SHADE-GROWN, SUN-GROWN: What's the difference?

SHADE GROWN: Traditionally, the best arabica coffee has been grown high in the mountains on small farms under the shade of taller trees. These taller trees hold the soil on the sides of the mountains, their roots hold water and they protect the coffee trees from intense sun and high winds. The farmers use crops from these trees (bananas, coconuts) as sources of extra income and the wood from these trees as firewood. It also seems important to note the several billion song birds that migrate from the USA to Central America every winter. And they love to winter in the jungle canopy in the trees of traditional coffee farms.

SUN-GROWN: Ten or 15 years ago, the United States pushed the cultivation of new hybrids of sun-grown coffee, particularly in Colombia. This coffee was grown in full sun and it yielded twice as much coffee beans per crop. More coffee means more money for poor farmers so it seemed like a great idea. So either the taller trees were cut down to grow this sun-grown coffee or else it was just grown in the sun. Unfortunately, this sun coffee needed pesticides and herbicides and fertilizer to grow well. So it destroyed the soil over time.

OUR PREFERENCE: The new coffee hybrids that grew in the sun didn’t taste nearly as good as the shade-grown varieties. Most of our coffee is shade-grown. That’s one of the reasons it tastes so good.

Because delicious shade-grown Colombia coffees are difficult to find, we change them several times a year. So we don't use a region or estate name; but be assured that our fabulous Colombias are all shade-grown.

Equally delicious is our Yemen Mocha, which may be grown on terraces high in the mountains with few other trees. It has been grown like this for 600 years.

Song birdies love those trees and we coffee lovers love that shade-grown coffee (it’s grown in the shade of taller trees.) Shade-grown coffee may also be termed bird-friendly coffee. And it’s only been since the first Sustainable Coffee Conference in 1996 that these terms have become popular. Now you can see them everywhere.