Smithsonian Bird-Friendly

Retail and specialty roasters / Smithsonian Bird-Friendly

Birds&Beans: a new Bird-Friendly coffee initiative

A new initiative to featuring Smithsonian Bird-Friendly certified coffee is being launched next week in the New England and New York area. “Birds&Beans: the good coffee” will be sold by subscription, and promoted via “Voices for the Birds” talks by several leading names in bird conservation.

The coffees, all Smithsonian Bird-Friendly certified (and therefore also certified organic) will be available in three varieties:

  • Scarlet Tanager will be the dark/bold roast from Peru, and will also be Fair Trade certified.
  • Chestnut-sided Warbler will be a medium roast Colombian (also Rainforest Alliance certified).
  • Wood Thrush will be the light/mild roast Mexican, also be Fair Trade certified.

The coffee will be roasted and distributed by Capitol Grounds Café and Roastery in Montpelier, VT and Wicked Joe in Brunswick, ME. The standard subscription will run $18.50 for two pounds, plus shipping and handling.  Initially, orders will only be taken from customers in New England and New York; there are also plans to have it available in regional food cooperatives. The hope is to expand nationwide.

(Canadian consumers can get Smithsonian Bird-Friendly certified coffee through the Toronto cafe and roastery Birds & Beans — which has actively promoted and sold Bird-Friendly coffee in Canada for years. In fact, the roaster/owner there, David Pritchard, has licensed the Birds & Beans name to the U.S. initiative and is cooperating to help raise the profile of Bird-Friendly coffee. I have visied Birds & Beans in Toronto and can attest to David’s skill as a roaster and dedication to Bird-Friendly coffee and migratory birds.)

Three very well known bird conservationists and experts in migratory birds will be promoting Birds&Beans coffee by giving talks to educate consumers about the bird and coffee connection. “Voices for the Birds” lectures will discuss the birds that nest in New England — in particular the three species featured on the Birds&Beans packages — and the importance of shade coffee farms to their survival. Kenn Kaufman is an artist, naturalist, and the author of a number of bird books, including Kingbird Highway and the Kaufman Field Guide series. Scott Weidensaul is a prolific natural history writer often focusing on birds; his excellent book on migratory birds, Living on the Wind, was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Bridget Stutchbury is a professor of biology and Canada Research Chair in Ecology and Conservation Biology at York University in Toronto. In addition to a large body of scientific work, her book Silence of the Songbirds explained threats faced by songbirds, including loss of winter habitat due to the proliferation of sun coffee. Russ Greenberg, head of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, will also be participating. A number of regional organizations will help support and promote the talks and the coffee, including Audubon Vermont, New Hampshire Audubon, Audubon Connecticut, the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, Vermont’s North Branch Nature Center, and Audubon chapters in New York.

The Birds&Beans web site (www.birdsandbeans.com) is scheduled to go live early next week. That’s where you’ll be able to find details on the coffee and subscriptions, as well as a list of events and talks. As a certification program run by a scientific research center, the Bird-Friendly certification generally lacks marketing, so this is a really positive step in raising awareness of sustainable, shade coffee in general and the strength and benefits Bird-Friendly certification in particular.

If you are in the New England/New York area, I encourage you to check out the coffee and the talks, and send me some feedback.

Certifications / Smithsonian Bird-Friendly

Bird-Friendly fees: where do they go?

Roasters that sell Bird-Friendly coffee, certified by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, pay a per-pound fee to Smithsonian (around US$0.25, I believe). These fees go to support bird conservation research and education, with an emphasis on coffee as bird habitat. In 2015, the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center summarized the research supported by the fees paid by roasters for Bird-Friendly certified coffee, and they have a page where you can read about some of these projects. Let me take this one step further and tell you why this is so important, because they didn’t take the opportunity to really drive this point home.

Most people don’t understand how research is paid for. I’m a working scientist. I can tell you from direct experience that this type of research relies heavily — if not totally — on outside funding (e.g., it’s not part of the budget of the sponsoring institution, whether a university, non-profit, or government agency). Grants are the typical funding mechanism, and often they only fund very specific aspects of particular research projects, such as field equipment and supplies. It’s hard to find money for the mundane things that allow these research programs to continue functioning, and unrestricted funds such as these royalties are very helpful in that regard.

