England Naturally Blog's Review of Bird & Wild Coffee

Bird & Wild is a Fair Trade coffee to save the songbirds. 6% of sales go to RSPB and they also help to protect migrating birds, by offering shade-grown coffee (more on that later). We sometimes forget when seeing birds in our garden – that many of them live on the other side of the world, for much of the year. So by choosing the best bird-friendly coffees, you get to protect the habitats of your little feathered-friends, when they are on their winter holidays!

What is Bird-Friendly Coffee?

Bird-friendly coffee is grown under the rainforest canopy, rather than being chopped down to grow fast-growing coffee bushes. Although the coffee grows slowly and the farmers are paid more, this is better for all – apart from the big coffee companies! The canopy being left helps to provide habitats to migratory birds, but also other wildlife and insects.

Don’t get confused between shade-grown and sun-grown. It’s greenwashing. Sun-grown plantations don’t give the shade, so only choose certified coffee from shade-grown companies. This coffee is also organic, which means no harmful chemicals run into streams and rivers. So this helps to protect marine wildlife.

Fair Trade Tastes Good

Fair Trade coffee does not cost more, it simply cuts out the middlemen, so that the coffee farmers (some of the most financially abused on earth) get paid more. And 50% of coffee growers are women, so that’s empowering too. Payments are also made in advance so that farmers and workers can enjoy safe working conditions, and money to feed their families. All this makes your coffee taste good!

Buying Bird & Wild Coffee

Bird & Wild Coffee supplies several cafes and restaurants and offices, as well independent delis. Get in touch if you would like to switch to this ethical brand – they sell 500g and 1kg bags at wholesale prices, all freshly roasted to order. They can also support you with information, brand assets and point-of-sale materials, to help promote and educate customers on bird-friendly and shade-grown coffee.

The coffees are roasted and blended, sourced from projects in Honduras, Peru, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Mexico. Presently the coffees are blended, but they hope with more success to offer single origin shade-grown coffees. Like most coffee brands, the bags are presently not able to recycle, as they have to use metal-plastic laminate one-way valve to stop oxygen getting in and exploding the bag, due to excess gas that builds up after roasting. However, they hope by mid 2020 to have sourced an alternative solution that is the talk of the town among the coffee industry. 

Source: England Naturally Blog