We've Got It Made In The Shade

At Dean's Beans® we believe in supporting the health of the farmer, the consumer and the environment. That's why we buy shade-grown organic coffee. Shade-grown coffee retains the natural flora around and over the coffee plants, providing needed shade, nourishment and erosion control necessary for a healthy environment. Shade-grown coffees also provide critical habitat for migratory songbirds and other species from our own backyards that winter in coffee lands, such as Baltimore Orioles and Bluebirds, and Monarch butterflies. In addition, interplanting of fruit trees, such as bananas, avocados and coconuts, provides important nutrition to the families of the farmers.

Our commitment to only purchase shade grown coffees supports healthy environments for coffee growers and protects critical migratory bird habitat. 

A few of our coop partners have taken it a step further to get officially certified by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center as Bird Friendly® Certified Coffee. ASOBAGRI in Guatemala is certified SMBC Bird Friendly®, and we were recently able to help our good friends at the Pangoa coop in Peru achieve their certification as well. We helped with administration and the cost, and want to do the same for the rest of our coops, since we know they'd pass with flying toucans, errrr, colors. 

Almost no "Plantation" or "Estate" coffees are shade-grown, as those owners have sacrificed environment to efficiency. Not all organic coffees are shade-grown, either (on some farms and cooperatives only a portion of their crop is shade-grown). We know, for sure, that ours are all fully shade-grown, because we visit and work closely with all of our growers. We also take our environmental stewardship seriously and are well versed in what that really means (Dean was an environmental lawyer for many years, and taught environmental law and natural resource management courses at UMass. and U.R.I.). Our environmental commitment is based in our values and our experience - not a marketing package to fluff up our image.

To learn about the other ways in which Dean's Beans is working to preserve the environment, visit our Ecology page.