Coffee regions

Some background
The marketing of Juan Valdez and “fine Colombian coffee” has been so pervasive for so long, if you ask the average consumer where coffee come from, and they may well say “Colombia.” The country produces about 10% of the world’s arabica coffee, second only to Brazil, with the current output around 12 million 60-kg bags. Ninety percent is exported.

Despite this large volume, coffee growing in Colombia is not characterized by huge plantations. Instead, there are nearly 600,000 producers, of which nearly all (96%) grow coffee on small plots of less than 5 ha. Nearly all represented by the National Federation of Coffee Growers (Federacion Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia, or FNC), the creator of Juan Valdez. This organization is extremely strong, and has managed to organize these tens of thousands of small producers, get their beans to mills and central processing points, and deliver fairly uniform, though often mediocre, coffee in large volumes. This is what has made Colombian coffee so popular and ubiquitous with the large corporate roasters.

Therefore, this profusion of many small farms mixing all their crops together has made it difficult to find sustainably-grown Colombian coffee, or coffee of very high quality. This is now changing. The FNC has entered the specialty coffee market. Small roasters are developing direct relationships with individual farmers or small cooperatives, seeking out exceptional lots. Since 2005, Colombia has participated in the Cup of Excellence. These efforts have made it easier for consumers to find great examples of the very pleasing coffees this country can produce.

Shade coffee in Colombia
Various sources [1,2,3] indicate that the proportion of coffee grown under traditional shade ranges from 16 to 40%. That means the bulk of it is grown under full sun, or sparse sun interspersed with other crops such as plantains and bananas. To be fair, there are some high-altitude areas in the country where clouds provide the shade, and planting coffee under a tree canopy would be counter-productive. Some of these farms preserve important forest fragments outside their coffee plots.

Rainforest Alliance now certifies nearly 200 5000 farms in Colombia covering 51,000 ha*. There are only three Bird-Friendly certified producers in Colombia; one is the widely available Mesa de los Santos (but check current producers, as they change when up for renewal). So it can still be a challenge to find eco-friendly, great-tasting Colombian coffee.

Birds and biodiversity in Colombia
A remarkable 1870 bird species are found in Colombia, a fifth of the world’s species in a country eight times smaller than the U.S. and more documented species than any other country on earth. While many species of North American migrants winter closer to home in Central America, a number of species make the long trip to South America. One of the most important is the Cerulean Warbler, which has been discussed in a number of other posts. Other species include American Redstart, Blackburnian Warbler (shown top right), Canada Warbler, Mourning Warbler (bottom right) Swainson’s Thrush, Prothonotary Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, and Bay-breasted Warbler.

In fact, individuals of all those species have been found to return to the exact same wintering areas in Colombia on successive years — including a Mourning Warbler and Swainson’s Thrush to a shade coffee farm in Antioquia. I will add that a Swainson’s Thrush banded at my study site in southern Michigan was found two months later near Bucaramanga, another coffee-growing region. This is amazing!

Birds are just an example of the enormous biodiversity of Colombia. There are 55,000 plant species (a third endemic), 697 amphibians (2nd most in the world), and 517 reptiles. Yet Colombian forests and rich diversity they contain are under threat. One major driver is the illegal farming of coca, the raw ingredient for cocaine. Colombia is the world’s largest producer of coca.

Coca/cocaine and the coffee connection
Farmers grow coca because it provides more cash than any other crop. Since 2000, the U.S. has cooperated and helped fund a coca eradication program centered around aerial fumigation with the herbicide glyphosate (RoundUp, made by Monsanto, the folks that gave us Agent Orange). This non-selective herbicide kills all plants, including native species and food crops. Not only does it destroy vegetation, but it has resulted in farmers moving into more remote areas to grow coca, clearing primary forest to do so. Many other adverse environmental and health effects result from this ineffective practice.

When coffee prices dropped in the 1990s, many farmers turned to coca. Encouraging specialty coffee, with its corresponding higher prices and good stewardship of the land, is one tool to help reduce coca production and the deforestation and loss of biodiversity that goes with it. In fact, a recent report noted,

“The head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is urging comprehensive, large-scale and ecologically-friendly agriculture and forestry schemes in coca growing areas, after a new survey shows a ‘marked increase’ in cultivation in the Andean region.”

There are projects in Cauca and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta regions focused on replacing coca with coffee that have met with success. In future posts, we’ll explore the development of specialty coffees in Colombia, and take a look at what’s available and the roasters bringing these coffees to you.

*Updated figures from the 2012 report “Protecting Our Planet“, which outlines Rainforest Alliance’s 25 years of impacts.

[1] COLOMBIA: Working Toward a Sustainable Ecosystem. 2000.- “Ask Juan,” Colombian Specialty Coffees, National Federation of Coffee Growers.

