Let’s say you pay about 3 bucks for a can of supermarket coffee, and you drink a can’s worth a month. Can you justify spending 8 bucks for the same amount of organic coffee? That’s an extra $60 a year on brew! (If you’re already buying gourmet coffee, there is only a marginal price difference.)
Before dismissing the idea, ask yourself this: Would you write a $60 check to a charity if you knew that almost eery cent would go to helping Third World children get healthy and educated? Would you spend that amount knowing that you could be saving warblers, parrots, toucans, and other species from extinction?
If your answer is yes, great! Switch to organic coffee now. Not only will you be helping farmers in Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, and Africa, but you’ll also finally understand why this beverage was considered the drink of the gods. Organic vendors use fat, ripe fruits to create sublime, rich natural brews. So do gourmet vendors, of course. The choice between high-priced brands isn’t always about taste or quality; it’s about helping to create a future that contains fewer chemicals.
If you want to get friends to switch, here’s more ammunition.* Huge plantations have boosted their coffee production so much that the price has plummeted. This has been disastrous for small family farms, which have traditionally grown the world’s coffee. The situation has become so bad in one Mexican state that 500 families a week leave because they can no longer make a living.
* Coffee grows in shaded areas. However, large plantations have clear-cut native environments to grow coffee in easy-to-harvest rows. These varieties require more chemicals, and the deforestation has destroyed habitats for many plant and animal species.
Most grocery stores carry organic coffee. If yours doesn’t, ask them to. And visit Organicgardening.com for links to vendors online.
Source: Organic Gardening
