For those of us who stop at a local shop for our morning or afternoon "To Go" cup of coffee or espresso or whatever you choose to order, there's a whole lot of cups being used and thrown away. I found a site with some great suggestions. My thanks to the Planet Green folks over at Discovery.com for the following list of tips.
Top Green Coffee & Tea Tips
- The local brew
Seek out the coffee and tea that have traveled the least distance to reach you and also aim at supporting local, independent farms, cafés, and roasters. - Mug Shots
Go ahead, find that perfect mug and make the investment. Not only is a reusable mug more pleasurable to sip out of than a paper cup, but it will replace an untold number of disposable cups, plastic sippy tops, “java jackets,” and other disposable paraphernalia. If you've got a thing for paper cups and Greek art, try a more durable "We Are Happy to Serve You", the handy-work of TreeHugger founder Graham Hill. Make a quick tally of how many disposable coffee or tea cups you use in a month…yeah, it’s probably a lot. - Organic
Coffee and tea that bear organic certification are more eco-friendly because they are grown and processed without toxic chemicals, are cultivated and harvested in ways that protect sensitive ecosystems, and spare workers from exposure to harmful pesticides and herbicides. Shade grown coffee is another important category that preserves habitats for migratory birds on coffee farms, also letting beans mature more slowly and creating richer flavors. - Fair Trade
Not only does certified fair trade coffee and tea help ensure living wages and safe working conditions for farmers, but TransFair and Rainforest Alliance both include rigorous environmental standards in their certification criteria. - Home brew
The local café is great. It’s got your friends, good food, free wireless. But if you think you can be greener in your own kitchen, give it a try. When you do it at home you know where the beans and leaves are coming from and also where they go when they’re spent. Plus, you can’t forget your mug, you can choose organic milk, and never toss out another paper sugar packet. Try a bit of quick math on the cost savings of making your morning cup-o-joe at home. - Loosen up
Tea bags and coffee filters can be useful but are mostly unnecessary. Great coffee can be made at home with a reusable filter or a stovetop espresso maker. A quality tea infuser can last a lifetime and replace an untold number of (questionably compostable) tea bags. If you do use filters and bags, look for biodegradable and unbleached ones. - Milk and sugar
Most people put one thing or another in their hot beverage of choice. Don’t foul up your organic, fair trade, bird friendly, solar roasted brew with chemical and hormone-laden milk and sugar from a little paper packet. If you don’t do the cow thing, look for organic rice, soy, or almond milk to yin up your yang. In the US, TransFair also certifies sugar, so even your sugar can be fair trade. (Maple syrup in coffee is another well-kept secret.) - "Press" the issue
If the local coffee shop you love doesn’t carry coffee and tea that meet your standards, start asking politely. Starbucks has a universal policy under which they will brew a French press of fair trade coffee for anyone who asks. - Compost the roast
Tea leaves and especially coffee grounds make outstanding compost. Coffee’s high nitrogen content has made it a fertilizer of choice since days of yore. Composting leaves and grounds helps keep organic waste out of landfills, makes great soil, and keeps waste baskets dry. If you don’t have a heap to toss it on, just spread coffee grounds on the top of your plants’ soil. - Gift the good stuff
Organic coffee and tea make superb gifts for friends and coworkers, as well as effective peace offerings for estranged family members and ex-lovers. It’s also a great way to get people appreciating the many benefits of a “greener” coffee or tea habit.
Filed under Save money making coffee at home, coffee, coffee news, coffee roaster, espresso, organic Coffee by 
When you are looking for a rich full bodied coffee that is also organic and fair trade, take a look at Sumatra Coffee.
Sumatra is one of the islands in Indonesia is the sixth largest island in the world. Long an ideal place for growing coffee it has had coffee growers using organic methods for many years. Some time ago Forestrade an organization which markets organic foodstuffs gathered together the organic coffee growers in the northern part of Sumatra.
Forestrade helped the growers develop standards so their organic coffee beans would be widely accepted throughout the world. The northern area is also known as Gayoland or Mandheling after the tribes who lived in the area. The Sumatra Gayoland Coffee brand has become well know for their specialty coffee.
Gayoland coffee has a sweet almost fruit like flavor. But its boldness will let it be a great finish to a grilled steak or venison.
If you are drinking a full bodied red, then this coffee will finish the meal with style. It's bold yet smooth and its flavor won't get lost. Pair with a great cigar to finish the evening.
Hand roasted by Finger Lakes Coffee in Upstate New York, Sumatra Gayoland Coffee is sure to please.
Not the usual grind,
Filed under coffee, organic Coffee by
I'm a fan of coffee news. It's interesting, amusing, and somewhat crazy to read what comes across the news wires.
Did you know:
- Coffee was used as a murder weapon in New York. A man poisoned his soon to be ex-wife's coffee with cyanide.
- If you are female and drink 3 or more cups of coffee a day, you could be shrinking your breast size. (I didn't make this one up. It's a real study done in Sweden at Lund University.) Better news from that study, if you have a certain variation of a gene (50% of women have it) then coffee can reduce the risk of breast cancer by as much as 2/3. Seems coffee counteracts the hormone effects on the breast tissue.
- Limit the amount of coffee you drink if you're pregnant. If you have two or more cups a day, the odds are higher you'll have a low birthweight baby.
- Starbuck's is giving away coffee if you vote. Honor system. But the state of California considers it be be a bribe since food can be an influencer of voting. California evidently took a donut shop to task 20 years ago.
Because when you stop and think about it, how many French or Italian banks have gone bust? And while we wobble, Spain’s Santander bank is stalking the globe like one of the country’s gigantic trawlers, sucking up the broken minnows. This is because they are all coffee drinkers. They wake up, have an espresso; then, invigorated, they go to work quite literally full of beans. We, on the other hand, expect to be able to operate on a stomach full of wet leaves. Tea, in actual fact, caused our banking crisis.
- McDonalds in the Ozarks (Missouri to the rest of us) is offering free coffee to those making donations to the Ozarks Food Harvest food bank. Bring a non perishable item and you'll receive a small regular or gourmet coffee of your choice.
- If you happen to be up in Maine, not Down Maine on the coast drop by the University of Maine. The University of Maine at Orono holds an International Coffee Hour every Friday at 4 p.m. in Memorial Union's North Dining Room. This past week they celebrated Guy Fawkes Day(which is actually November 3rd.) Hosted by the International Students Association, you'll meet some people from different cultures and have some coffee as well.
- From Gillian Hurst Down Under at the CourierMail.au here's a recipe for espresso granita.
To make your own all you need is 350ml of strong espresso (not instant coffee), about a tablespoon of sugar and 250ml of whipping cream whipped together with a few teaspoons of vanilla sugar. Simply dissolve the sugar into the coffee and place the sweetened coffee into ice-cube trays and freeze. When frozen place the cubes into a food processor and blend.Return to the freezer until required. Serve with the lightly whipped Chantilly cream.
That's all the news for today. I'm expecting my Sumatra Gayoland Coffee today. Will let you know how it brews.
Not the usual grind,
Tip of the mug to Woodsy for the use of the photo
Filed under coffee, coffee news, espresso, ice coffee, recipes for coffee drinks by