I know that roasters have business decisions to make, and consumers (who ultimately pay these premiums) have budgets as well. Roasters and the public need to understand that at least in the case of Bird-Friendly fees, they don’t just go to fund the annual office party or expensive haircuts for the boss. Virtually all that we know about the importance of coffee to biodiversity comes from this research. Smithsonian pioneered it and continues this work today. That’s what you’re paying extra for when you buy Bird-Friendly coffee. It’s totally worth it.

Photo by Scott Feldstein.

Certifications / Coffee regions / Smithsonian Bird-Friendly

Bird-friendly Galapagos Island coffee

The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center has just announced that it has certified Hacienda El Cafetal coffee from the Galapagos Islands as Bird-Friendly, the most eco-friendly certification for coffee. Galapagos coffee has been on my “to try” list for quite awhile. SMBC has just given me more impetus to get some and give it a sip.

This is obviously an exotic origin, and the story is interesting. Hacienda El Cafetal is grown on the easternmost Galapagos island, San Cristobal. With around 7,000 people, San Cristobal has the largest population, and is also the only island with fresh water springs. Hacienda El Cafetal grows arabica coffee of the heirloom bourbon variety at the unimpressive altitude of 500 meters. However, the microclimate there offers conditions that are equivalent to 1200 to 1300 meters elsewhere, owing to the cold Humboldt ocean current which sweeps past the islands. Of course, the soils are volcanic on the Galapagos, some of the best for growing coffee.

Coffee was brought to the Galapagos Islands around 1870 — and these are the some of the same trees that are still producing beans. Hacienda El Cafetal covers about 400 ha within the small area — roughly 3% of the entire archipelago — that is not within the boundaries of the national park and thus where agriculture is allowed. As most chemicals are prohibited anywhere in the archipelago, the coffee is certified organic (which is also a required criteria for Bird-Friendly certification).

Hacienda El Cafetal is not the only coffee producer in the Galapagos; coffee  is also grown on the island of Santa Cruz. Typically about 200 metric tons of coffee are produced annually (although not all is specialty-grade), and the legal limit is 300 metric tons. Organic agriculture is an important source of income for island residents, especially as fisheries become depleted, and organic crops help reduce the need to import so much fresh food and minimize the introduction of invasive species that arrive in these shipments. Conservation organizations also hope that diversified organic agriculture can help with native plant restoration. Coffee grown under native shade trees is a perfect fit for this goal. A short article on the sustainability of the coffee industry in the Galapagos is available in the spring 2008 newsletter (pdf) of the Galapagos Conservancy.

Galapagos coffee isn’t too terribly hard to find, but not all of it is great, and it is often a bit expensive. Most is certified organic, but so far Hacienda El Cafetal is the only farm certified Bird-Friendly. Our friends at Barrington Coffee Roasters have carried Hacienda El Cafetal in the past but it is currently out of stock. A Google search for it should turn some up, though. We’ll review it here in the future!

Certifications / Coffee regions / Smithsonian Bird-Friendly

SMBC certifies its first African coffees

Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center (SMBC) recently certified its first Bird-Friendly coffee outside of Latin America: Anfilo Specialty Coffee Enterprise (SCE). This group of 118 farmers in the district of Wollega, in the sub-districts of Anfilo and Gidami in far western Ethiopia, grows nearly 600 ha of “forest coffee.” This coffee grows in natural forest at elevations of 1800 to 2400 m near the Gerjeda Forest Reserve (which I’m unable to find information about). These areas are crucial to preserve wild genetic coffee resources.

Coffee from this part of the country (also marketed as Lekempti or Nekempt coffee) generally has large beans, mild fruit flavors (less berry, more stone fruit), and medium body. You can view a professional, 15-minute video about coffee growing in this rather removed area of the country at this site. This video was produced by the brother of the man who owns and manages Afilio SCE.

I see that the SMBC site also now lists a second Ethiopian producer, Mullege PLC. As far as I know, this is an export company with at least ten wet mills in a number of regions.