For those unfamiliar with trends in the area of sustainable coffee, we present some basic definitions. This is in lieu of the usual Web site FAQs that you may be familiar with. The three basic trends in sustainable coffee are shade, organic, and fair-traded coffees. These terms and others, essential to understanding the intricacies of the sustainable coffee scene, have been presented by David L. Gorsline and Jennifer McLean and are listed in alphabetical order below:
Arabica
Fair trade
Organic Coffee
Robusta
Shade-grown coffee, shade coffee
Shade spectrum, shade gradient
Sun coffee
Sustainable Coffee
Technified coffee
Arabica
One of the two primary taxa of coffee, Coffea arabica, has about two-thirds of the world market. Worldwide, coffee has at least 24 varieties (with exact classification a matter debate). By contrast with robusta coffee, arabica shrubs thrive at higher elevations in a cooler, drier climate. Colombia is a major producer. Two important, traditional varieties of the species are Bourbon and Typica (Spanish t�pica).
Arabica beans are generally considered to produce better quality, more flavorful results. The whole bean and specialty segments of the North American coffee market use the higher quality arabica beans.
Fair trade
Promotion of more equitable, less exploitative dealings with producers in developing countries. It is sometimes called alternative trade. The fair trade movement is more visible in Europe than it is in the United States or Canada. In terms of coffee production, fair trade principles stress minimum prices; credit availability; and stable, long-term business relationships directly with farmer cooperatives, avoiding intermediaries or middlemen.
Organic coffee
Produced by an approach that views the farm as an ecosystem. Emphasis is placed on recycling, composting, soil health, and biological activity with the goal of long-term protection of the farm environment. Synthetic chemicals are rigorously avoided.
In accordance with the 1990 Organic Foods Production Act, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is standardizing the use of the label “organic,” subsuming various state standards, like those of Oregon and California.
Organically-grown coffee is not necessarily shade-grown, but it usually is. This is because the trees of the canopy provide several necessities to the organic coffee farm, among them leaf litter (which acts as a fertilizer), resident wildlife species that control pests, and the retention of moisture.
Robusta
The other primary taxon of coffee, Coffea canephora var. Robusta. (The taxonomy is not clear-cut: some sources use “robusta” to refer to any variety of C. canephora, and some use “robusta” as a species name.) As indicated by the variety name, robusta trees grow taller, are more resistant to pests and disease, and produce more fruits than arabica. It is grown in Africa and Brazil, but not very much in Central America, and holds the remaining third of the world market.
The caffeine content of robusta beans is about twice that of arabica. Considered inferior-tasting, robusta is often used for instant coffee and in supermarket-grade blends. Generic supermarket coffee is typically a blend of good arabica, medium quality arabica, and robusta. The instant coffee segment is comprised primarily of processed robusta and lower quality arabica.
Shade-grown coffee, shade coffee
A term with no clear-cut definition, generally referring to coffee grown under a natural canopy and to farming practices nearer the “rustic” end of the shade spectrum. But unfortunately, at this time, “shade-grown coffee” can be whatever the seller says it is. A number of organizations are working to establish a standard, enforceable label, among them the Rainforest Alliance’s ECO-O.K. program and the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center’s “bird-friendly” criteria. American bird conservationists in particular are interested in shade-coffee. Depending on the species of shade trees used and the structure of the tree cover, anywhere from a few to scores of resident and migratory bird species will use Latin American and Caribbean coffee farms for food and cover. Ornithologists have consistently documented the importance of shade-coffee habitat in the increasingly deforested landscape of the Neotropics.
Since coffee grown in the shade is slower-ripening, and often is drawn from vintage cultivars, there is the suggestion that it tastes better, with more complex flavors. However, the roasting process contributes just as much to the quality of coffee in the cup.
Shade spectrum, shade gradient
The shade-vs.-sun distinction is certainly not black and white. Mexican coffee researchers and technicians have devised a five-category continuum “management spectrum for coffee,” running through a spectrum of shade and cover. This basic shade gradient has become a familiar centerpiece in discussions on quantifying shade:
- rustic (rusticano): the least intensified (and increasingly rare) practice; coffee shrubs are planted in the existing forest with little alteration of native vegetation; also the least expensive practice, typically used by small family-owned farms that produce a modest crop of coffee.
- traditional polyculture (policultura tradicional): more managed than rustic coffee, involving deliberate integration of beneficial plants (fruits, vegetables, nuts, medicinal plants, etc.), and resulting in greater species diversity than commercial polyculture (below); the crop diversification helps farmers in years when coffee prices are depressed; in many traditional indigenous systems there is no distinction between wild and domesticated plants and some plants are weeded, tolerated, or encouraged depending on household needs and the season.
- commercial polyculture (policultura comercial): similar to traditional polyculture, but some shade is removed to make room for more coffee shrubs; yields are higher, but some agrochemical inputs (fertilizers, pesticides) are usually needed; generally planted with a distinct backbone species, but more diverse than specialized shade (below).
- reduced or specialized shade (sombra especializada): uses a single, pruned canopy species to provide shade, typically from the genera Inga, Erythrina, Gliricidia, or Grevillea; coffee shrubs are planted more densely, and the farm has a manicured look; since the overstory consists of one or two species, its vertical structural diversity is reduced.
- full-sun or unshaded monoculture (monocultura sin sombre): does away with the canopy completely; the unshaded intensively-managed fields are highly productive if given the requisite agrochemical inputs; farms such as these have one objective: producing coffee for market.
Sun coffee
Used to describe coffee that is not shade-grown, and generally used disparagingly—often neat rows of coffee beneath direct sun or scant shade, compared to the fuller canopy of a traditional shade-based farm. These newer coffee hybrids have been developed for sun tolerance and compact growth, therefore yielding more coffee per hectare. The flip-side is that more chemical inputs—fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides—are needed for sun coffee than in traditional cultivation, and, of course, the land is denuded of trees.
Sustainable Coffee
Here is another term that does not have a widely-accepted definition. For coffee agriculture and resource development, the term implies concern both for laborers’ working conditions and trading practices and land tenure systems that do not impoverish farmers—as well as sensitivity to the environment, minimization of pollution, and independence from non-renewable energy sources. At the intersection of ecology, economics, and politics, sustainability is concerned with the equitable allocation and consumption of resources, now and in the future.
Technified coffee
The word “technification” is a back-formation from the Spanish tecnificaci�n. The practice of technification was spurred by the spread of coffee leaf rust to the New World in the 1970’s. (The coffee leaf rust, Hemileia vastatrix, is a fungal disease of coffee, known in Spanish as la roya.) Technification projects were assisted by the United States Agency for International Development (U.S.-AID). Technification goes beyond the intensive management of shade and shrubs to the application of agrochemical inputs and the introduction of higher-yielding, disease-resistant varieties of coffee that respond well to those inputs. Like the “Green Revolution” that was expected to provide miraculous high-yield agriculture through new strains of rice, wheat, and corn, the sun coffee revolution has failed to fulfill its promise. It has, instead, contributed to ecological degradation, loss of important habitat, and economic strain.
On some modernized farms, sparsely planted trees are kept to add some nitrogen to the soil and to hold it in place on steep hillsides. Some of these technified farms have been called “shade coffee farms” when in fact the few shade trees remaining are pruned back each year to little more than stumps.
Estimates, as of 1993, put the percentage of technified coffee acreage range at 10 percent in El Salvador and Haiti, 40 percent in Costa Rica, and nearly 70 percent in Columbia.
