Saturday, Jan 18

Welcome to Your Daily Dot where Dot will share tips, advice, and stories on how we can make our world better.

Since Mr. Dot received a fancy shmancy new coffee maker for Christmas, he’s been on the hunt for delicious and planet friendly coffee, making this Dear Dot freshly relevant to him. With all the promises on coffee packaging — bird-friendly, shade-grown, Fair Trade, and more — how can he ensure that what he’s sipping is truly sustainable? 

Dear Dot,

Coffee, how do I choose? It says locally brewed, but does that mean it’s better for the environment? What do all those labels mean? What should I look for?
–Curious Coffee Connoisseur

Dear Triple C,

I, too, am on a quest to reconcile my love of caffeine with my love for this planet. So over my sixth cup of coffee, I made a jittery call to Kim Elena Ionescu, Chief Sustainability and Knowledge Development Officer at Specialty Coffee Association, asking her to help us better understand the glut of sustainable labels — bird-friendly, shade-grown, organic, up-late-studying-friendly, etc — and figure out what actually has a positive impact.

First, let’s talk about which labels we’re sure are making a difference. According to Ionescu, consumers should prioritize three certifications: Fair Trade, Organic, and Rainforest Alliance. The first tackles the social side of the bean, ensuring fair labor practices. Organic certification safeguards not only the health of the crops but also that of the soil and farmworkers. And, while being grown in shade is not a requirement for this certification, organic farmers often rely on shade to grow their coffee, meaning that they are rarely complicit in deforestation. Lastly, Rainforest Alliance has standards for both labor practices and forest conservation.

While there are many other labels that might effectively ensure sustainable practices, Ionescu recommends starting with these three because they have been around for a long time and are third-party certified, which means they’re assessed by an outside governing body rather than the industry itself. “All of those have a really high degree of credibility,” Ionescu says.

When it comes to limiting your carbon footprint, buying locally roasted beans will not have much of an impact, according to Ionescu. “There’s a much greater impact in the roasting process of the coffee itself and in the brewing of the coffee [than in the shipping],” Ionescu says. “To heat the water in order to brew a cup of coffee requires proportionally a lot more energy than shipping a pound of coffee overseas on a container ship.” The benefits of buying locally roasted coffee, however, are to support your local economy and enjoy fresher beans (although the difference in freshness might be negligible).

And there’s more. To drink in more of Dot’s coffee wisdom, keep reading.

Want to fill your cup with more coffee content? Don’t miss Bluedot’s What’s So Bad About … Coffee?

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