Coffee is one of the world’s most beloved beverages, providing energy as well as antioxidants and other healthful nutrients. How we cultivate our coffee makes an enormous impactful statement about its overall benefits for health.

Non-organic coffee products like Starbucks often contain an alarming number of pesticides and herbicides, which is detrimental to both the environment as well as your own health. Not only can it harm wildlife, but these harmful toxins can cause cancer, asthma, depression, fertility issues, high blood pressure and Parkinson’s disease among many other issues.

Organic coffee production uses methods which avoid such hazardous chemicals. Instead of turning to chemical fertilizers for plant growth, farmers use natural sources like coffee pulp, chicken manure and compost as fertilizers instead. Organic farming also contributes to combating climate change by reducing carbon emissions while sequestering carbon from the soil.

As an added benefit, organic farms must go three years without using synthetic pesticides or any prohibited substances on their land before planting their crops, providing farmers and communities with protection from potential health complications caused by exposure to chemical herbicides or pesticides.

Organic farmers must follow stringent standards regarding water and energy usage, which provides consumers with another great benefit of supporting these organic farms: knowing you’re supporting environmental-minded producers who care about providing you with high-quality products.

Noteworthy is the availability of high-quality coffees that have not undergone organic certification processes. This is often due to small farmers not having access to necessary resources for such certification, or because quality coffee production still takes place without using pesticides or herbicides.

As to the taste of organic coffee versus non-organic, this is completely up to you and should reflect your individual preferences. While some find organic coffee more bitter, others claim it has better flavor or even states it tastes “more mineral”.

Organic coffee can help improve both your health and the planet; in addition to being delicious beverage. So why not give it a try? To do so properly, just select an excellent variety that’s certified organic! Or if organic is out of reach for you, why not switch to shade-grown and fair trade varieties; that way your suppliers receive fair treatment as well!