Peace Coffee has always been proud to buy and roast nothing but organic coffee as part of our overall commitment to environmental sustainability.

WHAT IS ORGANIC COFFEE?
Organic coffee goes beyond flouting synthetic fertilizers and pesticides—to be certified organic, coffee farmers must cultivate not just the beans but an entire ecosystem. To successfully maintain natural soil fertility, control pests, and grow healthy trees requires a great deal of additional labor. Without the quick-get-rich fix of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizer, farmers must build rich soil through natural inputs; making compost is an integral part of growing organic coffee and most farmers compost the pulp from coffee cherries along with other organic materials. Pests are controlled by constructing traps and, more importantly, tending to the health of trees so that they're less susceptible to attacks. The often steep slopes where coffee is grown must be terraced to prevent runoff and erosion. Shade trees must be tended carefully to create the lush under story in which coffee plants naturally thrive.

A healthy ecosystem is the beginning; from there, farmers are required to maintain thorough maps of their land, and maintain strict controls and rigorous documentation all along the supply chain to ensure that the coffee is not contaminated with chemicals and is kept segregated from conventional coffee.

When you think of all this work, the premium that we pay for organic coffee seems a pittance!

WHY ORGANIC COFFEE?
Go back in time 40 years and there was no choice between conventional and organic coffee. Instead, small scale farmers cultivated coffee trees, naturally a shade-loving plant, in the understories of the tropical forest. The canopy provided shelter for the coffee trees, organic matter for the soil, income diversity for farmers, and habitat for migratory birds.

In the 1970s and '80s, aiming to increase yields and thus improve farmers' incomes, the green revolution descended on coffee farms and a whole new world of "technified" coffee production was born. This meant lots of agrochemical inputs and the introduction of higher-yielding, disease-resistant varieties of coffee that respond well to those inputs, resulting in the decimation of over 2.5 million acres of forest in the process. Clear cut forests provided space to pack coffee trees closer together and new hybrid varieties that matured faster and bore more fruit were introduced.

THE CATCH? Stressed by full sun and starving for biodiversity, this method of growing coffee required intensive application of synthetic fertilizers to keep plants producing and these trees had to be replaced more frequently. Without the forest canopy, steep slopes are prone to erosion and migratory bird populations lose valuable nesting habitat. Problems with water quality and contamination, reduction in bird population, and harm to the health of the farmers growing the coffee seem like a steep price to pay for the enhanced yields of technified coffee.

On top of it all, we've begun to realize that those old heirloom varieties have unique flavors that the new hybrids just can't match and, slowly ripening in the shade, those flavors are sweeter and more nuanced—proof in the cup that our consciences aren't off base!

BRINGING IT HOME:
Buying only organic coffee isn't enough to earn the organic seal on our bags. Our roastery is inspected annually by QAI, our organic certifier to verify that we maintain the strict chain of custody up to the end consumer, and that all our roasting and handling is in line with organic standards.

To see our current organic certificate, click here.

To see the organic certificates for any of our coffees, go to MapMyBeans.com and click on "Fair Trade Proof Contracts" on the side bar.