[2] Colombia Coffee Sector Study. 2002. Centro de Estudios para el Desarrollo Econamico (CEDE) de la Universidad de los Andes. Daniele Giovannucci with Jose Leibovich, Diego Pizano, Gonzalo Paredes, Santiago Montenegro, Hector ArÁ©valo and Panos Varangis.

[3] Millenium Ecosystem Assessment. 2004. Colombia sub-global assessment report. Ecological function assessment in the Colombian Andean coffee region.

Photo of a Blackburnian Warbler by Gavan Watson; photo of Mourning Warbler by yours truly.

From Vietnam’s Thanh Nien News:

[Robusta] Coffee bean prices [recently] reached a 13-year high of … US$2.50 per kilo. As a result, the 434,000 hectares of coffee plantations in the Central Highlands, which produces 80 percent of Vietnam’s coffee output, is forecast to expand by more than 22,000 hectares this year.

The last peak [US$2.19 per kilo in 1995], also led to a boom in coffee farming in the Central Highlands. But a surplus of coffee sent prices to a record low of…US$0.25 per kilo four years later.

Indeed, this sad story has played out repeatedly over history. High coffee prices motivate farmers to plant more coffee, which takes three to five years to produce beans. Then the resulting glut in supply makes coffee prices plunge again.

Inevitably, not only does a substantial increase in coffee planting have the potential to depress prices, it can often mean the destruction of habitat and damage to the environment. The same article notes that expansion of coffee farming was threatening forests in the area. “Wherever coffee was grown, forests have disappeared,” said a former agricultural engineer.

This is tragic, as Vietnam is one of the most biologically diverse countries in Southeast Asia. The Central Highlands, with many important biodiversity hotspots, timber reserves, and watersheds, account for about 30% of Vietnam’s natural forest cover.  Forest cover in Dak Lak province in the Central Highlands went from 90% to less than 50% in the late 1990s, mostly from coffee production [1]. A portion of Dak Lak province is a designated Endemic Bird Area. Despite efforts to preserve land, Vietnam has been losing ground when it comes to protecting biodiversity.

Further, the article stated that local agricultural agencies have encouraged local people to stop expanding the coffee farming area and instead grow other drought-resistant crops, since coffee requires three or four times the volume of water of other crops — and the Central Highlands has experienced many droughts in recent years.

Much of what is being planted is low-quality seeds and seedlings, which will lead to low and poor-quality coffee yields. Vietnam has a chronic problem with quality, with 88% of the coffee rejected on the world market being from Vietnam. In response, the Vietnamese government developed new quality standards, which were set to go into effect in October 2007. The implementation was delayed, however, as the high world prices are expected to “override” quality concerns.

Where does this coffee go? This is overwhelmingly sun-grown robusta coffee; only 2.3% of Vietnam’s current production is arabica. This coffee is mainly used for low-quality blends and instant coffee; Nestlè buys 25% of Vietnam’s coffee. Other large buyers are Kraft and Sara Lee.

Discover Vietnam’s biodiversity through a slide show from American Museum of Natural History. Consider the fate of unique birds found only in restricted ranges of Vietnam’s coffee growing regions, like the endangered Collared Laughingthrush (right). Then decide if you really need to save a few minutes by purchasing instant coffee, or a few cents by purchasing cheap supermarket coffee (especially that not marked “100% arabica,” which contains this low quality robusta).

I think the choice is obvious.

Update, May 2015: In Vietnam, “Deforestation, monocropping and intensive pesticide use that helped create the boom now leaves coffee farms more vulnerable to climate change,” reports an article in The Guardian outlining the disastrous effects of drought on coffee in the country.

Another update: Nestlè is still buying a large percentage of Vietnam’s coffee.

[1] Thanh Ha, D. and G. Shively. 2008. Coffee boom, coffee bust, and smallholder response in Vietnam’s Central Highlands. Review of Development Economics 12:312-326.

Photo of a Vietnam coffee farm by Lanz.

Update: See this article on “A Story of Coffee, Conservation and Livelihoods in the Pico Duarte Region of the Dominican Republic.”

The two nations of the island of Hispaniola — the Dominican Republic (DR) and Haiti — tend to be forgotten lands in the minds of U.S. coffee drinkers. Each country has a long history of coffee growing, as well as periods of political and social turmoil. Both are working on improving their coffee quality and thus their market share of specialty coffee. And this is a land of full of unique biodiversity, where sustainable agriculture is critically important to the environment and the people. Let’s take a look at our Caribbean neighbors.

