Shade-grown coffee: Part II

In this morning's GreenSpace column, I wrote about the benefits of shade-grown coffee. It can help birds, other wildlife and the environment.  Plus, it tastes good and it's fun to discover new brews.

Here are some links for more information:

The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center website had so many pages of data and studies and general information that it was almost overwhelming. You could go through many cups of joe while browsing this fascinating site. Through it, you can also find roasters and dealers.  It lists at least one local dealer, Golden Valley Farms in West Chester.

Likewise, the Rainforest Alliance website is chock full of info. Audubon had adopted their certification for its on-line coffee club, another source for buying shade-grown coffee.

The certification helps make things easy, but it's also possible to ferret out your own sources of coffee.  Apparently, getting certified under some of the set-ups costs a farmer money, and not all can afford it. So while some operations claim to have "shade-grown" coffee and may not, others may be organic or shade-grown and not have the documentation.

It could be fun and interesting to sort all this out, which my sister is in the process of doing. She's an excellent coffee detective.  It also may foster personal connections. My brother-in-law discovered a particular source of shade-grown, Green Parrot Coffee, while he was volunteering with his church group in Honduras. Their website is personal, charming and thorough.

Happy drinking!