Coffee labeled 100% Rainforest Alliance certified may in fact only contain 81% certified beans without disclosure to the consumer.
Rainforest Alliance
Coffee, climate change, and Rainforest Alliance
At the Specialty Coffee Association of America expo, we attended a lecture on climate change and coffee. Several speakers discussed this topic, but I’ll focus on the climate module that Rainforest Alliance is adding to its certification. This was announced…
Rainforest Alliance Cupping for Quality 2009
As we did last year, Coffee & Conservation attended the Rainforest Alliance Sustainable Coffee Breakfast at the SCAA annual show.
Coffee Review covers Rainforest Alliance coffees
Kenneth Davids’ excellent Coffee Review takes on Rainforest Alliance coffees for its September reviews. Please go read his concise and insightful introduction to the reviews. He provides a good overview of the RA program and how it differs from Fair…
Rainforest Alliance introduces carbon module
Rainforest Alliance will be adding a carbon module to their certification for coffee farms (presumably other crops they certify). They are also looking for further incentives to encourage farmers to plant more trees, including developing a system that would allow coffee companies to buy carbon from farmers along with their coffee beans.
Rainforest Alliance partners with the Coffee Quality Institute
A Problem Judging by the enormous market shares of the Big Four corporate coffee multinationals, a lot of people don’t mind drinking lousy tasting coffee. However, plenty of people won’t do it. But more imporantly, if it doesn’t taste better,…
Quick look at differing shade criteria
A summary table of the criteria used for shade certification by Rainforest Alliance, and Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center (under the “Bird-Friendly” trademark).
KLM to serve Rainforest Alliance coffee
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines joins Asiana Airlines (Korea) and ANA (Japan) in pledging to serve Rainforest Alliance certified coffee on all its flights. KLM serves 22 million cups of coffee annually. This is a step in the right direction, but…
Yuban ad campaign
Yuban coffee may carry the Rainforest Alliance seal, but only 30% of its beans are certified. Do you know where the other 70% come from? Or what kind of company you are supporting when you purchase this coffee?
Rainforest Alliance to certify 10% of coffee exports
Rainforest Alliance (RA) received a seven-year, $12 million grant to increase the number of certified farms in six Latin American countries: El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia, Peru, and Brazil. By the project’s end, RA will have certified 10% of the…
RA certifies in Africa
Rainforest Alliance has announced its first certification for coffee outside Latin America, certifying a group of 678 farms in the Djimmah region of Ethiopia, according to a report in Tea & Coffee Trade Journal. RA’s certification requirements are not focused…
Colombia to produce more RA coffee
According to this article in Financial Express, by 2007, ten percent (about 1 million 60 kg bags) of Colombia’s coffee will be certified by social and environmental programs. One of these programs is the Rainforest Alliance sustainable agriculture program (my…
Caribou Coffee and Rainforest Alliance
Caribou Coffee, based in Minneapolis with stores in 15 states, announced last July that it was partnering with Rainforest Alliance (RA) to provide certification for much of their coffee. They expected 20% of their coffee to be certified by the…