Better Beans: The Best Fair Trade and Organic Coffee

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Fair Trade and Organic Coffee

For many people, choosing a bag of coffee comes down to the strength, the flavor, or even the cost. But, what’s the story behind the bag? Where did your coffee come from? Was it ethically sourced? Is it free from harmful pesticides? While coffee is a billion dollar industry, it holds some dark secrets. Thankfully there are some incredible brands changing that narrative. Here is why you should choose organic fair trade coffee.

Dirty Coffee

The coffee industry today is not as glorious as it seems. Behind the beautifully designed bags come ethical, sustainability, and environmental issues, plus much more.

To start, there is a frightening amount of pesticides sprayed on coffee crops today. Because of this, we are being exposed to and poisoned by the remaining residue brewed into your cup. Not to mention, these chemicals are ruining ecosystems, soil, and essentially entire forests.

Additionally, farmers are being paid pennies on the pound. After many hard months of harvesting, the farmer is often losing money, when it’s all said and done.

While coffee is problematic, there are a few things we can do to better support the workers and the industry in general. For starters choosing Fair Trade and Organic coffee. Lets discuss what these labels mean.

Coffee Certifications and What They Mean

Firstly, certified organic coffee is important for many reasons. Let me start by saying that coffee is one of the most heavily chemically treated crops in the world.

Choosing organic is always the way to go. It keeps you safe from nasty chemicals, but it also keeps the soil healthy, as well.

Instead of using synthetic pesticides and fertilizers to manage pests, Gourmesso Coffee explains that crops are rotated and compost is used to fertilize soil.

Organic farmers also take into consideration the wildlife and water resources promoting environmentally sustainable farming.

I can’t stress this enough to all coffee drinkers, if you can make one switch with your daily cup, drink organic coffee. Better farmers = better processes = better beans = better antioxidants = BETTER COFFEE.

Like the organic label, the fair trade coffee beans stands for so much including sustainability, fair economy, and little to no chemical treatment. Fair trade provides support to the families and communities involved in growing our coffee.

Fair Trade certification gives farmers the opportunity to thrive, rather than barely get by. Fair Trade cooperatives are fighting for climate change, reasonable payment terms, and pre-harvest financing.

Not to mention, these standards give women empowerment to pursue leadership and entrepreneurship with equal opportunity.

A fair price is benefiting so much more than we realize. With such high standards, a more ethical and future sustaining process is created with a lower environmental impact.

All that said, let’s dive into some pretty incredible brands.

6 Best Organic Coffee Brands

Peace Coffee

Certificates: Shade Grown, Fair Trade, USDA Organic, B-Corp

Starting off the list strong is Peace Coffee. Peace Coffee is fair trade and organic coffee brand that originally started as a way to help American coffee farmers during the 1980’s family farm crisis. This idea of course blossomed into many more countries, supporting many more farmers and families.

These small-scale farmers are part of local cooperatives that help them organize, advocate for their rights, and share profits. Working in a group has really been beneficial to these farmers. Their system is fair, transparent and sustainable.

In addition, my favorite thing about this brand is, if you live locally, Peace Coffee delivers your order via bike. Bike deliveries started when the company originated and the delivery riders haul an average of 2000 pounds per week! What a unique and eco-friendly way to distribute your daily cup of coffee.

Peace Coffee has a large selection of options including your standard light roast, medium roast, or dark roast, as well as, a specific cold brew blend. Aside from whole beans and ground coffee, you can purchase this coffee in pod forms, that are compostable and perfect for Keurig machines.

Peace Coffee also sells coffee accessories like French Press, Pour Over, Cold Brew Maker, and more.

Volcanica Coffee

Certifications: Shade Grown, USDA Organic, Rain Forest, Fair Trade (certificates vary by the bag)

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Volcanica Coffee is an exotic coffee brand sourced from the best volcanic regions around the world. For two generations, this family-owned company has imported the highest quality coffee beans roasting them fresh, weekly.

Volanica Coffee has hundreds of options to choose from. While the many types of coffee might sound overwhelming, you have the opportunity to choose any certificate, roast, specialty flavors, coffee from regions or even specific farms. How unique is it that you can try organic coffee from a specific farm or estate. Or that you can KNOW the farmer that harvested the beans.

Purity

Certifications: USDA Organic, Smithsonian Bird Friendly, Rainforest Alliance, Mold Free, Regeneratively and/or Biodynamically Farmed

Purity believes coffee is one of the healthiest foods in the Western diet. Through their research, founders of Purity coffee understand the incredible benefits of drinking coffee (and want to shout it from the rooftop). Specifically, when it comes to healing the body and disease prevention.

Purity has a very rigorous protocol each bean goes through. From careful inspections, to lab testing for mold, to precise roasting to preserve the antioxidants (an important factor in preserving those health benefits). They are committed to producing the highest quality organic coffee out there.

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Purity Coffee comes in the form of whole bean, coffee pods, and even single serve sachets. These sachets are similar to instant coffee but you soak them in hot water like tea!

It is important to note, they don't offer ground coffee. Additionally, this company offers a Swiss Water® Processed Decaf (shade-grown) option which is a medium body with dark chocolate and vanilla notes.

Mayorga

Certifications: USDA Organic, Shade Grown, Non GMO, Renewable Energy Powered, Direct Trade

My favorite coffee, Mayorga started by a Latin American man who spent his childhood traveling Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, & Peru. High quality, 100% organic coffee that is driven with a purpose. This company operates with sustainable practices at its forefront.

In like manner, Mayorga is fighting to eliminate poverty in Latin America and focused on supporting the native producers. Learn all about their partners, the process, the specific location, and the people behind the scenes on their website, as you choose your bag.

After you learn all about the source and farmers involved with your purchase, choose between whole bean, coarse, medium, or fine grind.

Tip: We like to buy our coffee in bulk, so we purchase this in a 5 lb bag which saves us money and involves less transportation as we are purchasing less often.

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Related Posts: Organic Flavored Coffee: Best Brands for the Best Cup

Java Planet Coffee

Certifications: Organic, Fair Trade, Rain Forest Alliance

Java Planet Coffee is dedicated to sustainability, protecting wildlife, and paying their farmers fair wages. There is something for every coffee lover but some of their best coffee features include low acidity, single origin, and bird friendly. Not to mention, a large selection of flavored coffee, as well.

For the freshest and best flavor, they recommend you buy whole beans and grind them yourself. That being said, they do offer a variety of ground coffee. Java Planet will even sell you green coffee beans if you have a passion for coffee roasting.

The Bean Coffee Company

Certifications: USDA Organic, CCOF, Tested for Mycotoxins, Swiss Water Decaf, and Flavors are Vegan, Gluten Free, Allergen Free, and Seed oil free

With 25 years of experience this company exclusively roasts organic Arabica beans in small batches in Oceanside, California.

Alongside their organic certification, they are CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers). This to help out small farmers but also to make a positive impact.

Grab a bag of this delicious dark or medium roast coffee in whole bean, ground, or even cold brew coffee packs.

Some of their gourmet coffee flavors include Hawaiian Hazelnut, Vanilla Bean, Chocolate Macadamia Nut, Pumpkin Spice, Caramel, Milky Way, and Vanilla Cinnamon Spice. All organic and all made with the pure real flavors and have great taste.

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Once you take the first sip of one of these delicious coffee 's you'll be converted. Fair trade and organic coffee is not only better for you but better for the farmers, the environment, the animals, and their eco systems.

Read more about how to make your organic coffee drinking habit more eco-friendly or even zero-waste!