UVB coffee drinkers: do
you know where your coffee comes from? Please consider joining
our local group to obtain the best-tasting, most
responsibly-sourced coffee available... while also saving money!
For at least 2 decades
I've been buying "Fair Trade" coffee in support of growers. Then
about 4 years ago I learned more about the ecological impacts of
coffee growing, and work being done by the Smithsonian Migratory
Bird Center to certify coffee farms as Bird Friendly®. When I
had a chance to taste triple certified coffee roasted
and distributed by Birds
& Beans®, I was hooked.
Three years and 1.25 tons
ago I started a local coffee buying group, to obtain the
freshest-roasted Birds & Beans coffee at the lowest possible
price. This week we will be placing our 50th order, and welcome
anyone who would like to join the group as an occasional or
regular participant.
Many of you are aware that
tropical habitat destruction is today’s biggest threat to
neotropical migrants. But did you know that today, almost all
coffee sold in the US does not meet ‘Bird Friendly®’ standards?
Ornithologist Bridget Stutchbury says the most important single
step an individual can do to help stop migratory songbird
population loss is to always buy certified Bird Friendly®
coffee.
Our coffee buying group is as informal and simple as possible.
We order every 3 weeks, but you can order every time or only
every couple months. There is no membership, no minimum
purchase, no shipping cost (almost always), and no overhead
costs. The coffee arrives within a few days of being roasted.
And it gets even better: Birds & Beans returns a portion of
their profit directly to our beloved VCE
(<http://vtecostudies.org/>).
Through the buying group, the cost of this coffee is about $11
per pound, or a bit more for decaf or ground. So yes, there is a
modest premium for quality and sustainability... amounting to
maybe the cost of one coffee-shop latte per pound.
Lastly, many of us coffee
drinkers were delighted by publication on Monday of a new study,
in the medical journal Circulation. Quoting directly
from the conclusion: "Higher consumption of total coffee,
caffeinated coffee, and decaffeinated coffee was associated with
lower risk of total mortality." Read more here.
Interested? Our next order will go in this Wednesday. There are 4
roasts to choose from (see website above) and the coffee is
available as beans or 1 of 4 grinds. To place an order, learn
more, or to be placed on a notification e-mail list for future
orders, please reply to <[log in to unmask]>. Getting
on the list is the only way to know when an order is going in.
If you decide at any time not to continue, you will be promptly
removed from the list.
Drink better coffee, and help neotropical migrants!
Doug Hardy, Norwich
(PS - My sole benefits in doing this are helping neotropical
migrants, sharing great-tasting coffee, helping to support healthy
and family-friendly farms, facilitating a bit of support for VCE,
saving myself shipping costs through volume purchasing, and
supporting a quality roaster in Maine!)