Rainforest Alliance

Certifications / Coffee awards and competitions / Rainforest Alliance

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. The breakfast took place this morning. The winners of the sixth annual “Cupping for Quality” event were announced. These awards recognize Rainforest Alliance (RA) certified coffee farmers dedicated to growing top quality beans, while protecting the environment and the rights of workers.

This year, 80 RA certified farms in 11 countries (Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama) participated. Coffee from 94% of the participating farms received scores of 80 or above, although none scored over 89. The average score for the top 10 farms was 85.08; last year it was 86.39.

Here are the top 10 farms. I’ve provided links and information where available. After the country-based summary, I’ve concluded with some comments.

  1. Hacienda La Esmeralda — Panama (88.99). No surprise here, the Peterson’s farm nearly always grabs the top slot in any contest. Last year it also came in first in this competition, when it scored 89.93.
  2. Santa Elisa Pachup — Guatemala (85.74). In 2007, this farm came in 5th place in the Guatemala Cup of Excellence. From the photo on that site, it looks like the shade is rather sparse — shade monoculture or polyculture. However, 113 ha of the 493 ha total is forest, natural or in the process of being reforested.
  3. La Pampa — Guatemala (84.96). This farm didn’t make the top ten last year, with a score of 84.63.
  4. Finca Santa Anita — Costa Rica (84.92).
  5. Grupo Asociativo San Isidro — Colombia (84.58). A 93-member Fair Trade co-op from Huila. In 2004, researchers found the uncommon endemic Dusky-headed Brush-finch (Atlapetes fuscoolivaceus) in forested land owned by the cooperative.
  6. Sumatra Mandheling Rainforest — Indonesia (84.56).
  7. Fazenda Capoeirinha – Ipanema Coffees — Brazil (84.44). Fazenda Capoeirinha is one of three farms operated under the Ipanema name. This coffee is/was a component in Intelligentsia’s popular Black Cat espresso blend, and Ipanema Coffees are also used by Starbucks. From what I’ve been able to determine, this is not shade coffee but grown in sun like much of Brazil’s coffee.  Brazilian law requires habitat preservation, and the Ipanema web site at one point discussed a reforestation goal of 350 ha by 2014 which will create 68 “micro-reserves.” Although corridors are also mentioned, habitat fragments are not as functional as large parcels of intact forest. Perhaps more promising are the 790 ha of wetlands set aside for biodiversity conservation.
  8. Fazenda Lambari — Brazil (84.31). Another large sun coffee farm, and also undertaking a reforestation project as part of their Rainforest Alliance certification.
  9. Gemadro Coffee Plantation — Ethiopia (84.18).  In 2006, I wrote all about this very large farm, owned by a company belonging to a wealthy Saudi sheik. At the time they weren’t Rainforest Alliance certified and it doesn’t look the web site has been updated, so I don’t know what environmental changes have taken place.
  10. Monte Sion (I think this is the correct name, not Siona) — El Salvador (84.17). A small farm (around 35 ha) in the Apaneca mountains.

Here are how each of the participating countries scored:

  • Guatemala (with six farms participating) 83.83; top 3 –  Santa Elisa Pachup (85.74),  La Pampa (84.96), San Diego Buena Vista (83.75)
  • El Salvador (with six farms participating) 83.30; top 3 – Monte Sion (84.17), Las Mercedes (84.13), San Jose (83.39)
  • Costa Rica (with 10 farms participating) 82.58; top 3 – Finca Santa Anita (84.92), Rincon Socola (83.56), Espiritu Santo Estate Coffee (83.18)
  • Brazil (with 10 farms participating)  82.42; top 3 – Capoeirinha — Ipanema Coffees (84.44), Fazenda Lambari (84.31), Pinheiros — Sete Cachoeiras State Coffee (83.33)
  • Colombia (with 24 farms participating) 82.30; top 3 -Grupo Asociativo San Isidro (84.58), Grupo Aguadas (83.94), Grupo Anserma (83.90)
  • Nicaragua (with six farms participating) 82.13; top 3 –Selva Negra (83.49), Los Placeres (82.97), Finca Organica y Reserva El Jaguar (82.13)
  • Honduras (with 7 farms participating) 80.57; top 3 -El Derrumbo (81.65), La Guama (80.96), El Cascajal (80.83)
  • Mexico (with eight farms participating) 80.25; top 3 – Finca Arroyo Negro (82.87 — they showed a photo of a jaguar taken in the coffee production area at the breakfast — very impressive!), Finca Kassandra (82.64), Oaxacafe (82.61)
  • Panama, Indonesia & Ethiopia each had only one farm participating.