Geography
Haiti is the smaller country in the western third of Hispaniola, the DR occupies the eastern two-thirds. There are four major mountain ranges on the island where nearly all coffee is grown. From north to south and west to east, they are:

• Cordillera Septentrional or Northern Range in the DR. Highest peak is 1250 m.
• The Massif du Nord or Northern Range in Haiti continues across the border into the DR, where it is called the Cordillera Central or Sierra del Cibao. The highest peak (also the highest point on the island and in the West Indies) is Pico Duarte in the DR at 3100 m.
• Haiti’s Montagnes Noires, Charne des Matheux, and Montagnes du Trou d’Eau continue into the DR as Sierra de Neyba or Neiba. The highest peaks are around 2280 m.
• The two main highlands of the mountainous southern peninsula of Haiti are the Massif de la Hotte and the Massif de la Selle or Charne de la Selle, which extends into the DR as the Sierra de Bahoruco or Baoruco. In Haiti the highest peak is Pic la Selle at 2680 m (also Haiti’s highest point). The high point in the DR is 2300 m. The DR portion of this
  range includes the island’s largest tract of intact pine and broadleaf forest.

Biodiversity
Like many other Caribbean islands, Hispaniola is rich in species found nowhere else on earth. Over 1800 species of vascular plants are endemic, and there are nearly 200 endemic species of reptiles and amphibians. There are 30 species of endemic birds (six are endemic genera) on the island, and seven are threatened.  This includes the critically endangered Ridgway’s Hawk, now extirpated from Haiti and precariously hanging on in the DR. The entire island has been designated an Endemic Bird Area by BirdLife International.

In addition, Hispaniola is a critical wintering and stopover site for migrant birds that breed in North America. It was concerns about declining populations of these species (about half of all species that nest in North America) which kicked off the whole shade coffee movement. In particular, Hispaniola is crucial for the vulnerable Bicknell’s Thrush; 90% of the population winters there (right, courtesy Environment Canada).

All of the restricted-range bird species on the island are forest birds, as are many of the migrants. About 28% of DR is forested. In the 1970s, the DR began to seriously work on preserving habitat on the island, and deforestation rates have slowed. There are now 88 protected areas in the DR, but they face continued threats from logging, agriculture, and other encroachment.

The situation in Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, is much more grim. The country suffers from extreme deforestation, and only about 1 to 3% of Haiti’s forest remains. The photo below, from NASA, dramatically shows the devastation of Haiti’s forests right up to the DR border.

I cannot emphasize enough how desperate the situation is in Haiti: for biodiversity, and for its people. I urge you to take a look at the following resources:

• The Plight of Haiti’s Cloud Forest Birds — Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• In Search of Haiti’s Birds — Living Bird magazine (PDF)
• Lambi Fund of Haiti — supporting sustainability in Haiti

Sustainable agroforestry is important in the DR, and may be one of the only hopes to help stem the environmental crisis in Haiti. Coffee can play a key role.

The Coffee
Three of the four highlands are underlain with limestone; the Cordillera Central is granite-based. These soils are said to give coffees from the island a taste distinctive from that of coffees grown in volcanic soils such as those from Central America; the composition is different, and limestone in particular is not as acidic. Hispaniola doesn’t have well-defined dry and rainy seasons, so coffee has a long growing season with multiple harvests. It also ripens slowly, which is often credited with more flavorful beans.

Nearly all of the coffee on the island is typica; the DR also grows small amounts of caturra or other types. It is grown almost exclusively by small holders. In the DR, there are about 60,000 coffee growers, and 80% of them farm coffee on plots that are smaller than 3 ha. In Haiti, coffee is essentially a garden crop.  As such, coffee from the island is almost entirely passive or certified organic.  In the DR, coffee is grown under mixed shade. In Haiti, it is also shade-grown, but the shade is more often provided by fruit and food crops that can be used by the farmer.

DR coffees are washed, or wet processed. In contrast, Haiti’s coffees have traditionally been dry processed naturals. In fact, Haitians remove the pulp from completely dried cherries with the aid of a mortar and pestle. Haiti is now moving to washed coffees for export (see below).

Historically, DR coffee was consumed domestically. In Haiti, what was exported went mostly to France and Italy. Overall, there were quality problems. Quality issues have been tied mostly to processing and handling. Examples include mixing coffee from different altitudes, too many defects and unripes, and fermentation due to coffee not being dried long  enough before being bagged (sometimes in plastic bags in humid conditions).

Specialty coffee revival
DR coffee goes by many names. “Santo Domingo” is common, but coffee may be labeled corresponding with the six official growing regions. Four are within highlands that are part of the Cordillera Central: Cibao, Azua, Ocoa, and Bani. Barahona is in the southwestern portion of the country, near the town of the same name. Juncalito is in Santiago province in the north-central part of the country, and Bani is on the south-central coast. DR coffee can still be hard to find in the U.S. due to a strong domestic and tourist market. But recent efforts by the Dominican Specialty Coffee Association (ADOCAFES) and other organizations has resulted in a huge increase in specialty exports in the last several years.

