All coffee comes from one of the world´s three tropic zones: the Neotropics, Afrotropics and Asia-Oceania Tropics all with myriad conservation and development issues relevant to bird population sustainability. This is why we know that coffee can and should be 2X bird friendly: once creating habitat and then twice helping fund bird conservation. Even conservation in the northern, over-developed world where there are a ton of challenges facing our migrants when they visit. Ahah! This is more than shade coffee, it´s shadier...

Learn about the coffees we feature. This menu will evolve and change throughout the year as these fine and scarce gems are seasonal and hard to find. As new coffees come around we will write 'em up here on the menu. Our cuppers and the roast master vet every sack of Shadier Coffee to assure you the highest quality. If you see anything you want to try, go ahead and buy some in the Shadier Shop. If you see anything you want to see up close, put down your cup and let us plan your visit!

Sumatra Gayo PPKGO Cooperative

Sumatra…when you love Sumatran coffees as much as we do it’s easy to end right there, seduced by the cup: quintessential syrupy body and low acidity layered with uncountable seductive flavors. But we’re shadier, so you get it all. The PPKGO cooperative, located in the buffer zone of the Gunung Leuser National Park, is 100% comprised of organic, shade grown and family owned small farms. No small miracle in a country where extreme poverty makes deforestation for quick gain (even illegally deforested squatter farms within national parks) not even an afterthought.

Loja, Ecuador PROCAFEQ Association

This Smithsonian Bird Friendly certified coffee comes from the buffer zone of the Poducarpus National Park, home to many endemics such as the Jocotoco Antpitta. This high altitude coffee offers bright acidity, citrus notes and an unrefined sugar sweetness.

Manabí, Ecuador COREMANABA S.A.

More than 3.500 farmers are working together to give the world this organic certified coffee from Ecuador´s coastal mountain range, facing the Galapagos Islands. This is a transitional zone between the Chocó and Tumbesian bioregions, two of the world´s most biodiverse. Over the last 50 years there has been vast deforestation of these mountains and these coffee farmers are working to reverse the trend. In some of these valleys these diverse shade farms are the only forests left.

Nicaragua Segovia, Prodecoop Cooperative

Home to many warblers that annually go visit the United States and Canada, this farmers´ group is organic and Fairtrade certified showing their commitment to environmental and social responsibilities.

Timor Maubesse, CCT Cooperative

This coffee comes from rustic farms reactivated after this island nation gained its independance from Indonesia. This coffee too is organic and faitrade certified, demonstrating Shadier Coffee´s commitment to sustainable coffee.

Mesa de los Santos, Colombia

Could this be the Shadiest coffee on our list?  Let us count the ways.

1) A great cup-rich and full bodied, almost fatty, with flavors of walnut and cocoa, perfectly balanced by a bright citrus acidity-created by quality focused cafeteros. 2) Habitat creation: this is a Shadier triple play-habitat preservation and creation at the farm, plus the conservation donation we make when you purchase.  1995 - 40 shade tree species with 6,881 total shade trees.  2002 48 shade tree species with 43,250 total shade trees. 3) A bird list totaling 119 different species. 4) Ecologically minded: for 4 generations the coffee has been produced with natural fertilizers, spring water and shade cover. 5) Impeccable working conditions: workers paid above Colombian minimum wage with health care, pension, education allowance and disability coverage. 6) A host of third party certifications: Bird Friendly, Organic, Rainforest Alliance and JAS. www.cafemesadelossantos.com

FTO Guatemala
Region: Quiche (“Many Trees”)
Asociacion Chajulense “Val Vaq Quyol” Cooperative (“Only One Voice”)

The balance of the cup grabbed us first: braced with just enough bright fresh acidity to highlight the fruit notes yet subtle enough to make for easy sipping all day long. Then next, our research into the farmers’ cooperative revealed that its commitments to environmental protection and socio-economic progress run deeper than its rarified NGO speak mission statement: “promote a sustainable development model that is environmentally sound, economically feasible, fair from a social point of view and appropriate from a cultural standpoint”, the members actually practice them in their day-to-day operations. The Cooperative requires 100% organic production by active and prospective members, and facilitates a laundry list of social initiatives including a micro-loan program and funding for an indigenous Mayan cultural center.

Peru CACVRA Cooperative

The CACVRA cooperative is a model of social and environmental success, founded in 1969 to help farmers market their first quality cocoa and exquisite coffee. Their third party certifications (Fairtrade, Utz Kapeh, Max Havelaar, Naturland, Bio Latina) and astute marketing have significantly increased sales at or above Fairtrade price levels. The resulting income―a novel concept given the current economy―has allowed CACVRA to transcend subsistence farming by investing in community based social and environmental programs. Located in the critical habitat of the Rio Apurimac Valley between Peru's Ayacucho and Cuzco provinces, CACVRA's family farms buffer the valley's lush canopy by growing their coffee and cocoa under an average of nine different shade tree species. www.cacvra.com

FTO Honduras Marcala
The lack of great coffees from Honduras has always been an enigma in the specialty coffee trade. Bordered by premier specialty coffee producing countries (Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala) the necessary environmental conditions must exist, in many places, to grow exquisite coffee cherry.  In addition to "benign neglect", the problem has been structural: substandard coffee processing infrastructure gives the coffee no chance.  Once the coffee cherry is picked from the tree its inherent quality is destroyed by long trips while still wet from the farm to the dry processing mills located in the tropical city of San Pedro Sula where the heat, humidity and lack of care does the rest. Working with specialty importers and aid organizations Honduran farmers and cooperatives are solving this problem by better drying practices at the farm and teaming with quality focused dry mills.

Papua New Guinea Organic – Fair Trade Yha Hauka Kopi Cooperative Fully Washed

Remotely located in the Menyamya region of PNG’s Morobe province (yes, home to the dazzling birds of paradise), the members of the Yha Hauka Kopi Coop. grow their coffee under abundant shade cover on small family farms. The name of the cooperative translates as ‘the fruit of the plant”, representative of the coffee itself and the importance of the revenue it produces for the region.