Wake up with Organic Joe!

Kristen Markette
Apr 26, 2017
3 min read

(This post contains affiliate links)

If you’re one of the millions who wake up and brew a fresh pot of coffee you may want to plant this little seed (bean) into your mind. Coffee is one of the most chemically treated crops in the world!!! The beans many of us buy, could be covered in over 250 pounds of fertilizer and little do we know, we go about our mornings just brewing these beans in hot water and sipping away on the chemical residue, cup-after-cup, every, single, day!

The residue we are ingesting daily can wreck havoc on our bodies. Our delicate endocrine system is highly affected by pesticides and can cause imbalances in our hormones, and reproductive systems. In turn, these effects can be passed onto our offspring all because of unfortunate mass-market growing industries care more about supply & demand than they do about the health of their consumers and future consumers. Coffee should be grown as shade crops but producers like Nestle are chopping down tons of rain forests to make room for fields of chemically unnatural coffee fields.

Growers are spraying upwards of 250 pounds PER ACRE of fertilizer on this crop. This is not only passing on chemicals to those consumers of coffee, but it is highly highly toxic to those working in the fields every single day and being exposed to extreme levels of chemicals in the air, water, and soil. Not to mention the toll it is taking on our environment and natural rainforest habitats. Cutting down the homes of many native animals, and migrating birds, depleting the soil of nutrients which in turn requires more chemicals be sprayed. It’s a viscous cycle and we have no idea this is going on as we sit and enjoy our Saturday morning latte.

Do yourself, your family and the environment (our home), a favor and start spending an extra buck or two on Organic, Certified Shade-Grown, Fair Trade coffee beans! Not to stress, if you can’t find or afford Organic this time around. Try and find Shade-Grown, and at least your chances of being exposed to as many chemicals decreases and you aren’t contributing to deforestation. When we drink shade-grown coffee we are drinking the coffee grown in its natural habitat, where birds and animals live and help act as a natural pest control.

Remember, little steps to make these changes is what counts and helps us make impacting, lasting changes in our lives. Being INFORMED is the first step, and then making decisions and committing to good choices to make a lasting change is next. Nobody is perfect and we all have to do the best with what we have. I always say if you can’t make the switch today, introduce it gradually and pass along this info to others; then we can help each other be healthy and be the changes we want to see in the world!

Favorite brands:

Ruta Maya Organic Coffee(roasted in Austin Texas - I buy this in bulk at local Austin Costco for about $15 and it lasts over a month!)

Allegro Coffee is great too (easily found at Whole Foods, and they have some coffee shops across the states). I also love trying local brands & anything that has the stamp of Bird Friendly on it. Let me know your favorites in comments!

(Originally written for Feed the Wellness FB Post on April 24, 2017)