Haiti has gone a big step further to distinguish its coffee. In order to help struggling farmers, international donors, including USAID, began a major effort to rejuvenate Haiti’s coffee industry and help it enter the specialty coffee market with the development of the Haitian Bleu brand, conceived in the mid-1990s. Washing and processing stations were constructed, and training and support services established to help the conversion to high quality washed coffee. Over 25000 farmers in 40 cooperatives came together to form the Federacion des Associations Cafeieres Natives, known FACN, which is  Fair Trade certified. FACN chooses a particular mix of zero-defect beans from microclimates in areas ranging from 800 to 1400 meters to produce a  characteristic coffee branded as Haitian Bleu. This coffee is only sold via multi-year contracts to a limited number of exclusive distributors who not allowed to resell the green beans. The Haitian Bleu project initially suffered some growing pains, but since 2001 has shown increased success. For a country with such desperate poverty,
this is extremely important.

Reviews:

• Vermont Coffee Company, Café Alta Gracia (Dominican Republic)
• Larry’s Beans, Organic Barahona (Dominican Republic)
• Barrington Coffee Roasting, Highlands Ferrace (Haiti)

More to come!

Kenyan coffees are distinctive in (at least) two ways.  They have a unique, wine-like flavor, and they are produced and marketed under a government-controlled auction system. Samples are available to bidders prior to the weekly auction, and the highest bidder gets the lot. This means quality is rewarded, and the careful consumer can also be rewarded with great coffee.

Most coffee in Kenya is grown on small farms, organized into co-ops. According to the Coffee Board of Kenya, as of 2005 there were 700,000 smallholders organized into nearly 600 co-ops, and nearly 3300 estates of 2 to 20 ha each. This plethora of tiny plots makes it difficult for consumers to pinpoint the source of their Kenyan coffee, which is often only labeled as “AA” — the highest grade sold at auction. Sometimes it may be labeled with a regional, estate, or co-op name, but finding information on these is nearly impossible for the average consumer. It has only been recently that direct relationships between growers and roasters has been allowed, and the information specialty roasters provide on their producers is a welcome source of crucial information for consumers.

The primary growing regions (included on the map) are those surrounding Mt. Kenya (Nyeri, Murang’a, Kirinyaga, Embu and Meru), Nakuru, Machakos, and Kiambu (mostly estates, includes towns and coffees labeled Ruiru, Thika, Juja and Makuyu).

Biodiversity in coffee areas
Some of these areas coincide with biodiversity hotspots. Mount Kenya is considered an Important Bird Area, and agricultural expansion and intensification is considered an important threat. The Kenya Mountains are also classified as an important Endemic Bird Area, with seven of the nine restricted range species being found on Mt. Kenya.

Forest covers only less than 2% of the land area in Kenya (around 5% counting modified forests), a loss of 80% of its original extent. These montane forests, in addition to being critical for birds and wildlife, are equally important to people: the forests on Mt. Kenya feed rivers that supply 40 to 50% of the country’s fresh water, which also produce 70% of its hydroelectric power. Around 8% of Kenya’s land is arable, and 4% of that is planted in coffee. Farmers of all types have been using more water for irrigation, creating shortages downstream.

I was frustrated in my attempts to find information on how coffee farming has impacted birds in the country. I was pleased to find a very recent paper on a related topic [1], but was surprised to read “Information on bird communities in Afrotropical agroecosystems is particularly scarce and, to our knowledge, only two studies have been conducted in eastern Africa.” I have no direct information, then, on how coffee growing has influenced biodiversity in Kenya. Coffee is obviously an important crop, grown in sensitive areas that are facing numerous pressures.

Environmental sustainability
The coffee varieties grown in Kenya are often Bourbon types with alpha-numerical names, all beginning “SL”. This stands for Scott Laboratories, the developer of the strains (SL28 and SL34 are high-quality names you may have heard). Despite the Bourbon heritage, usually a shade grown variety, most Kenyan coffee is grown in sun. The climate in the Kenyan highlands (cooler temperatures, humidity, even rainfall) often makes shade unnecessary. However, many farms did have shade trees, which were removed when coffee prices dropped in the 1980s and 1990s with the hope of increased yields. As we know, sun coffee requires more chemical inputs, and these expenses hampered rather than helped small farmers. Some are now replanting their shade trees. Photos of estates that I have seen, though, appear to still be acres of sun coffee, and look as if they have little or no habitat for native species.

There isn’t much certified organic coffee from Kenya. Although many small farmers can’t afford chemicals and may be passive organic, much of Kenya’s coffee is doused with pesticides [2]. And, given the pooled system, any untreated coffee will be mixed with chemically-grown coffee, and it will be nearly impossible to know what is what. As I’ve discussed elsewhere, this isn’t much of a risk to consumers, but harms the environment and the farmers themselves.

