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Coffee is grown in over 60 tropical countries, with most of it still produced on small family farms, but adding up to tens of millions of acres. Coffee growing supports 25 to 100 million people around the world. In the last decade, a huge worldwide surge in demand for coffee has had two profound consequences.  It caused a rapid worldwide expansion in production, largely of cheap beans that flooded the market and contributed to plummeting prices. And in the rush to increase production, it caused a shift from traditional, sustainable coffee growing methods (with coffee plants grown in the shade of diverse native trees) to intense monocultures that require large inputs of fertilizer and pesticides which bring about a loss in biodiversity and quickly deplete the land.

If choosing sustainable coffee was easy for consumers, there would be no need for a blog like Coffee & Conservation. Here is a look at the top five indicators of sustainable coffee:

1. Certification. Because of the substantial costs of certification — to the farmer and/or the roaster — not all sustainable coffees necessarily carry a seal.  And if they do, it could be one of several. Here at C&C we have an excellent guide to the environmental standards of the five common coffee certifications. It includes links to more information and on the standards used by biodynamic farmers, Starbucks, and Nespresso. Meanwhile, here are three common certifications associated with sustainably-grown coffee:

• If a coffee is certified as Bird-Friendly by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, it is grown under the most stringent environmental standards of any certification system, and it is also required to be certified organic. If you see this seal, it is one of the best assurances that the coffee was grown with biodiversity and sustainability as top priorities.
• Organic certification, by the USDA and its accredited agencies, is an important indication that many (but not necessarily all) chemical inputs have been eliminated or reduced. Generally, coffee that is organic is grown under at least some shade cover (which preserves biodiversity).
• Rainforest Alliance also has environmental criteria, but the standard has been seriously watered down in recent years and this certification is no longer assurance that coffee was grown under shade or in a way that is beneficial to birds or wildlife. Also, coffee may carry the seal and only contain 30% certified beans.

2. Country of origin. Some countries still grow much of their coffee under shade, preserving native forest and biodiversity and using few if any chemicals.  Other countries have removed shade trees or cut down areas of native forest and planted sun-tolerant coffee varieties.  These countries are more likely to grow shade coffee:

• Mexico (also largest area in organic coffee in the world)
• El Salvador
• Nicaragua
• Guatemala (Huehuetenango has the most diverse shade cover; other regions, especially Antigua, do not use as much high-quality shade)
• Honduras
• Bolivia
• Papua New Guinea
• Ethiopia (large percentage grown organically)
• Peru (second-largest organic origin)
• India

These counties are more likely to grow sun coffee, and unless they are Smithsonian Bird-Friendly certified, it’s probably best to avoid them:

• Costa Rica
• Kenya
• Brazil
• Colombia (although Santander region has good shade)
• Vietnam

3. Botanical variety. There are two species of coffee used commercially: Coffea arabica or arabica coffee, and Coffea canephora, or robusta coffee.  Arabica is high quality. Robusta coffee is nearly always low quality, mass produced in deforested sun coffee monocultures with lots of chemicals, and is used in most supermarket coffees. You won’t see “robusta” on the label, so look for “100% arabica.”

There are also many different cultivars of arabica coffee. “Bourbon” and “typica” are older types that need at least some shade, so seek those out. “Catuai”‘ and “Caturra” are varieties that are often grown as sun coffee.

Learn more about botanical varieties of coffee.

4. Roaster. Buy coffee from a small, specialty roaster. A good roaster develops a relationship with the farms and co-ops that grow their coffee — it’s in everybody’s best interest for the coffee to be grown sustainably. The farmer gains by having a reliable buyer and a safe, healthy environment, and the roaster gains by having a reliable source of quality coffee. A conscientious roaster will have very specific information on the precise origin of each coffee it sells, and you can determine how the coffee was grown to guide your purchase.

My list of recommended providers of sustainable coffee is at the bottom of every page here (click to refresh, there are more than what shows at one time; criteria for inclusion is here), with more on my interactive map of roasters. A list of online retailers that regularly sell Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center Bird-Friendly®-certified coffee is here.

5. Price. This is nearly a given: cheap coffee is not sustainable. Not for the farmer, not for the environment. People who are used to paying less than $5 a pound for grocery store coffee shudder at the idea of paying $10 or more for a pound of coffee from a specialty roaster.  Ounce for ounce, it’s still cheaper than a good bottle of wine or scotch or many other beverages.

The farmers that grow grocery store coffee get less than $0.25 a pound for it; obviously this is not a living wage. Impoverished farmers are more likely to exploit the environment, convert their coffee to other less ecologically-friendly crops, or abandon their land altogether (contributing to illegal immigration into the U.S. from south of the border). Coffee is often the most important source of income for nations that produce it; if it is no longer profitable, it creates social and economic crises, and impacts governments and democracy. (Read more about how cheap coffee contributes to poverty and why you should care here.)

And trust me when I tell you — you get what you pay for! A year ago you couldn’t have told me that there were so many incredible, distinctly unique coffees out there, an entire world to explore! We’ve only scratched the surface in our reviews.

Learn more in the corporate coffee category, in particular about the coffee crisis and why you shouldn’t buy coffee from the big commodity coffee providers.

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Coffee drinkers have the potential to make a huge impact on the environment and economies of coffee growing nations. If we understand the stakes, we can make a significant difference, and enjoy our favorite beverage at the same time!

There are over 100 species of coffee (Coffea) in the world, and all are native to tropical Africa and some Indian Ocean islands (Madagascar, Macerenes). Most have very limited distribution, and over 70% are threatened with extinction.

