Bird Friendly Coffee helps protect the planet. Really.
At Dean’s Beans, we believe in using coffee as a vehicle for positive change. Fair Trade, organic, shade grown coffees help protect ecosystems, support farming communities, and preserve habitat for migratory birds. We are proud to work with cooperatives in Peru, Honduras, and Guatemala that are certified through the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Certification (SMBC) program.
SMBC is widely recognized as the gold standard for shade-grown coffee habitat. It combines organic farming with rigorous habitat requirements that help farms function more like healthy forest systems.
What is Smithsonian Bird Friendly® Certified Coffee?
Smithsonian Bird Friendly® Certified Coffee is always certified organic coffee grown under a diverse shade canopy, so it provides robust, abundant habitat for migratory and native birds. The program was developed by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center in Washington, D.C. to protect biodiversity in coffee-growing landscapes and support farming systems that work with nature. That matters because many migratory birds spend part of the year in the same regions where coffee is grown.
Why buy Bird Friendly coffee?
Migratory birds connect landscapes in a way few other species do. The same birds that move through your backyards, local forests, and fields across North America spend part of their year in the regions where your coffee is grown. When habitat is lost in one place, the effects are felt in many places.
Birds play an often unseen role in keeping ecosystems balanced. Many species feed on insects, helping to manage populations that would otherwise put pressure on forests and crops. Others help with seed dispersal, contributing to forest regeneration. These functions help support the long-term health and diversity of the environments they move through. If bird populations were to decline, the reverse of these benefits would become quickly apparent, reducing biodiversity and make ecosystems more vulnerable.
This is part of why Bird Friendly coffee matters. Farms that maintain diverse shade cover and protect habitat are contributing to a larger network of environments that support birds through their migration.
What does it take to become Smithsonian Bird Friendly® Certified?
Bird Friendly coffee must first be certified organic. That means coffee is grown without the synthetic pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, or chemicals prohibited under organic standards.
Certified farms must be deforestation-free for the last 10 years, reflecting Smithsonian’s current standard for protecting forest systems and biodiversity.
Bird Friendly farms must maintain a robust tree canopy over the coffee. Key habitat standards that include: at least 10 tree species per hectare, trees of differing heights in the canopy layer, a minimum of 40% shade cover, a majority of shade trees that are native species.
Bird Friendly habitat is a great example of regenerative farming, as it includes features that help farms function like living ecosystems, including: leaf litter or living ground cover, epiphytes (a plant that grows on another plant but is not parasitic) and vines, limited shade tree pruning, living fences, riparian buffers along waterways (vegetated area along waterways that protect water quality, stabilizes banks, and provide habitat for wildlife)
Certified coffee must be kept separate and clearly documented through post-harvest processing, storage, and handling. That helps ensure traceability all the way through the supply chain - from the farm to your cup.
Why shade-grown coffee matters
Shade-grown coffee farms can provide essential habitat in regions where forest cover has been reduced. Bird Friendly standards were built specifically to protect migratory and tropical birds, along with the broader biodiversity that healthy agroforestry systems support.
Trees improve soil health, protect water, buffer temperature swings, and help farms withstand climate stress. Bird Friendly research also connects these systems to biodiversity conservation, regenerative farming practices, and climate benefits.
More diverse farm ecosystems support birds, insects, and other species that play a role in balancing pest pressure naturally. That is part of why biodiversity is so central to the Bird Friendly model.
Coffee grown under shade matures more slowly. Shade-grown coffee often develops richer, more complex flavor than conventionally grown alternatives.
Shade trees can provide fruit, timber, fuel, and other non-coffee products that help diversify livelihoods on the farm. While it might seem counterintuitive to say that cutting down trees helps the birds, regenerative farming includes active forest management, where both planting and selective harvesting are employed for optimal forest habitat. Deliberately introducing trees and shrubs alongside coffee plants to create sustainable landscapes is one of agroforestry’s practical strengths.
Bird Friendly coffee cooperatives - Our Partners
Dean’s Beans currently works with three Smithsonian Bird Friendly® Certified Coffee cooperatives in Peru (PANGOA), Honduras COMSA), and Guatemala (ASOBAGRI). And we’re eager to These partnerships reflect our ongoing commitment to coffee sourced through long-term relationships, organic farming, and landscapes that support both people, the planet, and biodiversity.
Drinking Bird Friendly coffee gives you one more way to connect your daily cuppa Joe to doing something good for the environment. Not only is it Fair Trade, organic, and shade grown, but it is SMBC certified!
Why this matters to you and to us
At Dean’s Beans, we put people and the planet before profit. Buying Fair Trade organic coffee means that YOU are putting the planet first every morning when you make your favorite brew. We love that about you.
Coffee that’s Smithsonian Bird Friendly certified takes your impact to the next level. It recognizes the great work coffee farmers and cooperatives are already doing to protect biodiversity, maintain shade, and grow coffee in ways that keep ecosystems and the environment healthier for the long term.
When you choose Bird Friendly coffee, you are supporting coffee grown with habitat, birds, and the environment in mind. This simple daily choice helps protect the migratory pathways that connect farms in Latin America with birds seen in our backyards across the United States and Canada.