Most estates use pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. I saw a slide in a presentation by the Coffee Board of Kenya shows the essentials of planting out young coffee trees: top soil, sub soil, manure, and furadan (carbofuran). Yikes!  Coffee rust (Hemileia vastatrix) is a common problem, and is treated with copper fungicides; copper builds up in soils after years of treatment. This can create toxic levels in other food crops planted with the coffee [3]. Pesticides have also been found in water supplies in coffee-growing communities [4].

Conclusions
I often feel uncertain considering coffee from Kenya, and my research hasn’t clarified too much for me. I certainly recommend avoiding generic “Kenya AA” coffee, and those grown on estates. Look for Kenyan coffee labeled with the name of a cooperative, not just a regional name. Even better, aim for a micro-lot or sub-lot of coffee from a particular cooperative; these will sometimes be labeled with the name of the co-op, and an auction lot number, or the co-op and the “factory” name (the mill or what would be called the beneficio in Spanish). Counter Culture Coffee has offerings such as this, and product descriptions include a link to a Google Map of the source.

With the liberalization of the Kenyan coffee market, more and more specialty roasters are buying small lots directly from farmers, often providing detailed information on the farms. This is a terrific best option. The only single-farm source I’ve seen is from Terroir Coffee Company — Mamuto Farm from the Kirinyaga region. It got an incredible — and well-deserved — 97 points from Coffee Review. It is one the best coffees I have ever tasted, and there is a link in the description to farm photos.

I’m excited about seeing more direct trade relationships between Kenyan farmers and roasters. It will vastly improve transparency, has the potential for really improving the lives of the farmers, and gives consumers a chance to motivate and encourage the production of coffee grown with fewer chemicals in conditions that favor the return of biodiversity to their land.

[1] Laube, I., N. Breitbach, and K. Bohning-Gaese. 2008. Avian diversity in a Kenyan agroecosystem: effects of habitat structure and proximity to forest. Journal of Ornithology 149:181-191.

[2] Nyambo, B. T., D. M. Masaba, and G. J. Hakiza. 1996. Integrated pest management of coffee for small-scale farmers in East Africa: needs and limitations. Integrated Pest Management Reviews 1(3):125-132.

[3] Loland, J., and B. R. Singh. 2004. Copper contamination of soil and vegetation in coffee orchards after long-term use of Cu fungicides. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems 69:203-211.

[4] Mwanthi, M. W. 1998. Occurrence of three Pesticides in community water supplies, Kenya. Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 60:601-608.

Photo by 60mls; thanks for publishing under a Creative Commons license.

Coffee in Australia?
Coffee was first grown in Australia over a century ago, without much economic success. The high cost of labor made commercial coffee growing unprofitable until mechanical harvesting became common in the 1980s.

Today, coffee is grown mostly in the far eastern part of the country, corresponding to the light green subtropical regions on the map (click to enlarge). Two important areas are the Atherton Tablelands in northern Queensland outside of Cairns, with about 30 large growers on over 700 ha, and in northern New South Wales (NSW) just south of the Queensland border, where there are around 170 growers on 500 ha. If you have some sense from the vague atlas in your head that these areas are not high elevation, you’d be correct. Australian coffee is a rule breaker. Not only is the country outside the tropics, but coffee is typically grown at 200-400 meters, not infrequently lower, and rarely much above 900 meters.

Despite the low elevations, Australia grows arabica almost exclusively. The typica variety is grown, but also catuai, Mundo Novo (hybrid of bourbon and typica), and especially Kenyan varieties more suited to the drier Australian climate such as K7 and SL6. Coffee is processed every which-way: some wet processing, some semi-washed (pulped natural), some dry processed (full natural), and a unique method developed by the Mountain Top Coffee Company called “double pass.” This is where a full natural process bean (dried on the tree) is rehydrated before being pulped.

Australia currently produces 200 to 600 tons of coffee annually, half of which is exported, an amount so low it does not even get listed in the International Coffee Organization’s production statistics. It’s rarely seen in the United States, but there has been considerable investment in the specialty coffee industry in Australia along with increasing market presence.

Sustainability
I mentioned the advent of mechanized harvesting helping the Australian coffee industry turn the corner. Mechanical harvesting reduces or eliminates the need for workers to hand-pick beans, which can account for 50% of labor costs. It also requires coffee to be grown on flat land in rows in a monoculture. Thus, all the mechanized coffee in Australia (which is most of the commercial crop) is grown in full sun (an example here).

Mechanical harvesting also works best when the beans ripen simultaneously rather than over an extended period of time. The Australian climate, with pronounced dry seasons, lends itself to this as well. As in Brazil, coffee is irrigated after a dry period — sometimes water is deliberately withheld — in order to induce a bloom.

It’s often written that Australian coffee is grown without pesticides, as most of the usual coffee pests are not present Down Under. However, some have been recently introduced (e.g., green scale), and others are a problem as well (brown scale, avocado leaf-rollers, and mealy bugs). Insecticides are in fact used for these insects by some growers. Further, sun coffee usually needs a lot of fertilizer. I have had trouble finding any Australian coffee that is actually certified organic. The Australian Coffee Traders Association even notes, “There are many Australian brands which claim to be 100% organic but the certification is questionable.”

