards and to enrich the soil through production methods that can sustain coffee crops without the use of agrochemicals. So clearly, coffee producers need to be supported on their way to achieving those standards.

The thing is, coffee that lacks the “USDA Organic” certification has not necessarily been grown with chemicals. A crop may well be organically grown, just without the official recognition, and so it cannot be sold as such, and producers cannot get the same kind of prices for their crop as they would if they had the label.

Howe would like to see certifications such as “USDA Organic” to be funded by the consumer world, so that the pressure is not on the producer, when they’re already losing money just trying to produce good coffee.

As far as our health and the environment are concerned, it seems the natural approach is to err on the side of organically grown products, whether it has the label or not. It’s just that transparency in the farming practices and supply chain is all the more critical without it.

Without being overly simplistic, at BetterWorld we prefer organic as the safest choice to ensure that we are not introducing toxins into our diets, but do recognize that sustainability may require a process. Producers who take credible steps in the right direction should be supported.

When it comes down to us consumers, the onus is on us to support sustainable farming practices with our dollars. And if not organic, we should at least choose coffee that was grown in a way that shows awareness and respect for the natural environment, community and education, or a move towards more sustainable practices.

The Microlot Mentality

Apart from organic, buyers really get excited about microlot coffee with special flavor profiles which can be marketed as such to consumers, and therefore fetch higher prices. Microlot is not a scientific term, rather, it is used to identify coffee that comes from trees that are usually found within larger estates, but due to special conditions, produce coffee that has special flavor characteristics. These beans are processed separately and differently from the rest of the crop, and in limited quantities.

But the problem lies in the fact that in most cases, these beans only represent a relatively small percentage of the coffee grown by a particular producer.

According to Howe, “it’s a tragic thing that a producer will often make an excellent profit on the minority of their harvest, and on the majority of their harvest they’ll lose money because those are the coffees … that specialty buyers are not drawn to.”

Passenger Coffee, which seeks to highlight the creme-de-la-creme of coffee beans, saw the need to establish Necessary Coffee in order to pay fairly and buy more of the crop that still scores high in terms of flavor profile, yet might fetch dramatically lower prices for lack of uniqueness, were it left to the bigger companies to scoop up.

Perhaps in the same way that the term microlot exists, there should also be coffee that is referred to as the ‘whole lot’ so as to underline the difference between the two ideas in a way that imposes a transparency of sorts on any coffee roaster.

Sustainability - What Does it Really Mean?

While not discounting the organic versus non-organic issue, at BetterWorld we decided that truly sustainable coffee should not only minimize harm to our health and the environment, but most importantly, must make a priority of being free of exploitation in all respects. That does mean treating the people right, but also that producers are not just having some of their crop cherry-picked and are able to sell all their harvest at a fair price. Companies that are transparent in their operations about their willingness to do this deserve support for obvious reasons.

Howe points out that what leads to truly sustainable coffee is longer term partnerships offering fixed prices to the growers, and showing up every year to buy their crop. This protects growers from yearly fluctuations of coffee prices, and allows buyers to negotiate certain standards that incorporate environmentally sustainable practices.

“It takes time to build something … viable and meaningful for all involved and so we need to clearly communicate what we need from a partnership like that … and we need to have as clear an understanding as possible regarding what a producer needs,” said Howe.

So, What’s the Takeaway?

What is the takeaway for us as consumers? How can we tell whether a producer whose exotic coffee beans we really enjoy, and for which we’re willing to pay a premium price, will earn a fair percentage to be able to feed his family and educate his kids? How can we tell that even though it lacks the “USDA Organic” label the producer is at least not using harmful agrochemicals and moving towards organic? In a nutshell, due diligence - we have to do a little bit of homework. Get to know your roaster. And when you can’t, lean on the certification labels that best fit your personal values.

Companies that take a holistic approach in how they do business are worth supporting because they are promoting a paradigm shift, which brings rewards to both consumers and producers alike. These are the suppliers we seek out.

So, while you might enjoy a special coffee with sweet tobacco and hazelnut notes, or one that just tastes like a good, reliable cup o’Joe, take some time to read about the company who made them available to you. Appreciate the grower who bears the brunt of coffee price fluctuations, in what equates to a mere few cents per pound for us consumers.

After all, coffee may only be one of life’s special indulgences to us, but it means everything to the life of a grower who might have a family to support, and whose neighbors are all involved in the processing of the beans. They’re all sipping their cups of cafe solo* wondering what kind of buyers will show up, whether their beans will be in vogue this season, and just how much of their crop they’ll get to sell at a good price. That should never be lost in translation.

What are your thoughts? Who are you drinking? Is there more to consider? Comment below.

*Cafe solo is what Spanish people call a shot of espresso.

Sources

https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/faqs/what-does-rainforest-alliance-certified-mean

https://nationalzoo.si.edu/migratory-birds/bird-friendly-coffee

https://www.fairtrade.net/issue

https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/OrganicProductionandHandlingStandards.pdf