The Arbor Day Foundation has many partnerships and close relationships that expand our reach and abilities to protect and plant more trees. Our shade-grown coffee program is no exception. Every year, we select and purchase hundreds of thousands of pounds of green coffee from shade-grown coffee farms in Central and South America. Each producer and cooperative that we source from meets our sustainability standards, growing coffee in a manner that is celebrating the importance of trees. When the green coffee arrives to the United States, the same amount of care must go into roasting. That’s where Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting Co. comes in. In 2018, the…
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When looking at sustainability, it can feel a bit overwhelming deciding where to begin, as there are many ways to work toward your personal and corporate sustainability goals. The United Nations Department of Economic Affairs has established 17 goals for sustainability, all of which…
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Coffee from Seed to Cup Brewing a pot of coffee in the morning is a daily ritual for many people around the world. Whether coffee gets you ready for a busy day or gives you a sense…
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If you are looking for a new at-home coffee brewing method, you have come to the right place. There are many ways to brew coffee outside of the standard automatic coffee maker (which you’re probably a pro at…
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How the Arbor Day Foundation Coffee Program Approaches Sustainability Arbor Day® Coffee is sustainably sourced. But what does “sustainably sourced” mean? In the world of coffee, sustainability is a broad term that may refer to zero-waste packaging, organic farming practices, and paying fair-trade prices for…
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Within the past few years, we’ve started using the phrase coffee agroforestry to better describe the shade-grown coffee process. Since this phrase is still pretty fresh in the mainstream world of coffee and agriculture, let’s look at what it means. The United States…
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How do I know what grind I should use for brewing? Have you ever made French press coffee and struggled to push down the plunger? Have you bought a pour-over brewing device only to…
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It is often assumed that most of our conveniences in life result in being some of the least sustainable actions. And coffee is no exception. It may simply be an accepted norm that conveniences…
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The Farmer Behind Small Batch No. 1 of The Heritage Coffee Series Within the rain forest community of Carrizal, you will find El Naranjo.This 2-acre farm in Honduras is home to Juan de la…
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Featured Production Shade-Grown The Farmers Uncategorized
Celebrating the Heritage of Shade-Grown Coffee
Farmers have a close connection to the land that has formed through experiences which are often inherited over generations — creating a sense of family identity and tradition. The collective wealth of knowledge and life…
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What is “coffee processing” and how does it change the way coffee tastes? Coffee processing is the overall actions or steps that take place from the time the coffee cherries are harvested off…
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A friend asked me, “do dark roast coffees have more caffeine than light roast coffees?” I replied, no. But if you think that dark roasted coffee is stronger in caffeine, you’re mistaken. There are a few more factors that determine how strong coffee is, the biggest one is…
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According to research, two out of every 10 coffee drinkers drink decaffeinated coffee. Decaf coffee sometimes receives a bad rap by coffee purists. Historically, decaf coffee wasn’t given much thought in the coffee industry. Recently however, improvements in the decaffeination process and more attention to select higher grade, raw…
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The Covid-19 pandemic has brought challenges to everyone. As they say, we are alone in this together. Yet coffee continues to bring us together on a global scale and reminds us that the entire…
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Espresso has become a staple in many of our lives, where it has been introduced into every latte, mocha, and specialty coffee drink that is hand crafted by your local barista. But what is…
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In a previous Arbor Day Coffee blog, we covered a few of the best methods for storing coffee at home to help preserve freshness. But what steps does Arbor Day Coffee take to ensure you are purchasing the…
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When coffee professionals mention they are professional cuppers, context is everything. Although coffee cupping can be considered therapeutic for some, the practice usually involves a professional coffee quality specialist tasked with ensuring the coffee…
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Upcycling is a new term that is used to replace the traditional concept of recycling. The idea specifically refers to when discarded products are given more value. In the case of coffee grounds, they…
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Whether your go-to drink was simply a hot black cup of coffee, espresso, cold nitro-brew, or iced coffee, now is the time to learn some quick and simple solutions for brewing coffee at home. Rather than reinventing the…
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So what’s all the hype around coffee subscriptions, monthly coffee boxes, and coffee of the month clubs? I’ll speak for myself and say that having delicious coffee delivered right to your door is such a fun, convenient, and useful way…
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According to research recently published earlier this year, Brazil’s Southeastern Mountain coffee growing region could see a drastic loss of its viable coffee growing landscapes by the year 2050, due primarily to the rising global temperatures caused by a changing climate. But there is hope, in…
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Before the recent outbreak of COVID-19 began in the United States, I wrote a blog about some of the conditions that scientists have identified as underlying conditions for the devastating toll coffee leaf rust brought in Central America, most recently in…
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In early 2016, the Arbor Day coffee program continued to new coffee growing areas that were making new strides in the specialty coffee industry. Central America has always been a hot spot for specialty coffee production, with the most…
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Clear-cutting forests to make way for agriculture and pastures doesn’t only remove critical forest lands, it removes critical wildlife habitat that depend on the forest for food, shelter, and nesting. Bird Friendly® Certified coffee…
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I don’t know where to begin, so why don’t we begin at the bottom. Let’s talk about the burners in the room, the burners under those glass carafes that keep coffee hot in your coffee brewer at home, office,…
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Working for almost 15 years in the specialty coffee industry, this question comes up quite often. There are several ways to maintain your coffee’s fresh flavors and are usually achieved by simply changing a…
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“There is no silver bullet, only silver buckshot” This is a phrase commonly used when trying to problem solve complicated issues. It not only applies to the approach for solution-based development programs, but it…
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Shade-Grown
Challenges and Opportunities Facing the Adoption of Coffee Agroforestry Systems (PART 2)
The first blog entry reviewing the academic paper published in the August 2019 issue of Current Anthropology titled Coffee Landscapes Shaping the Anthropocene: Forced Simplification on a Complex Agroecological Landscape concluded with the general…
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A Three-Part Blog Series This blog is a review of an academic paper published in the August 2019 issue of Current Anthropology titled Coffee Landscapes Shaping the Anthropocene: Forced Simplification on a Complex Agroecological Landscape. Introducing the…
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Many of the farmers have recognized these abandoned plots of land as an opportunity for growth for coffee agroforestry systems.…
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Have you ever found yourself shopping for your favorite coffee only to learn that the variety isn’t in season? Like other fresh products, coffee has different growing seasons throughout the year. Because of the many…
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What does exceptional quality coffee taste like? There are factors that affect the quality of coffee. Since coffee is an agricultural product, it faces the same challenges as most foods such as spoilage,…
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The topics of carbon emissions and global warming have gained a good deal of attention in recent years, and coffee has an important part to play in the discussion. Greenhouse gases warm the Earth…
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Did you know the Baltimore orioles are responsible for the Arbor Day Coffee program? To be clear, we are talking about the beautiful and colorful bird, icterus galbula, not the team that produced Cal…