What is organic coffee?
Organic coffee is grown using methods and materials that have a low impact on the environment. Organic production systems replenish and maintain soil fertility, reduce the use of toxic and persistent pesticides and fertilizers, and build biologically diverse agriculture. Third-party certification organizations verify that organic farmers abide by the law.

What is the size of the world organic coffee market?
Global sales of organic coffee reached 67,000 metric tons (or about 148 million pounds) in 2006, a 56 percent increase from 2003 when approximately 42,000 MT were exported.5 Forty-four percent of the total was consumed in North America, of which approximately 85 percent was consumed in the United States.

CERTIFIED ORGANIC
Certified Organic means more than grown without synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. Certified Organic is the industry standard (and now law) to ensure that organic standards are met and maintained. We are certified organic by Quality Assurance Intenational.
QAI regularly sends inspectors down to the farms to ensure that rigid quality control standards for organic production are met. A paper trail follows the coffee up to our roasting facility where we in turn are inspected to account for each and every bean we buy and sell.

Organic Coffee farmers use compost fertilizer made from the mulch of coffee cherries, cattle manure, and residues from inter-planted crops (banana) to produce a deep, rich level of topsoil for their trees. The topsoil gives the coffee plant essential nutrients which provides you with a richer, fuller, and bigger taste. As an alternative to pesticides, organic farmers set traps and use natural means to ward off insects such as planting lemmon grass nearby.

What is “Certified Organic?”
"Certified Organic" means the item has been grown according to strict uniform standards that are verified by independent state or private organizations. Certification includes inspections of farm fields and processing facilities, detailed record keeping, and periodic testing of soil and water to ensure that growers and handlers are meeting the standards which have been set.

THE FARMERS
The premium we pay for their best coffees goes into sustaining organic farming principles, rewarding farmers for their higher quality coffee, and helping to support their families and communities.

SHADE GROWN
Successful organic coffee farming is shade grown. Shade trees such as banana and other leguminous trees provide a canopy for the coffee tree. This canopy prevents the sun from bleaching nutrients from the topsoil. Shade trees also provide valuable inter-planting on the farm which deters pests and prevents topsoil depletion. Shade canopy also provides a home to our friends in the bird kingdom.