There are some nice farms here, but what is striking is the variety of sizes and levels of shade management represented in these RA certified farms. While RA certification is not wholly concerned with shade or biodiversity, the variation in these farms highlight the differences in RA ecological criteria and that of Smithsonian Bird-Friendly certification. I’ve spoken to a lot of consumers, and their overall impression is that RA certification is an ecological one and they generally believe that it indicates that the coffee is shade grown. This is not always the case (or even the intent). I will echo a sentiment I’ve heard several times from coffee professionals: I wish RA could come out with some sort of tiered or categorical certification scheme that would clarify things for consumers.

That being said, what I love about RA’s Cupping for Quality awards is that they provide extra incentive for producers to move toward sustainable practices. This includes those that preserve biodiversity, even if they are not as rigorous as Smithsonian’s Bird-Friendly requirements. This annual recognition and emphasis on quality (especially with RA’s partnership with the Coffee Quality Institute), is likely to stimulate more price premiums than can be generated by the certification itself. Ultimately, increased profit can be the best motivator for producers to pursue sustainability and certification.

Certifications / Coffee reviews / Rainforest Alliance

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 Trade, how they complement each other, and RA’s efforts to adapt their standards to different cultures and types of coffee organizations.

Davids makes a couple of interesting observations about the RA coffees submitted by roasters for the reviews. Two dozen roasters submitted 34 single-origin RA-certified coffees, but they only represented eleven producers. Familiar RA producers Daterra Estate in Brazil, Panama’s Hacienda La Esmeralda, Selva Negra estate in Nicaragua, and the Mesa de los Santos farm in Colombia (which is also certified Smithsonian Bird-Friendly) were all in the mix.

In addition to the twelve submitted coffees that were reviewed, Davids threw in a review of Kraft’s Yuban coffee, which contains 30% RA-certified beans. The rest, based on his trained palate, is cheap robusta:

Based on a reading of cup profile, the blend we cupped (Yuban Original) probably contains enough Brazil from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms to qualify for the certification seal, with a good part of the remainder of the blend inexpensive robustas, perhaps steamed to remove flavor taints. The result is a Rainforest Alliance Certified version of the bland, woody, faintly sweet supermarket profile that has come to dominate canned coffee shelves over the last two decades.

I understand the theory behind RA working with Kraft or other multinationals to get them to buy more certified beans. However, I think there is a serious problem with consumers thinking that this is a truly sustainable coffee if 70% of the beans are not certified, and likely cheap, sun-grown beans grown with chemicals. Nor do I think RA is doing itself any favors by putting its seal on crappy-tasting supermarket coffees, especially when it is highly likely to be the first or only RA-certified coffee consumers will encounter.

Go enjoy the reviews and give some of the coffees a try — just skip the Yuban.

Certifications / Climate change / Coffee and the environment / Rainforest Alliance

Rainforest Alliance introduces carbon module

In my post “Coffee farms and carbon sequestration,” I discussed the potential of carbon credits in helping coffee farmers earn extra income, and provided some statistics and references on carbon sequestration on coffee farms in and other tropical agroforestry systems.