Usually only two species, C. arabica and C. canephora, are commonly grown commercially.  They are described below, along with a few other interesting species, and the most common commercial varieties of these species.  Because certain types grow best in the shade and others in the sun, knowledge of these names can be a convenient clue as to how your coffee may have been grown.

Don’t confuse these botanical varieties with coffees named for their growing regions, such as Ethiopian Harrar, Guatelmalan Antigua, or Hawaiian Kona.

• Coffea arabica. This is the highest quality coffee, used by specialty roasters. It grows best at higher altitudes — 3000 to 6500 feet — and because it grows slowly the flavors are more concentrated. This species tend to be susceptible to various diseases, and has a lower caffeine content than C. canephora (below). Arabica is a deep-rooted shrub. Unlike other coffee species, arabica has two sets of chromosomes. Arabica has two common varieties, typica and bourbon. These traditional, older varieties are the types most often grown in the shade. Because arabica is self-pollinating, these varieties are stable, but sometimes do mutate into strains that are then cultivated. Just a few of the most common are described.
  • Coffea arabica var. typica.
    • Maragogype — large-beaned (“elephant bean”) Brazilian mutation. Porous beans are not especially flavorful, and low-yielding. (Roasting a larger bean correctly takes some finesse, so buy from a specialty roaster.)
  • C. a. var. bourbon. Old variety originating on the Indian Ocean island of Bourbon (Reunion) with broad leaves, and small fruits. In Kenya, bourbons are sometimes called “French mission ” or “Scottish mission.”
    • Catuai — cross between Mundo Novo and Caturra. There are red (rojo) and yellow catuais, named for the color of the cherries. High yield and hardy. Often grown as sun coffee.
    • Caturra — compact, multiple-branching form of bourbon, common in Brazil and Colombia. Disease resistant and fast-maturing, the higher yield of Caturra apparently comes at a cost to good taste. Considered lighter-bodied and more acidic than traditional bourbons. Often grown as sun coffee, it requires a lot of management and fertilizer.
    • Mundo Novo — cross between typica and bourbon, high yield, popular in Brazil.
    • Paca — a high yielding cross between bourbon and Caturra.
    • Pacamara — cross between Maragogype and the Paca variety of Caturra.  Not considered very flavorful, as neither parent is especially revered for taste.

If you’d like to see a “family tree” of some of the arabica coffee varietals, check out this post by Jim Hoffman and a table of coffee genotypes from a paper published in the Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology. More less-commonly referred to arabica varieties are described in the coffee glossary.

• Coffea canephora.  This species is more commonly referred to as “robusta,” although this actually refers to the upright variety of canephora; there is a spreading variety known as nganda.  Robusta is a lower-growing and shallow-rooted, harsher and more bitter variety that is used in cheaper coffees, or as fillers.  Robusta tends to be more hardy and disease-resistant, will grow better in the sun than arabica, and tends to have higher yields. It has a higher caffeine content than arabica. I’ve written an entire post about robusta here.Although there is such a thing as a decent quality robusta, Kenneth Davids at Coffee Review sums up the problem with most robustas in today’s market:
  

  Apparently with the support of the World Bank, robustas recently have been planted in very large quantities in Vietnam. These are mass-produced coffees at their most dramatic: stripped from the trees, leaves, unripe, ripe and overripe fruit and all, and dried in deep piles. All of which means the essentially bland, grainy robusta character is topped off with an assortment of off-tastes, mainly musty/mildewed and fermented. These coffees sell for considerably less than all other coffees, including better quality robustas. I am told that production costs for Vietnamese robustas are about 20 cents per pound or less, compared to, for example, production costs of 80 to 90 cents per pound for the excellent “100% Colombia” coffees competing in the supermarket. And now the current episode: Commercial dealers and roasters have learned to steam the often foul-tasting Vietnamese robustas, removing the waxy covering of the bean and muting (but not entirely eliminating) the offensive flavor notes.

There are some hybrids between arabica and canephora. They include:

• Hibrido de Timor — a natural hybrid, with two sets of chromosomes like arabica.
• Icatu — backcrosses of Hibrido de Timor with Mundo Novo or Caturra.
• Catimor — cross between Caturra and Hibrido de Timor. High yields, often grown as sun coffee, with a reputation for inferior quality.

One other species is grown commercially:

• Coffea liberica. Similar to robusta, grown at low altitudes in Malaysia and West Africa, it accounts for less than 1% of commercial trade. In the cup, it is thick and pungent, but has its fans in some countries.  It is known as Barako in the Phillipines.  Two subspecies are commonly recognized, C. liberica var. liberica, just called “Liberica” or “Liberian” coffee, and C. liberica var. dewevrei, known as “Excelsa.”

There are a number of varieties in Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands that have little or no caffeine, including C. kianjavatensis, C. lancifolia, C. mauritiana, C. macrocarpa and C. myrtifolia. These species are in the taxonomic section Mascarocoffea; this is not a genus as is frequently reported on the Internet. Arabica and robusta coffees are in the section Eucoffea, and attempts to breed Eucoffea varieties with caffeine-free traits from Mascarocoffea types has not been successful.

Finally, peaberry (“caracol”) coffee is not a botanical variety, but a bean mutation where the cherry produced one small, rounded, fused bean rather than two flat-faced beans. May occur in any botanical variety, usually accounting for about 10% of the crop.  Some think peaberries have a superior taste, but choose a roaster widely, since peaberries roast quickly and are easily charred.