Habitat loss in Australian coffee-growing regions
According to the Australian Natural Resource Atlas (ANRA), 30-70% of subregional ecosystems are at risk in the coffee-growing areas of Australia, with higher instances in NSW. The major growing areas have different types of native vegetation. The major Queensland native type in the coffee-growing highlands is eucalyptus woodlands (pdf), and a good deal of it remains. The New South Wales north coast area is slightly different, with eucalyptus open forest (pdf), although far less native vegetation remains in this region. This loss of habitat contributes to the fact that the NSW coffee areas also have many threatened plant and animal species; it is considered one of the richest bioregions for birds in the country. Although traditionally the area with smaller coffee farms, it is the NSW region that is pushing for a major expansion in coffee production.

The map (click to enlarge) shows the change in breeding bird species reported during the last 20 years. The Queensland coffee area shows no significant change, but the NSW area has a significant decrease. The super-cool endemic Crested Tit-Shrike (Falcunculus frontatus, pictured) is considered an indicator species in both areas, as it is found in both characteristic types of eucalyptus forests. The Black-breasted Button-quail (Turnix melanogaster)
is an example of an endemic bird that is under severe threat from land-clearing due to agriculture; its range is restricted to coastal and near-coastal regions of southeastern Queensland and north-eastern NSW.

In contrast with researching how agriculture and coffee might impact biodiversity in some areas of the tropics, there is an abundance of information on habitats and threats in Australia (almost too much data to digest!), although nothing specific to coffee, given the relatively small footprint. You can read biodiversity assessments for the NSW North Coast and the Einasleigh Uplands of Queensland, which cover the important coffee-growing areas in Australia.

Bottom line
Overall, I was not left with a great feeling about compatibility of natural habitats and biodiversity and the coffee industry in Australia. Australian coffee is not common in the U.S., but the one bag we tried — from a leading Australian brand and a U.S. roaster with a very good reputation — was nothing special. In fact, nobody liked it. It was flat, and the most frequent adjectives were “ashy,” “tobacco,” and “coal.” Should we be able to taste a wider sampling, we will post some reviews, but I’m really not motivated or inclined to seek them out. There are plenty of great coffees from that part of the world that are grown more harmoniously with native ecosystems.

Kangaroo crossing sign by Casa de Queso; thanks for publishing under a Creative Commons license; Climate map from Wikipedia; bird map from the Australian Natural Resource Atlas; Crested Tit-Shrike from the Australian Museum.

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is the eastern half of a large island north of Australia and associated smaller islands. PNG is one of the least explored places left on earth, with dense rainforests, rugged mountains, and many diverse indigenous people (with over 800 languages spoken). PNG holds incredible biodiversity, with 60% of its estimated 11,000 plant species being endemic. Over half of its 762 bird species are also endemic.

Coffee is grown in the mountainous highlands regions of PNG, often at altitudes of over 1,500 m (5,000 ft). The highlands consist of a number of provinces, and much of the coffee is grown in the Eastern Highlands and Western Highlands provinces, more or less in the center of the country. About 70-85% of the coffee is produced by small holders in garden plots; 40% of the population of PNG derives income from coffee farming. There are also larger estates, often owned by Australian or European interests. Here are some of the familiar names in PNG coffee, and the provinces they are grown in:

Western Highlands — Sigri Estate, near Mount Hagen in the Waghi valley; Kalanga, also in the Waghi valley.

Eastern Highlands — Kimel Estate; Arokara Estate; Goroka Estate, near town of same name; Arona Estate; Purosa “estate,” really a co-op of about 2,600 farmers of the Highlands Organic Agriculture Co-operative Ltd (HOAC) in the Purosa/Okapa region.

Morobe Province — Primarily small holders.

Much of the coffee is grown organically, either passive or certified, especially that of small holders.

Some of the coffee stock in PNG came from Jamaica’s Blue Mountain region. Other types grown are the bourbon variety Arusha (Kenya/Tanzania), and the low-growing, higher yield Mundo Novo and caturra. These varied origins give PNG coffee its own character, which is different than that of the regions that surround it. Generally, it is not as earthy or leathery as other Indonesian coffees (although small holder sources may be a bit wilder, due to the hand-processing done in each village). It is a little lighter bodied, with the brightness of Central Americans, and also has a touch of the African mild fruitiness.

We will be presenting short reviews of several PNG coffees soon. The 2007 crop is being harvested, and there will be a “Pride of PNG” competition in October, so we will do further reviews when new coffees arrive at roasters.

I’ve had some PNGs I loved, and some I’ve hated. I think it’s really important to support PNG small holders and the incredible biodiversity there, so the C&C tasting panel is looking forward to bringing you these reviews and more information on their origins.