As it turns out, Rainforest Alliance (RA) will be adding a carbon module to their certification for farms (coffee, and presumably other crops they certify). This announcement was first made in May at their Sustainable Coffee Breakfast at the SCAA annual conference in Minneapolis. The details are not final, but here is what RA’s Gretchen Ruethling explained to me regarding RA’s past experience and future plans:

We are working with other organizations to help farmers get paid for providing environmental services such as storing carbon and protecting watersheds and biodiversity. The Rainforest Alliance is a registered verifier for leading carbon offset programs including the Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance and the Chicago Climate Exchange. We have verified carbon offsets on coffee farms through projects organized by Plan Vivo in Mexico. We verified an ambitious project in Aceh, Indonesia developed by Fauna & Flora International that will reduce deforestation on 750,000 hectares of rainforest. We verified a reforestation project in the highly endangered Atlantic Forest of Brazil as a carbon offset for Jacques Vabre, a coffee brand in France. (That project is managed by a coalition of Brazilian NGOs and led by the Nature Conservancy.)

We are working to offer more incentives to coffee farmers to encourage them to plant more trees. One exciting idea is developing a system that would allow coffee companies to buy carbon from farmers along with their coffee beans — through the existing supply chains. Companies could pay a small carbon premium. In order for this to work, we need a simple, low-cost yet rigorous and highly credible method to estimate the carbon on a coffee farm and verify that it remains year after year. This could be done by auditing the carbon as part of the annual farm inspection by members of the Sustainable Agriculture Network.

I’m thrilled RA is pursuing this concept — it’s a win-win-win situation for the farmer, biodiversity, and the planet.

Certifications / Coffee news and miscellany / Rainforest Alliance

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, a lot of folks are not going to pay extra for certified coffee, and these coffees nearly always carry a premium. I’m not even willing to fork over more cash just for an eco-friendly label if the coffee is mediocre. If I can’t drink tasty, sustainable coffee, I just don’t drink it — although I’m as addicted as the next person. Unfortunately, I’m an exception.

Here’s the nasty truth: Even people who profess to caring about the environment tend to default to habitat-destroying, cheap coffee produced with tons of chemicals if there isn’t sufficient motivation to switch.  If they try a certified coffee and it doesn’t taste any better than the stuff they’ve been drinking, they don’t bother to buy it again.

A Partnership
That’s why it’s good news that the fastest growing and most familiar eco-labeller, Rainforest Alliance (RA), has inked an agreement with the non-profit Coffee Quality Institute (CQI). Among other things, this partnership will integrate CQI’s standardized coffee quality standards into RA’s tracking and traceability software and promote those standards within RA’s sustainable agriculture program. On a practical level, it means coffee buyers (importers, roasters, and consumers) will have some objective benchmark (the Q coffee score) indicating the quality of the coffee, as well as the flavor profile.

For the last five years, RA has had annual Cupping for Quality events and cupping competitions organized by CQI. These events and awards really help highlight the fact that sustainably-grown coffees can have amazing flavor, worthy of purchasing just for their taste alone. This partnership should really help buyer awareness and enhance interest in the quality of sustainable coffee.

A Conundrum
I’m not sure how RA will reconcile this commitment to quality — with an emphasis in this case on taste — with their partnerships with big corporate roasters like Kraft. Kraft’s Yuban coffee is 30% RA certified, and has been described by Ken Davids, one of the most respected coffee evaluators in the world, as “Cloyingly sweet, earthy/mildewed character with very distinct grassy notes.” This same review says that those who should drink Yuban are “on a budget with a commitment to organic growing principles that transcends the desire to drink decent coffee.” One could argue that the high-quality RA certified beans are being overwhelmed by the remaining 70%, mildewy, grassy, earthy, who-knows-where-they-come-from beans. But that certainly defeats the purpose. This odd dichotomy — fine work in environmentally and socially sustainable, high quality coffee, alongside helping corporate giants buff their green image by permitting their seal on products containing as little as 30% certified beans — produces not a small amount of cognitive dissonance among coffee lovers, myself included. This will eventually be the subject of its own post.

SCAA flavor wheel photo by AndyCiordia under a Creative Commons license.