Your Guide To Decoding Sustainable Coffee Labels

The definition of sustainability and how we as consumers define it has changed drastically over time. At one point, sustainability only referred to how ecologically-sound a product was — like in terms of limited damage to wildlife habitats and water footprint. The modernized definition of sustainability focuses more on equity issues in the supply chain, traceability to a single producer or origin, and transparency in the process by which the bean is sourced from the coffee plantation and travels to your local roaster.

The intersection of sustainability and consumer marketing is especially apparent with one product many people cannot live without — coffee. If you've purchased a bag of coffee recently, you've likely noticed the onslaught of labels printed on the bag touting "organic," "fair trade," and the like. How can you tell if companies are selling you a fake promise that your purchase makes a difference in coffee growers' lives? And how can you justify spending a couple of extra bucks on a bag of coffee, especially in a world where the world of labeling seems like a cryptic no-mans-land? Here's what some of the most popular coffee bean labels actually mean — and if the label even guarantees a more "sustainable" product.

Organic food labels are notoriously difficult for consumers to interpret. A product with the USDA Certified Organic seal must have 95% of its ingredients sourced under the USDA standard, notes the USDA. In terms of coffee, this must mean that the coffee beans follow a rigid supply chain management process to prevent contact with non-organic food products, as well as several prescriptive approaches that limit exposure to synthetic pesticides, genetically modified organisms, and non-organic inputs like fertilizers.

Unlike other standards, the USDA Organic standard primarily focuses on the ecological components of sustainability rather than the ethical implications and connection to livelihoods. The USDA organic certification process is also expensive for producers to undergo; the process can take close to three years with several annual inspections, for which coffee farmers must pay the agents' accommodations for. As a result, many small, independent, and subsistence coffee farmers choose not to undergo USDA certification because they cannot afford the financial commitment, nor can they afford to lose yield with the certain pesticides and herbicides prohibited under organic guidelines.

Despite its misconstrued definition of "sustainable" coffee, the USDA organic seal is important to modern consumers. No evidence suggests organic coffee is healthier for consumers than conventionally-grown coffee. Some studies have indicated that most pesticides from conventionally-grown coffee are even burned off during roasting.

If coffee is a tropical plant, wouldn't it love the sunshine? While coffee plants need some sun to grow, sun-grown coffee plantations can limit the biodiversity of the plantation and increase the need for synthetic fertilizers and herbicides. Instead, shade-grown coffee plants use a polyculture method — growing multiple species simultaneously within a set space — to boost diversity and maintain ecological balance. Shade-grown coffee only removes a few native plants and replaces them with coffee plants — which grow in the wild under the shade of other plants. While it might seem like this method decreases the yield of growing operations since fewer coffee plants are grown, shade-growing actually has numerous benefits for the farmer.

If you're looking for ecologically sustainable coffee, you should always choose shade-grown coffee. Sun-grown coffee promotes deforestation since farmers have to clear large swaths of land to grow the coffee plants. The exposure to dry land also opens up the opportunity for erosion and decreased habitat for wildlife like birds and small mammals.

The Smithsonian's Bird Friendly coffee certification is specifically focused on the habitat protection of birds; it was developed in the 1990s specifically for coffee production and has since expanded into cocoa. Currently, the bird-friendly certification program works with 5,100 farmers in 11 countries, equating to nearly 34 million pounds of coffee annually, (via the Smithsonian Institute).

The Bird Friendly certification requires a certain amount of foliage cover, tree height, and biodiversity to ensure the maintenance of proper habitat for wildlife. Since many of these standards overlap with the premise behind shade-grown coffee, many distributors advertise both on their coffee labels. In addition, bird-friendly operations must be organically certified to tout the official bird-friendly label on their products. This decreases pesticide exposure and helps achieve other environmental goals besides habitat-building and maintenance. As with other certifications, the Smithsonian's bird-friendly certification has some limitations; it focuses on the ecological aspect of sustainability rather than on producers' economic and social well-being.

The term "ethically sourced" has few regulatory teeth. From a meta-perspective, ethically sourced would imply that a company is committed to fair wages for employees and suppliers, promotes a safe working environment, and qualifications of that nature. But, ethically sourced could also mean an ethical consideration for the environment and ecological systems. So, which is it?

There's no clear answer for what constitutes "ethically sourced" coffee because no standards or certifying bodies are involved. Like the word "natural" in food labeling, companies can use terms like ethically sourced to get consumers to buy a product (and sometimes, pay more for the product) without any vested qualifiers that make the product sustainable. If you're trying to purchase ethically or ecologically sourced coffee, you're better off buying a product with a reputable certifying body attached to it. That way, you can be sure that the premium you're paying for a coffee is actually worth paying for.