It was over a year ago when I did an overview of coffee growing in Africa, and since then most of our African coffee discussions have been about Rwanda or Ethiopia. I’d like to focus on Tanzania, as a prelude to an upcoming review.

Tanzania grows both arabica (70%) and robusta. The majority of coffee is grown by small farmers, typically as one of several cash and subsistence crops; coffee is often grown under banana trees. Much of it is passive organic. The rest comes from nationalized estates that have been rehabilitated in recent years after much neglect. Coffee is a major crop in Tanzania and important to their economy.

Most arabicas are grown in the north, near the Kenyan border, on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro and nearby Mt. Meru. They may be called Kilmanjaros, Moshis, or Arushas, and tend to be brighter and a little more acid.  Coffees called Mbeyas or Pares are arabicas grown in southern Tanzania, between the rift lakes of Lake Tanganyika and Lake Nyasa, and generally have more body.

In the early 1970s, coffee berry disease and coffee rust began to attack coffee crops in east Africa. The larger Tanzanian holders that could afford to do so used pesticides, which had little of the desired effect, but decreased biodiversity. Part of Tanzania’s is ambitious plan to improve coffee production involves replacing all their coffee trees to more disease-resistant types. This project has been going on for about ten years now, and millions of disease-resistant coffee plants have been planted. As many of these trees were very old, this was not as wasteful as it might seem, and if it helps prevent the use of pesticides, or other exploitation of the environment due to an inability for small holders to make a living growing coffee, than it is a worthwhile mission.

One more problem in the region is water. With snow caps on the mountains diminishing (global climate change is a factor), farmers are struggling with irrigation issues, especially at Kilamanjaro. Some of these issues are being addressed by various organizations. KILICAFE is the Association of Kilamanjaro Specialty Coffee Growers; they have a set of sustainable company standards which include some environmental and biodiversity standards. See their web site for photos of coffee farms in their various regions (they include farms outside the Kilamanjaro area). Because deforestation also contributes to a lack of rainfall, sustainable farming methods will — one expects — become more and more important to the Tanzanian coffee industry.

Tanzania is rich in biodiversity. Most of the familiar Serengeti National Park is in Tanzania, on the border and sharing some land with neighboring Kenya. The crescent-shaped mountain ranges extending from Meru and Kilamanjaro in the north to Mbeya in the south are known as the Eastern Arc, rich in endemic species (for example, 43 butterflies, 96 species of vertebrates, and 800 plants are found no place else on earth). Two new species of coffee have been found recently in the Eastern Arc, Coffea bridsoniae and C. kihansiensis. The Pare Mountains are part of the Eastern Arc.

Any discussion of Tanzania coffee would be incomplete without mentioning peaberries. The fruit of a coffee plant, known as a cherry, has two flat-sided coffee seeds (beans) inside. A peaberry is just a fused bean — a small, round bean with a cleft down the middle, caused by the lack of fertilization of only one of the two ovaries of the coffee flower.  Since about 5-10% of coffee cherries produce peaberries, why are so many Tanzanian coffees sold as peaberries?  Nobody is sure how this marketing niche began, but you can read an excellent essay, the Tanzanian Peaberry Mystery, at Coffee Review.

Read more about the history of the coffee industry over the last few decades at TechnoServe and an article about bird diversity in Tanzania at the African Bird Club web site.

In my post on coffee growing in Costa Rica, I described the difficulty in finding organic or truly shade grown coffee from this country.  The folks from Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History recently visited a true organic, shade coffee farm which practices very environmentally-friendly cultivation methods.  The farm is Finca Cristina, located in the Orosi Valley, Cartago province, in central Costa Rica.

You can read a very thorough account about the farm, with lots of photos and a nice introduction to the problems with sun coffee, at the Hilton Pond web site. It details how the Carmans, the farm owners, converted from sun coffee to organically-grown shade coffee.  So far, 272 bird species, including 87 North American migrants, have been recorded at Finca Cristina, along with the only confirmed nests of the Buffy-crowned Wood-Partridge (Dendrortyx leucophrys), and a population of the rare Crowned Tree Frog (Anotheca spinosa).

Finca Cristina coffee is available from their web site, or via a toll-free number from the U.S.  I’ve not tried this coffee, but this is certainly worth trying if you enjoy Costa Rican coffee, want to know exactly  where your coffee comes from, and that it helps preserve biodiversity.

Costa Rica, more than any other Central American country, has embraced technified sun coffee. The National Costa Rican Institute of Coffee (ICAFE) notes that 30% of coffee grown in the country is sun coffee. Not only is a 30% rate high, but it is misleading.  Coffee grown under only a single tree species, widely distributed across a farm, qualifies as “shade coffee” in Costa Rica.  In fact, all 70% of coffee not classified sun coffee can be marketed as shade coffee, but this is clearly not the kind of shade that preserves biodiversity.

