THE SCOOP ON ORGANIC COFFEE
When I started Sparkplug Coffee, I planned on only selling organic coffees. But as I dove into this, researching organic farming and certifications, talking to industry experts, and looking back at what I observed during trips to coffee growing countries, I realized the issue of organics is complicated.
In the end, Sparkplug coffees are pesticide-free, high quality coffees that are not certified organic, even though many of the beans that go into them are.
Does ‘Organic’ mean it’s the best tasting coffee?
It is important to understand that organic farming, sustainable farming, ethical social practices and quality coffee are not the same things.
Sustainable or organic farm practices do not necessarily produce great coffee. You can’t taste it if workers were paid fairly or if coffee was harvested by children. So when we source our coffees, we look for premium quality, high grade coffees that are ALSO grown ethically and sustainably. And, where possible, that means using organic farming practices - though it often does not mean that these coffees are certified as organic. Confusing? I’ll try and make it clearer here!
WHAT’S IN YOUR CUP?
Happily, when it comes down to it, the coffee you drink has NO harmful pesticide residue in it at all.
In a comprehensive study of "Pesticides in Coffee, Fruit Juice and Tea" the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) found that ALL coffee sold in Canada is safe and pesticide-free. This is not at all surprising if you think of the journey coffee makes from the farm to our cup.
In this study, the CFIA bought 297 coffees, 510 juices and 267 teas which were sampled and analyzed for over 430 different pesticide residues. The results? Coffees were safe and compliant and virtually pesticide-free:
“All coffee samples in this survey were compliant with existing MRLs for the pesticides analyzed. Only two of the 297 coffee samples were found to contain detectable pesticide residues and both were compliant with the Canadian General 0.1 parts per million (ppm) MRL.”
Whereas in tea…
“The overall compliance rate for pesticide residues in the 267 tea samples in this targeted survey was 75%, compared to 59% in the 2009-10 FSAP targeted survey on tea. In total, there were 66 tea samples containing at least one pesticide violation of the General 0.1 ppm or an established MRL, with 138 pesticide residue violations in total.”
Why do coffee products contain less pesticide residue than tea products?
The answer is simple and lies in the harvesting and preparation of both beverages. Coffee is the seed of the coffee tree. The coffee fruit, known as a cherry, is picked and then the pulp (fruit) is stripped away to get to the seed (coffee bean). The bean is then dried and roasted. If the unlikely event that any pesticide residue was left on the bean after being processed and dried, it would be literally burnt off during the roasting process.
Tea on the other hand, can be laden with pesticides.
Tea leaves are harvested and then there is very little done to get from the farm to your cup. The lack of any extensive roasting processes aside from sun drying and rolling means there are few opportunities to clean the leaves of any pesticides or other contaminants. Corner-cutting in quality control from countries still using highly illegal and unsafe pesticides results in too many reports of no-name and branded teas containing pesticide residues, traces of lead, chemicals, and air pollutants. For a product known for great health benefits, teas can be pretty toxic. As a consumer, I am now very careful about the teas that I buy and most of the time I buy organic, directly sourced teas from companies I trust.
THE COST OF PERFECTION
Although pesticides don’t make it to your coffee cup, their use in coffee farming is concerning. You may be surprised - or not - to learn that coffee is one of the most chemically treated crops in the world.
As one of modern societies most widely traded commodities, coffee is important to economies and households all over the globe. It is easy to underestimate its importance. The constantly growing demand for a great cup of joe has resulted in improved farming methods including higher yields. Over 12 billion pounds of coffee are produced and shipped every year. But does the quality of a coffee bean get lost in the quantity many farmers struggle to deliver? The answer is sometimes - not every bean is created or harvested equally. The answer is not just black and white.
Here, we need to make a distinction between farming practices and organic certifications. Organic certifications are helpful because they tell us that an independent body has verified that a crop was farmed to that certification organization’s standards. It is, of course, possible to be an organic farmer and not be certified.
And with each major coffee-growing country using their own monitoring systems and limits to regulate pesticide use, it can be confusing to separate conventional coffee brands from actual organic coffee.
Many large-scale operations in coffee growing countries still use pesticides banned in North America and Europe, often at the expense of their own workers, communities, and the local environment as a whole. In those same countries, there are small-scale farmers and processors who use mainly organic methods, sometimes because they cannot afford the pesticides.
Is being certified organic THAT important?
In the end, no. In fact, for many small-scale farmers and coffee processors, paying thousands of dollars a year to have crops certified as organic is simply too expensive and unachievable. In some countries, coffee growers have formed co-ops to share the expense of certification. Ethiopia is an example where many of the coffees available come from co-ops that are both FairTrade and certified Organic. In these areas, farmers have a choice between selling directly and getting a higher price for the quality of the coffee or selling through the co-op and taking the base market price.
Certified or not, we are able to find great quality coffees that are farmed with maximum care and a minimum of pesticides.
We make our best effort to source coffees that are ethically and sustainably grown as well as premium quality. A significant proportion of the beans we use in our coffees are organic but no Sparkplug coffees are certified organic. We are the break in the chain.
THE SCOOP
When it comes down to it, life is complicated and buying decisions are shades of grey much as we’d like them to be black and white. Buying organic does not guarantee a great coffee. And lacking an organic certification doesn’t say anything about the farming practices that were used.
Regardless of certifications, you can be confident that all coffees on the market are safe and pesticide-free and fully compliant with Canadian quality standards. Tea on the other hand…