Reuters
July 12, 2001
By Bruce Kamich

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Traditional shade grown coffee is seeing revived interest as a way of helping the environment while at the same time fetching a better price.

Shade grown coffee is cultivated under a canopy of shade trees where attention is given to the soil, the land and its inhabitants, according to Equal Exchange, a worker-owned co-op in Canton, Massachusetts, that sells 23 different shade grown, certified organic coffees.

Rodney North, the answer man for Equal Exchange, says the definition of shade grown is a little hard to pin down. His personal definition is, "if you lie on the ground in a shade coffee plot and don't get sunburned."

He explained, "It's a traditional farming method that benefits the farmer and the local environment, with coffee trees and other food crops under the taller canopy of trees."

"Globally there was approximately seven million pounds of certified shade grown coffee produced in 2000, mostly from Guatemala and El Salvador," said David Griswold, president of Sustainable Harvest in Portland, Oregon, and one of the largest importers of sustainable coffees.

"There were sales of about one million pounds in the U.S. last year with a retail tag of $12-$16 million out of a total sustainable market of around $190 million," Griswold said.

Leaf rust problem in Brazil

"Shade is what coffee trees love, not too much, but coffee is a shade-loving tree," said Paul Katzeff, the head of Thanksgiving Coffee Co. and the first elected president of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA).

Spurred on by a disease called leaf rust which attacked coffee trees in Brazil in 1970 and eventually moved to Central America, researchers convinced plantations to "technify" by switching to modern arabica varieties which can be grown in full sun.

Traditional arabica coffee varieties like bourbon and typica which needed shade were replaced with varieties like caturra, catuai or catimor, which is a robusta-arabica hybrid, which did not.

"Generally, as I understand it, most high-quality arabicas have been shade grown. The old bourbon plants are delicate and require a filtering of the sun to grow properly," said Geoff Watts, director of coffee for Intelligentsia Coffee Roasters in Chicago, Illinois.

Farmers cut down forests to grow the new coffee varieties and years later production is up in growers like Colombia and Costa Rica, but heavy applications of oil-based fertilizers are needed.

"The hybrids are widespread and done for a variety of reasons -- efficiency, bountiful, hardier, disease resistant and more sun tolerant," said Watts.

There are conditions and climates where coffee farmers don't have shade and are not suited for it. On the Pacific side of Guatemala, for example, there is not much sun due to a cloud cover and the farmers grow an extremely high grade of coffee, according to Watts.

Turf battle over politically correct coffee

Shade grown coffee can be found with various labels including "environmentally-friendly," "bird-friendly" and "sustainable coffee" -- all buzzwords that can confuse the consumer in the supermarket or coffee shop.

For instance, Specialty coffee roaster Gillies Coffee in Brooklyn, New York, offers "sustainable coffees all organically grown, all OCIA, QAI and/or ECO-OK certified."

Confusion for the consumer may have been slightly reduced when three leading environmental groups at the end of May released a set of guidelines for producing environmentally friendly coffee.

A document developed by Conservation International, the Rainforest Alliance and the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center in consultation with key coffee industry participants outlined "the fundamental characteristics that coffee farms and processing facilities must meet to safeguard ecological health in coffee-growing regions."

Market leader Starbucks Corp. (SBUX.O ) offers Shade Grown Mexico coffee through its partnership with Conservation International and, to hammer home the green theme, offers an interactive website for consumers to learn about the biodiversity of the region.

However, some in the specialty coffee business see so-called bird-friendly or environmentally-friendly coffee as just another way to sell beans at higher prices.

Jaime Schoenhut of Royal Coffee New York Inc., an importer and specialty supplier in Staten Island and an offshoot of Royal Coffee in Emeryville, California, said things have changed from when these coffees were first promoted.

"What do you put in the mind of the grower when he gets a minimum price? Quality is expected now, a charity situation only goes so far, the industry is willing to support good causes, but the cup and quality has to be there," said Schoenhut.

An old method becomes a new cause

Shade grown coffee provides a refuge and habitat for birds as they migrate, but that doesn't seem enough of a reason to make consumers alter their choice of coffee.

"Shade grown coffee is still a niche market within the specialty coffee arena. I think it has good long-term growth potential not just from people who have a concern about the environment," said Charlie Cortellini, chief operating officer of First Colony Coffee & Tea Co. Inc. of Norfolk, Virginia.

"There is a trend of consumers becoming increasingly sophisticated about where and how their coffee is grown." said Lindsey Bolger of Batdorf and Bronson of Olympia, Washington.

"(Shade grown coffee is an example) of roasters and farmers working together to insure the future of our raw materials," said Bolger.

Still, when it comes to changing the tastes of the public, Doug Zell, the co-founder of Intelligentsia, concluded, "You must continue to improve quality and tell the story of coffee. Education. You just can't buy the cause."