Lowell Grosse is the President of Charleston Coffee Roasters, and he knows that your morning cup of java is directly connected to that bird feeder outside your window. Our painted buntings should be back in a few months, nesting on the barrier islands and flitting through the maritime forest. They are part of a group of birds, called neotropical migrants, who summer and breed in the United States, but winter in the tropics. And yes, they are somehow linked to your coffee… because the way coffee is grown makes a huge difference in the habitat available to birds.

According to the Rainforest Alliance,

For more than 150 years, coffee had been widely grown under the leafy canopy of native rainforest trees. In the 1970s, agronomists began promoting a new farm system in which the sheltering forests are cleared and coffee bushes are packed in dense hedgerows and doused with agrochemicals. These monoculture farms produce more beans, but at a tremendous environmental cost. A traditional agroforestry system provides good wildlife habitat. The new monocultures have little habitat, accelerate soil erosion and pollute streams. The new methodologies were not only environmentally destructive, but put more beans into an already overstocked market and converted coffee farms from self-sustaining sanctuaries into stark and lifeless monocultures. Wildlife disappeared, soils washed downhill and streams were choked with silt and agrochemicals.

Local birds that may winter on coffee plantations include Common Nighthawks, Painted Buntings, Northern Parulas, Scarlet Tanagers, Redstarts, and Wood Thrushes.

Coffee plantations with mixed shade and fruit trees have a much higher level of biodiversity overall. And, since birds provide a high measure of insect control on these plantations, fewer pest intervention measures, like pesticides, are necessary. (Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center.)

Charleston Coffee Roasters is committed to protecting the environment and encouraging coffee farmers to grow coffee in a way that emphasizes sustainable practices.

Shade-grown coffee refers to coffee trees that are interspersed with various species of trees that intermittently protect the coffee from the direct rays of the sun as shadows are created throughout the day. Most high-quality coffee is grown in the shade because the old varieties (which typically produce the best flavor) require it. The newer, high-yield hybrids are sun trees and grow in open sunlight, consuming more nitrogen from the soil thus requiring higher amounts of fertilizers…  We work with farms that use only sustainable practices and seek out the best beans Mother Nature produces. (Charleston Coffee Roasters).

Buying green and local is part of our community ethos on Dewees Island, and buying your coffee from Charleston Coffee roasters is definitely an earth friendly decision. Locally roasted coffee is fresher and has far fewer transportation costs and a smaller carbon footprint. I went downtown to meet with Lowell and take a look around his coffee roasting facility over on Huger Street to find out more.

You can see the building from the overpass on highway 17, but to get there, you have to take Huger Street. The entryway to the building is friendly, with couches for relaxing and t-shirts for sale. You get the clear sense that you are in a small family business… and the aroma of roasting coffee pervades the room. Lowell buys beans from a variety of sources: his family has been in the coffee import business for generations. He buys rainforest certified coffee from farms who use minimal pesticides and leave many of the shade trees intact. The coffee is shipped to Charleston in large sacks of unroasted beans, which Lowell roasts in small batches.

The photo on the left shows the roasted coffee cooling. According to Lowell, this small batch roasting and cooling provides both a better taste AND a better value for the customer:

Our coffee is cooled with a process known as air quenching. Immediately after the coffee exits the roasting drum, a fan pulls cool air through the beans. Larger roasters cool their coffee by spraying water into the drum, which adds oxygen and speeds the staling process. It also adds weight to the coffee, – which is paid for by the customer.

Lowell believes in being part of the local community, too.  The logo for the company is a loggerhead turtle; and a portion of the proceeds from coffee sales goes to support the South Carolina aquarium’s sea turtle rescue efforts. He is a member of Lowcountry Local First.

When buying coffee, look for shade grown or rainforest certified coffee.  You can buy Charleston Coffee at the Piggly Wiggly, Costco, Whole Foods, and at the Huger Street Roasting facility (where you’ll find a really fresh batch!)  And every time you see a Painted Buntings or Northern Parula in your yard this spring, think about the coffee plantations where they spend their winter.

Further Information about rainforest certified coffee can be found below:

Click here for a video about rainforest certified coffee.  The New York Times blog, Scientist at Work, has an interesting series from a young scientist working on coffee plantations trying to understand the impact of sun-grown coffee on mammal populations here.  And the Smithsonian Institute’s Migratory Bird Center has more info here.