You can’t walk into a Starbucks shop without the large murals talking about their sustainability practices. Blown up images showing beautiful coffee plants being harvested by local people.

Take a look at who shops there - people driving their Prius, and now Tesla drinking their plant based milks. People you presume would adopt environmentally sustainable practices.

Across the board, the global south produces the coffee beans and the global north buys them, giving those Prius and Tesla drivers quite a bit of power to make change. Over sixty countries grow coffee beans. Brazil is the largest coffee producer, followed by Vietnam.

And it’s actually the big companies, the roasters in the northern countries that wield the power over the farmers and farm owners - many of whom live below the extreme poverty line.

At the same time, coffee production can have a huge impact on the environment, and that’s not even including those plastic coffee pods.

In Peru, it is estimated that 25% of deforestation is related to coffee production. Overall, the coffee chain has a high water footprint, with an estimate that the consumption of a 125-ml cup of coffee requires about 140 L of water.

Often consumers are tricked by companies in thinking they are buying sustainable products.

In a time where we are taking a closer look at green washing the coffee supply chain. I wonder if those are organic beans in my cup?

What Makes a Coffee Bean Organic?

Organic coffee refers to coffee beans grown without synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, or genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Instead, organic farmers rely on natural and sustainable methods to cultivate their crops.

Examples of non-organic or conventional techniques include:

• The soil is fumigated to remove naturally-occurring fungicides.

• The farmer fertilizes the soil with petroleum-based chemical fertilizer.

• The seeds are soaked in insecticides and fungicides before being planted.

• Chemicals are also added to the irrigation water.

• When the seeds start growing, they’re sprayed with herbicide.

Essentially, we are asking do you want to be drinking from a vat of hot chemicals or get a pure bean?

According to a 2016 study, there are a slew of negative health effects that have been linked to chemical pesticides used on non-organic crops, including "dermatological, gastrointestinal, neurological, carcinogenic, respiratory, reproductive, and endocrine effects."

It’s not just about our health but the workers, especially in other countries in the global south, reduced environmental regulations mean that "production workers, formulators, sprayers, mixers, loaders and agricultural farm workers" are high-risk groups who come in direct contact with these toxic chemicals (though I have been told bananas are the worst).

Organic farming practices also prioritize soil health and biodiversity. Farmers focus on regenerative methods that help preserve the ecosystem and protect the surrounding wildlife. Additionally, organic coffee often tastes better since it’s grown in nutrient-rich soil, allowing the flavors to develop more naturally.

Let’s take a deeper dive into organic coffee.

Are Starbucks Coffee Beans Organic?

Starbucks does have coffee options that are accredited by various programs, such as Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance, and USDA Organic. These are easier to find if you are buying whole beans, but if you are getting a to go order, good luck.

They have various coffee beans that are packaged for home use such as the Starbucks Organic French Roast and the Starbucks Organic Yukon.

In terms of decaf coffee, only the Decaf Italian Roast and the Decaf Komodo Dragon Blend are completely organic.

They also adopt the Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices, a comprehensive coffee-buying program that ensures coffee quality while promoting social, economic and environmental standards. According to their website on sustainable sourcing:

We have also offered Fairtrade coffee since 2000, and are now one of the largest purchasers of Fairtrade certified coffee in the world.

According to the last C.A.F.E report published in 2021 (and below), most farms are protecting the area of land next to water bodies (known as the riparian zone).

Nearly all farms are not using banned chemicals (whew, that’s a low bar) and are trying not to contaminate the environment. Lastly almost all farms have not converted existing forests to coffee plantations since 2004.

Note, the word organic was not used once in this 151 page report.

Though slightly off topic, their report shows a huge gender gap. On average less than 20 percent of the farms they source from are owned by women.

Numerous studies have documented that young women farmers show high concern for environmentally friendly farming practices relative to young male farmers.

It’s possible that if Starbucks began to address gender equity it could also address environmental sustainability more fully.

What Coffee Brands are Organic?

I walk down the aisle at my local Safeway and notice the store brand is now certified organic. That’s because by mid-2020, 100 percent of Albertsons Companies’ O Organics® coffee will be certified sustainable according to the Fair Trade USA standard or an equivalent.

One organization, the Sustainable Coffee Challenge is a collaborative effort of companies, governments, NGOs, research institutions and others to transition the coffee sector to be fully sustainable. Dozens of companies have committed to sustainable coffee sourcing from Aldi to Target.

That makes me wonder what Starbucks is waiting for?

According to the National Coffee Association’s National Coffee Data Trends survey, 44% of those that drink coffee are more likely or even much more likely to buy coffee that is certified as organic. 

Certified organic by both the Natural Food Certifiers and the United States Department of Agriculture, Lifeboost coffee has been tested for more than 400 toxic chemicals, including pesticides and mycotoxins.

The San Francisco Bay Coffee Organic Coffee Company delivers the finest organic, fresh, flavorful, and sustainable coffee, with over a dozen choices.

If you’re okay with ‘shrooms, Four Sigmatic is an up-and-coming coffee brand made with mushrooms. The mushrooms supposedly boost your immune system and help reduce stress and inflammation. This decaf mushroom brew is produced via a chemical-free process, thus taking the organic label one step further and making it an even healthier option.

So, there you go. The next time you are searching for sustainable coffee in your new EV, consider the source. And that can make a big difference considering in 2020/2021, about 10.13 million tons of coffee were produced.