Throughout the country, and especially in the Central Valley, coffee is grown in full sun, or under a single tree species. Most often this is Poro (Erythrina poeppigiana which is not native to Costa Rica) pruned to under 4 meters with only one or two branches. Bird surveys found that these Poro and coffee farms are poor avian habitat, with low species richness and few Neotropical migrants. Other farms use bananas or other fruit trees, non-native Eucalyptus, or timber trees such as Amarillon (Terminalia amazonia). Bird surveys in the Central Valley found that the highest number of species found at any farm (all were considered “shade”) was similar to the paltry number found in full sun farms in Mexico and Guatemala.

According to ICAFE, 90% of Costa Rica’s crop has gone over to the short, high-yielding, sun tolerant varieties caturra and cataui, as well as some catimor, all considered by experts to be lower quality than typica and bourbon varieties.

It can be difficult to identify farms that use sustainable methods, because coffees in Costa Rica are most often identified by broad region, or by a brand used by a mill (beneficio), and not the name of a farm. Over 90% of Costa Rican coffee farms are under 5 hectares, and small producers are required to sell to a beneficio.  For example, the intensively marketed Café Britt company roasts 2-3 million pounds of coffee a year, and buys from farms in Tarrazu, Tres Rios, and the Central Valley.  Their main facility near Heredia, where they hold their famous tours, is on a former coffee farm, but this is primarily for show (the “campesinos” who guide the tourists around Café Britt’s operations are played by professional actors).  Here’s a photo of Cafe Britt’s “shade” coffee.

Research from Costa Rica also found that pesticides used on coffee (and banana) farms are being transported in the atmosphere into cloud forests, including montane areas far away from plantations. They accumulate there, and may be contributing to the drastic declines of amphibians in these areas.  One of the most common pesticides found was endosulfan, commonly used on coffee.  This is relevant because the high-yield varieties of coffee that are grown in low shade systems, which are common in Costa Rica, nearly always use high levels of chemical inputs, and the paper [1] notes that “The use of plant protection products per hectare is higher in Costa Rican agriculture than in most industrialized countries.”

Because of their pooled coffee system and dedication to high-yield technified production, it is very difficult to be assured your Costa Rican coffee is truly sustainable.  There are no Smithsonian Bird-Friendly certified farms or co-ops in Costa Rica, that should tell you something.  I know a number of University of Michigan graduate students who have done thesis work on coffee farms in Costa Rica, and they have all told me there is very little true shade in the farms.  You are better off buying coffee from other Central American countries, especially El Salvador and Nicaragua.

If you buy Costa Rican coffee, look for a high percentage of older varieties such as bourbon and typica, and certified organic beans — these will all be less likely to be highly technified, as they are more difficult to grow in the sun. Some co-ops/beneficios or companies might indicate that they preserve native forest near production areas.  This is a positive sign.  This year, Costa Rica will also be joining the Cup of Excellence competition.  This means individual farms will be competing, and consumers will be able to read detailed farm profiles and learn about growing methods.  That will be helpful as well.

Here is the scoop on a few popular brands of Costa Rican coffee …

• La Minita (Tarrazu). Family-owned farm (and mill) with nearly 700 acres in production, mostly caturra. Uses Poro in “varying density” for shade. The best thing that can be said is that it is a family owned estate that has 200 acres in natural forest that will never be converted.  Does not use herbicides or pesticides. (More on La Minita in my post on coffee at Panera Bread.)
• Thanksgiving Coffee’s Costa Rican Songbird is obtained through Sustainable Harvest coffee importers.  Probably a decent bet that this is technically “shade grown” (as the Costa Ricans describe it), or perhaps even more substantial, given the commitment of the importer and roaster.
• Hacienda La Amistad, adjacent to the La Amistad Biosphere Reserve and Park.  The family has kept much of it (10,000 hectares) as natural forest. Certified organic, caturra and catuai varieties, grown under Poro.
• Café Britt.  See above. See also this post by a U.S. roaster who visited Costa Rica and was not impressed with the coffee.
• Doka Estate. I’ve occasionally seen this advertised as shade coffee, and perhaps the organic section of the property has a little more shade, but in general another sunny location.  You can see the near total lack of shade trees in this travel account,
• Cafe Cristina is a (truly) small shade coffee farm with direct ordering. The owners, whom I met at a conference, have worked with bird researchers and birders.

An excellent resource on Central Valley coffee growing and biodiversity is Sandra Znajda’s York University Master’s thesis, “Habitat conservation, avian diversity, and coffee agrosystems in southern Costa Rica.” Try searching online.

[1] Daly, G. et al. 2007. Accumulation of current-use pesticides in Neotropical montane forests. Environ. Sci. Technol.41:1118—1123.