The next time you are at the grocery store or need to buy coffee at your local coffee shop, or wherever you purchase your coffee, take a step back and look at how many options you are presented with. There are entire aisles and shelves dedicated to showcasing different coffee brands in all different sizes and prices. Your coffee can range from a $5 container of Folgers, or the $40 12oz bag of specialty coffee with a 94 SCA (Specialty Coffee Association) rating. If you’re reading this, you might not know why you should spend a little more on your daily ritual, but there are more than a few reasons why doing so can benefit both you and the great community of coffee people throughout the whole supply chain. Let’s look at some of the huge benefits that come from buying better coffee:

• It tastes better – cheaper, commercial-grade coffee tends to be lower quality beans that are harvested before they are ripe, creating undesirable flavors. These flavors tend to be masked by a very dark roasting process bringing out bitter and burnt characteristics that almost always need cream or sugar. However, taste is subjective and if your favorite cup comes from a can of Folgers, we are by no means saying you shouldn’t drink that. Drink what you like, what you enjoy, and let no one tell you otherwise. 

• It is much more environmentally friendly – Lower quality coffee tends to be grown with many unsustainable and unfriendly practices. Large farms often contribute to immense deforestation because it is easier to grow coffee in full sun. This destroys habitats for much of the local inhabitants and especially birds. Buying shade-grown coffee is a huge plus when purchasing your beans.

• You’re supporting an entire supply chain of awesome people that all enjoy coffee – This includes farmers, roasters, baristas and the numerous people and processes that make up these interactions. Farmers often do not make enough to support themselves or their families as social sustainability is a huge issue in the coffee supply chain. Buying coffee that ensures that its growers are being paid a living wage is imperative to the sustainability of the industry as a whole. 

An even better part of buying your coffee beans is going directly to the coffee shop or roaster that makes it. And no, we don’t mean Starbucks or any other chain, we mean your local independent coffee roaster. By buying from them, you’re putting money back into your local economy making numerous people's lives better; Not to mention how much baristas and roasters love teaching people about the coffee they buy and their passion, and encouraging them to make it their own passion.